Stick or carrot?

Last April we brought you the news that Swedish file-sharing site Pirate Bay had been found guilty of breaking copyright law by a court in Sweden. At the time, this was considered a landmark ruling for the media industry's fight to stop its copyrighted material being distributed without its consent.

The early indications seem to be that the ruling is having a positive effect on music sales, with the Guardian newspaper yesterday reporting that the Swedish IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry) has said that Swedish music sales rose by 18 percent in the first nine months of this year, with much of that rise coming after April.

Legislators and the music industry the world over will be looking to Sweden as a precedent and may well conclude that this is concrete evidence that legal measures work. In August, UK business secretary, has shown an eagerness to go after file-sharers, but may find that new Europe-wide rules governing the telco sector dampen his zeal somewhat.

Speaking exclusively to HEXUS.channel recently, CEO of digital media site 7digital - Ben Drury - said the best way to combat piracy is to make the legal, paid-for services so good as to render the alternatives undesirable. And it's far from clear how much this uplift in Swedish music has come from the Pirate Bay ruling, as opposed to a general improvement if legal services like Spotify.

The Guardian piece concludes that, while the Pirate Bay ruling may have accelerated the move away from peer-to-peer platforms, there are plenty of other ways people can download music for free if they want to. It also suggests that many smaller bands actually benefit from file-sharing, as it can facilitate the spread of their music to markets they otherwise wouldn't have access to.

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