When it comes to music, value is in the ear of the listener.

Value is always decided by the market. It’s a fundamental economics principle that Universal Music Group and the RIAA can’t seem to grasp—at least based on their latest propaganda initiative against music piracy in the US via Facebook, called Music Rights Now.

The lawsuits may have stopped, but that doesn’t mean the music industry and its trade group the RIAA has toned down its crusade against unsanctioned peer-to-peer file-sharing. Negotiations, label and lobbying sources say, have been underway with Internet service providers for more than a year, as the U.S. music industry is pushing ISPs to follow the leads of many European countries in adopting policies that limit or curtail Web access of those who are deemed as infringing users. Today, Universal Music Group Distribution took its fight online, launching a Facebook page in conjunction with the RIAA to promote the issue. (Universal goes social with ISP campaign | LA Times)

You can’t break nature. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. When it comes to music, value is in the ear of the listener—not any record company. Think about this: would you pay $400 for a Big Mac? Of course not. McDonalds knows this and they’ve based their prices to be competitive in the market.

Do we really want the music industry controlling our ISP’s? The group Music Rights Now would be more appropriately named Denying Reality Now. In time the laws will change because the market demands it. Instead of fighting piracy we should be finding ways to legalize/monetize its behavior.
[see An Infinite Freeway For Music Business?]