Westminster eForum: Peter Jenner on digital content consumers

Next up at the Westminster eForum is Peter Jenner, emeritus president of the IMMF – a manager and “recovering economist”. He says he's going to look at copyright more from an economist's point of view, too, getting away from the law.”It seems to me that in the online world, the marginal cost of a digital file is essentially zero,” he says, making it an “inescapable reality” that the digital world is pushing the price of music towards zero.”If we rely on a copyright law – i.e. a right to copy law – we're clearly barking down a historical blind alley.” He says the comparison is making airline legislation based on the rail network. “There aren't many signals in the sky…”So, he criticises the “quasi-monopoly rights” of the international record companies, which have come up against a “huge problem” in the digital world.He goes on to talk about copyright – it gives creators an incentive to create, while consumers agree to it on the expectation of a stream of original and interesting content. At least, that's how Jenner says it traditionally works.”I don't like to use the word consumer in the context of the digital world though, because we do not [...]