The Pelican’s Perch

I wrote this on the LemonDrop blog tonight, but I want your thoughts on this article as well so I’m going to post it here too.

“New federal legislation says universities must agree to provide not just deterrents but also “alternatives” to peer-to-peer piracy, such as paying monthly subscription fees to the music industry for their students, on penalty of losing all financial aid for their students.”

I was checking Digg tonight when I came across this article about yet another brilliant move by the RIAA, this time coupled with the movie industry. Since when does entertainment trump getting a solid education? Taking away everyone’s financial aid because the university you go to doesn’t comply with “testing alternatives” to downloading music and movies through P2P is one of the most ridiculous things I’ve heard in a long time. There seems to be no real hiding the fact that politicians are being bought here. Any congressman that cares about education would laugh at this proposal. If I was them I’d say “Sorry your industry is dying and you’re all too stubborn to embrace new technology, but these are our kids we’re talking about. Our future, and if you think I’m going to threaten schools and take money away from the kids our future is going to be built on you must be crazy”. Of course, the reality appears to be quite the opposite and that’s sad. I hate getting political, but this was just something that floored me, now being in the music industry myself, and I’m pretty ashamed at the moment to be part of an industry that would make this ultimatum a reality. At least I can sleep better at night knowing we’re working hard here at LemonDrop to truly further the music industry rather than save an admittedly dead business model like is currently being done.

Alright, check out the article and I’d love to hear everyone’s thoughts. Leave a comment if you want.