Get in Tune

There is little harmony in the world of music these days. Musicians are turning on fans who steal their work off the Internet, and both feel ripped off by the production giants of the music recording industry--musicians for having to sign take-it-or-leave-it contracts and fans for the high prices of CDs.

The Internet has reshuffled the deck for everyone, but business models are beginning to emerge that can make the Internet inhabitable for the musicians, listeners and recording companies. This will take technology, a bit of education and a lot of give and take.

The 1991 advent of MP3 compression technology, which makes files of near-CD-quality sound easy to download, has made the Internet a major distribution channel. Enterprising college students and others have turned their computers into virtual jukeboxes, assembling music libraries for which they pay little or nothing.

Access to the music is provided by Web companies like MP3.com, Napster and Gnutella. Of course, taking someone else’s property--and music is intellectual property protected by law--is theft, but to a vast number of fans, music theft goes hand in hand with the freewheeling nature of the Net. It also represents a revolt against the recording industry and its high prices.

The freeloaders get no sympathy from Warner, Sony, Universal, EMI and BMG, the big five record labels, which launched a barrage of lawsuits against infringing Web sites and a hunt for anyone downloading their music free. They also teamed up to create the Secure Digital Music Initiative, aimed at developing a foolproof way to deliver music digitally only to those who pay for it. They are right in disliking freeloaders but foolish in their single-minded pursuit of violators. Their claimed losses are grossly overstated, as evidenced by the soaring sales of CDs--up more than 6% last year and 9% in the first quarter of this year--and surveys showing the Internet has not changed CD-buying habits.

The producers should face reality and abandon their quest for secure digital technology, which would only encourage the rise of ways to defeat it. What the music companies should do is promote a more equitable, legal system for music distribution on the Net.

The artists themselves are divided. Rapper Chuck D says he wants music to flow unharnessed and unpaid. The band Metallica took its fans to court for copying its music from the Net, earning mostly scorn. Both approaches are wrong. Music will flourish on the Internet only if it provides financial rewards for creators and also takes listeners’ wishes into account.

A licensing deal among MP3.com and Warner and BMG, meant to settle litigation, would give the labels a small cut every time an MP3.com customer listens to their music. MP3.com hopes to generate revenue from online and offline advertising and by charging music clubs a fee for playing their material. Another good model is MCY.com, which distributes music for a small fee. That way, fans need not buy an expensive CD to hear one song, and the artist and label still get paid.

Each party in these disputes has a legitimate beef, but it’s the copyright that makes the music go round.