‘The industry makes a mistake and admits it’ shocker!

t’s funny, because I swear I saw a pig fly past my office window this morning. I rubbed my eyes with disbelief, then clicked onto the BBC news website to catch up on the goings-on of the day and found THIS – and admission from the BPI that the music industry would be in better shape now had it worked with Napster rather than fought it.

Stone the crows. An admission that, wait for it, the industry has got it wrong. That’s according to Geoff Taylor, head of music industry body BPI, in a column written for the BBC. His comments are not only welcome but well overdue. If you can’t be bothered to read the whole BBC report, Mr Taylor
says: “I, for one, regret that we weren’t faster in figuring out how to create a sustainable model for music on the internet…In 1999 Napster developed a great digital service, but did so at the expense of music, while the music business protected music at the expense of progressing online digital services.”

I’ve blogged and moaned for years that the industry needs a wake up call when it comes to the MP3 and digital music. Constantly suing downloaders and/or shutting down sites like The Pirate Bay won’t solve the problem. After all, Kazaa, Napster and others popped up in the wake of something else shutting down. The issue should have been about adapting and welcoming new technologies and not being frightened of embracing it and the BPI recognising that fact is movement at least. All we need now is positive action and a willingness to actually embrace the technology – and not just talk about old mistakes.