The problem is that IMRO will be forever chasing down websites who host music.
It's very simple to create a website and then load up some Mp3's on to it.
If this is made difficult through legislation, then it will be relatively easy to recreate another scenario where someone can create a website for hosting music in a new format.
When something like this descends into a legal mire - where the costs of catching someone and then proving they've caused an offence totally outweighs the amount that will actually be retrieved - then the legislation should be seen as a pointless exercise.
Whether this is right or wrong is irrelevant. IMRO are going about this in a clumsy way and I believe their over-riding intentions are to represent the interests of Irish musicians.
But the idea that Mp3s and other electronic formats of recorded music are commodities that can be bought and sold is, well, ridiculous.
Musicians should be compensated for their efforts.
But it's not going to happen through the sales of MP3's.
The massive effort being put in to trying to create legislative boundaries around Mp3s should be transferred in to finding new ways to pay musicians, engineers, producers etc. for the music they make.
It's very simple to create a website and then load up some Mp3's on to it.
If this is made difficult through legislation, then it will be relatively easy to recreate another scenario where someone can create a website for hosting music in a new format.
When something like this descends into a legal mire - where the costs of catching someone and then proving they've caused an offence totally outweighs the amount that will actually be retrieved - then the legislation should be seen as a pointless exercise.
Whether this is right or wrong is irrelevant. IMRO are going about this in a clumsy way and I believe their over-riding intentions are to represent the interests of Irish musicians.
But the idea that Mp3s and other electronic formats of recorded music are commodities that can be bought and sold is, well, ridiculous.
Musicians should be compensated for their efforts.
But it's not going to happen through the sales of MP3's.
The massive effort being put in to trying to create legislative boundaries around Mp3s should be transferred in to finding new ways to pay musicians, engineers, producers etc. for the music they make.