Following on from my last post, I’ve just been reading the far more eloquent Lawrence Lessig’s ‘In Defence of Piracy‘, published on the Wall Street Journal. (Hat tip to Doc Searls).
I also heard on the radio this morning, that letters sent by Internet Service Providers about the penalties for illegal downloads have seen a 10 per cent drop in the total of illicit goods. I’ll find the exact figures etc later today, but the inevitable problem is that the 30 second report revealed that numbers of downloads amongst teenagers haven’t dropped at all.
So the older generation, which is still used to physical items to store music, and has far more to lose in a ridiculous court case (See the fine for Jammie Thomas) has stopped – and teenagers and digital natives are continuing as normal. Is that really a surprise?
It doesn’t really seem a success when you’re continuing to alienate the future of your business.
So saying that the music audience over the age of 20 is more familiar with music in physical formats than those under 20 is ageist?
Or the fact they are more likely to have financial commitments, careers, houses etc?
I’m not saying people over 20 or 30 can’t be downloading music illegally, or won’t know how – I’m just saying that they’re not going to be as tied in, in general, to digital formats, and more likely to revert to physical formats. Plus they have more assets to be sued for.
They’re also, in general, going to have less disposable income for entertainment, particularly in the current financial crisis. I spend far less on music etc than I did before – not due to piracy, but because my money goes on mortgages, heating, petrol etc.
still with the age-ist thing…