MidemNet 2009 Liveblog: Music and ISPs working together (Pt. 1)

Next session at MidemNet sees four speakers talk about how ISPs and the music industry could and should be working together. First up, Nicholas Lansan, secretary general of the UK's ISPA – a trade body for the ISPs.He kicks off with some figures – 16.5 million UK households connected to broadband internet. Around 48% of the European population is now connected. And then some figures proving how many Brits are downloading or listening to music on the internet.Now to the barriers. Rights negotiations and acquiring licences across borders is time-consuming (“if possible at all”). Big websites have stopped buying licences because of the cost of streaming music. And among consumers, there's a lack of understanding of copyright issues, and frustrations with DRM.“The quality of downloads is a real bugbear,” he says. “Ironically, lossless downloads are only offered on pirate services.”So ISPs and the music biz must work together – educating people on why they shouldn't be downloading illegally, and providing them with attractive alternatives.”Discussions in the UK have been ongoing since 2006, and the UK government stands ready to impose legislation on the industries should an agreement fail to be reached,” he says, talking about the UK government's work with [...]