Talkin' 'bout my g g g generation
"This house believes that 'the free music mentality' is a threat to the future of music", was tonights' debate at the Oxford Union. Now somewhere along the line I'd got all excited about the prospect of seeing Chuck D and Bruce Dickinson in some kind of celebrity death match showdown over digital music. You know, The Trooper vs Terminator X or something, but never mind, they both cancelled, leaving us with a number of record industry bigwigs to do the talking on both sides. Here's a quick rundown of the speakers...
In reverse order..
Ronnie Gurr, Founder of Richard Branson's V2 label (Against)
Jay Berman, President of the Federation of Phonographic Industries (For)
Doug D'arcy, Chrysalis (Against)
Chris Wright, Chairman, Chrysalis Media (For)
Nick King President of Nielsen Entertainment (Against)
Hilary Rosen, Chairman and CEO of the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) (For)
Will Harris, Student, Keble College, (Against)
Nick Pacheco, Student, Christchurch College (For)
Now, my original plan was to assemble some kind of coherent summary of the whole debate, notes about each speakers performance and so on. However I forgot to take a notepad, and to be honest, most of what was said has already been said plenty of times. For the record though Nick Pacheco may have come second in some world debating contest but until he learns to speak slowly, breathe between sentences and deliver his arguments in a manner that makes them somehow listenable he's never going to come first.
Fortunately the industry figures were up to snuff, presumably years in business provides an ability to talk that the Oxford tutorial system hasn't quite replicated yet and they were clear and cogent across the board. Both sides wasted no time in proving that they'd heard of Napster, Morpheus, Gnutella and co, but the technical debate got no further than that. Indeed aside from Hilary Rosen's insistance that no copy protected CD has been issued in America there was no desire to talk - or even mention tech in anything but the most general terms. So, what did they talk about?
On the for side was an impassioned plea to spare the music business, after all - without them who would find, distribute and publish the new music? Do we know, we were asked, just how long record companies back artists? It could be years, three, maybe four albums before they turn a profit, and as was quite sensibly pointed out, just because you can make money in the music business doesn't mean you can't lose it. I should say that I believe these people when they say they care about music, that much did come through. Its easy to say that the music industry is what pays their wages, but I'm pretty sure that at some level they believe that what they're doing is right. They have of course made huge emotional, financial and personal investments in the companies they run. You'd be surprised if they hadn't, but one or two cynics may have realised that at least to the managers (if not the shareholders) its not all about the money.
Against the motion was a combination of lambasting the industry for stifling creativity, foisting pop-stars, pop-idol and co onto the unsuspecting public, profiteering at the expense of the artists and - one of the more common words of the evening - 'incompetence'. It seems pretty clear that there is some commercial interest in embracing new ideas - maybe not at the level of the big five, but music distribution is on the agenda at some places. Doug D'arcy of Chrysalis even made a plea for a return to the 60's when musicians had to choose between playing free gigs (he assured us they wanted to) and playing paid gigs (they too had to pay the man...). The suggestion was a simple one, copy protection for those who want it, and the right to distribute for those who don't.
Now the last two speakers get their own write up - cause they were worth it.
Jay Berman is one of those old American businessmen who exude charisma just by opening their mouths. Make no mistake, the guy may have known he was on a losing side but he was a damn fine speaker. He didn't say much, probably the shortest speech of the night, and when he pointed out that everything that could be said had pretty much been said you got the feeling he wasn't so much talking about the night - as the last few years. He's heard it all and he's standing his ground, period. His one message though was this
"Each generation has had their own music. For your generation it's filesharing. And I think thats a pretty terrible thing"
I may be misquoting slightly, but thats the sentiment, we're going to be defined by our theft of intellectual property. It was powerful stuff, delivered with plenty of bombast, but to the audience it was just be a sign of how far the music industry has gone from its roots. This years kids? they're not cool anymore.
Ronnie Gurr summed up against with a pretty long speech, and while he took his time getting started (a mild scottish mumble of an accent didn't help the first minute or so) he turned it round in the end. Its all about the "Whats that?!" moment he said. That point where you hear a tune and have to have it. He said nice things, he told us we weren't criminals for downloading music and he had enough command of the evidence to make his case well. He also had the ace in his sleeve, Howard Berman's bill to legitimise hacking by copyright holders and the massive donations he's recieved from the music industry. 'Pure coincidence' he assured us. Given that Berman had opened by telling us that "the music industry never hacked anyones computer" the introduction of the evidence that it was just waiting till it could purchase the required legislation pretty much ended the debate.
There was a final kick of defiance as Ronnie Gurr summed up with what was one too many assaults on the record industry's management, 'personal and offensive' was the gist of what Chris Wright was trying to say before some student shouted him down on a point of order. It didn't matter, most of the audience had gone to the bar, the result had been decided before the debate started, and whatever Bruce and Chuck had done with their evening off, they probably weren't regretting it.
Further coverage...
Need to Know
Nick at Magdalen
Always end with a quote
Imagine no possesions,
I wonder if you can,
No need for greed or hunger,
A brotherhood of man,
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...