How downloading could be made legal

Downloading music from the net could become legal if users paid for it through their ISP, music industry representatives say. They are now inviting ISPs to work with them to make this vision a reality.

The Internet is a wonderful tool for sharing music among people all over the world at the click of a mouse. As we see it, sanctions and legal proceedings against file sharers cannot be the long-term fix for music creators missing out on royalties through the illegal sharing of music over the Internet. Instead we are inviting ISPs to work with us to develop a new type of Internet plan under which music downloading will be legal. This could be done by ISPs signing license agreements with STIM and other rights holders.

Music is the biggest single category in the ever-increasing volume of files and data exchanged between computer users worldwide. We swap more songs, playlists, music recommendations and music ads over the Internet than we do anything else. This is a fact that everyone who works in music should welcome—it shows what an important place music holds in people’s lives.

Trench warfare

But at the same time a trend is developing which sooner or later is bound to come into collision with the growing importance of music in our lives. More and more people are perceiving music as something that is free and should be free. The result is that the artists who create the music are finding it harder to make money from their work, and in time this will undermine music-making itself in a way that not many people would want to see.

Until now the debate about file sharing and copyright has been conducted like an intensifying trench warfare between two irreconcilable camps. On the one side there are calls for continued ownership of artistic property on the net, increased control over the online exchange of music and other products, and a single-minded focus on the prosecution of illegal file sharing. While the other side mutters about an approaching police state and seems happy to toss out the copyright baby with the bathwater.

Clear laws

Obviously we must have laws that allow the effective prosecution of systematic criminal activity. In Sweden we need to update our legislation to European standard—we are behind the pack when it comes to having effective means of going after openly illegal activity online. Laws that state clearly what is and what is not allowed will always have an important place in shaping popular attitudes to copyright on artistic materials. But they will never be the whole solution.

The more fundamental issue is how we can bring about a situation that will benefit musicians and Internet users alike. A new paradigm is needed that will guarantee the creators of music proper remuneration for their work while leaving users free to enjoy all the freedom and flexibility of the net. In the debate so far, such proposals have been conspicuous by their absence.

Common solution

The file sharing phenomenon, in which large networks of Internet users upload music and other files to be copied by others, exploits the full potential of Internet technology, making large volumes of music available for download anywhere in the world by quite simple means.

We want to sit down and talk with ISPs about what we and they can do to offer users a way of paying through their Internet charges for the music streaming through the providers’ networks — a way of making their music surfing legal.

Typically it will mean increasing the ordinary Internet user’s monthly charge by an amount related to the overall use of music on the net. In return, they will be free to legally download music from the net for their own use.

What will make this possible is for providers to sign licensing agreements with STIM and other rights societies—just as radio stations, supermarket chains and sports facilities do today. We are hoping to get other representatives of music right holders on board.

We can understand providers’ objections to having what they perceive as a law enforcement role thrust upon them. But we believe they will realise it is in their commercial interest to be able to offer services with added value over those they can offer today—services that will let customers use the Internet in a way that conforms to their own moral code and sense of fairness, without special action on their part.

Free and legal

To begin with, perhaps, one or two providers will have to take the lead with an “ethical” broadband offering. An obvious target group is parents worried about their Internet connection being used by teenage offspring for illegal file sharing. But in time we hope that ‘legal free Internet’ will become the new norm, offered as standard by ISPs to private customers.

There are many technical, economic and legal hurdles to overcome before the proposal we have outlined can become a reality. Among other things, we must be careful to avoid negative consequences for existing legal music services. But we are convinced that the way to find tomorrow’s solutions is by sitting down together and talking through the problems, not by digging deeper and deeper trenches.

Kenth Muldin
CEO, STIM (Swedish Performing Rights Society)

Gunnar Petri
Chair, STIM

Sten Melin
Chair, FST (Swedish Composers Society)

Alfons Karabuda
Chair, SKAP (Swedish Society of Popular Music Composers)

Kjell-Åke Hamrén
Chair, SMFF (Swedish Music Publishers Association)

About STIM (Swedish Performing Rights Society)

A not-for-profit incorporated association, owned by music creators and their publishers and acting in their interests
Has 60,000 members.
Looks after the rights of music creators as defined in the Swedish Copyright Act
Grants licenses for the use of music
Distributes royalties to music creators and their publishers
Works with sister organisations all over the world