Compromise could close music debate
by Bernie Scheffler, editor-in-chief

    Years after the entertainment industry first cried out against Napster and other online music sharing communities, not much has changed.

   The entertainers are still pushing for stricter digital copyright laws, while consumers are still feverishly copying and downloading music.

   Consumers, however, need to realize that if musicians, who own the rights to the content being copied, are not getting paid, soon there will be nobody willing to actually produce the music.

   The funny thing is, we’ve been down this road before with the introduction of videos and video players.

   When VCRs first became available to consumers, the entertainment industry tried to get the Supreme Court to ban the retail sale of the devices.

   The court rejected the appeal, and subsequently the industry found even more ways of making money.

   With VCRs in nearly every household with a television, video rentals are taken for granted today as a profitable business.

   That should prove that there is an option that will allow both consumers and industry to come out ahead. So far, the problem is that neither side wants to compromise.

   Lawmakers in Canada came up with a unique idea (yes, even the land that spawned such evils as Celine Dion has good ideas once in awhile).
   The Canadian government proposed that a tax be levied on all CD rewriting materials—both the writers themselves and blank CDs.

   The proceeds of the tax would be distributed among recording artists who were losing money from the piracy of their recordings.

   Obviously, the logistics of such an approach are near impossible.

   How would the money be divided?

   Would poorer artists get more, like musical welfare?
Or would the more successful artists get more because they are more frequently downloaded?

   The point is, there are many ways to approach such a problem.

   But until both the entertainment industry and consumers commit to compromising a little, progress will continue to be nonexistent.