EMI boss loves file sharing
3 Apr 2008 | 07:43 BST
Wishes they would stop suing
THE BOSS of EMI's digital unit has come out saying that he is dead set against suing fans for file sharing.
Douglas Merrill, who is a refugee from Google, has told CNET that he is passionate about data and he has seen data that shows that file sharing is actually good for artists.
He said he is not sure about this, but he does not think the music business should be working out ways to stop it all the time. He said he was generally speaking against suing fans.
He added that, obviously, there is piracy that is quite destructive but again the data shows that, in some cases, file sharing might be OK.
Merrill added that what the record companies need to do is understand when filesharing is good and when it is not good. But he added that suing fans didn't feel like a winning strategy.
He is still mulling over his plans for success. The idea he is looking at is to adopt subscription or ISP fees. Merrill sees both of these as interesting. He is also considering targeted advertising but he does not want to limit his options.
Either way many people think that Merrill's approach should have been adopted by the music industry around the time that it was suing Napster. µ
L'Inq
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