
Class, innit?
Well, I, for one, enjoyed it immensely (apart from an unfortunate spelling error - up with which we ought not to put.)
3 publicly visible posts • joined 10 Oct 2007
Is it my imagination or has El Reg run a number of articles expressing the viewpoint that a tax/licence/hypothecated tax model might solve the problem of monetizing the digital music download market to the benefit of the artists, labels AND consumers? If that is right (and personally I believe the idea has merit) why would it not apply to the visual broadcasting media as well? I know that this is a way of saying, with longer words "I would gladly pay the licence fee twice over....blah blah blah" but, actually, having lived in France, USA, Ireland and Germany I think that the current UK model has some significant advantages and we would junk it at our peril. Of course there are some negatives to the taxation model, but show me a model that has no drawbacks and I'll show you some poor analysis, optimistic assumptions and faulty premises.
Oh, and another thing: I am afraid this is a prime example of a situation where "public opinion" is being confused with "what the newspapers are saying" (cf. pretty much every moral panic of the last 30 years) and, since the newspapers are not exactly disinterested here (Prop. R Murdoch) then this is a danger we need to be very aware of.