The "freedom" to use P2P services to "legally" download music in Canada could soon be a distant memory as the federal government plans to introduce amendments to Canada's copyright law. As it now stands following a Federal Court of Canada ruling last year, Canadians can download music but it's illegal to share it with others - figure that out if you can!
Naturally, the music industry is ecstatic. In a Canadian Recording Industry Association press release, The Orange Record Label president Steve Ehrlick dramatically says, "There wasn't a bank or a venture capitalist that would touch us — despite a business plan that was warmly received. It was because they considered the music industry to be the Wild West — no laws, no marshals and most importantly to them, no profits. I hear the opinion that copyright reform will stifle innovation. That's ludicrous. Proper laws encourage investment."
(Addendum: University of Ottawa professor Michael Geist said it will still be legal to download music, and that the music industry is not getting anything near what it wanted from Ottawa despite the upbeat content of the CRIA press release.)
It will be interesting to see if proper laws encourage better music. The music industry's focus on driving sales by appealing to the mass market has inundated us with too many Avril Lavignes and not enough Ron Sexsmiths - in my humble opinion. Too often, labels pursue high volume projects rather than high quality initiatives. Of course, that's a huge generalization that doesn't take into consideration the reality that Avril Lavigne CDs help labels pay the bills, but give me more Arcade Fire and Wilco and less Jimmy Eat World and Nickelback.
The music industry biggest challenge isn't copyright or shutting down P2P services but figuring out how it can take advantage of technology to drive sales in new and different ways. It's been six years since Napster appeared on the scene, and the music industry is still scrambling to find a business model for the 21st century.