What Does 9-0 Mean for Music?

I was surprised that the Supreme Court ruled 9-0 that file sharing websites Grokster and Morpheus can be held liable when their users pirate music. (Frankly, given the composition of the Court, I was even more surprised that the justices could agree on anything 9-0). So now what? Will the technology stop evolving? Will file-sharers stop sharing music, legally or otherwise? Will armies of music industry attack lawyers arresting pre-teens for downloading unauthorized music act as a deterrent for those who are committed to getting their music any way they can?

I don’t think so. I have friends in the music industry, and I truly empathize with their predicament. Yes, I agree that intellectual property is being stolen, just like it is when people tape a TV show or copy a DVD, using a VCR, a PC, a TiVo or anything else that is somehow socially okay to do without fear of legal retribution. Perhaps we ought to start taking a similar mindset to music, because when it comes to music, the reality is twofold:

First, the advances in technology are relentless. No lawyer or judge or politician can stop them. Every time the industry sues one group or shuts down a website, ten new digital sources for file-sharing pop up that are more legally and technologically bulletproof. Besides, many of the sites are moving offshore, away from the long arm of U.S. law.

Secondly, imagine if the industry could accept that some people will always seek free goods, but that a vast number of current “underserved non-customers” would gravitate—with dollars-- towards any vendor that capitalized on the technologies rather than defied them, and made those technologies more user-friendly, hassle-free, and fun to use. The legal music platforms at Apple, Yahoo, Napster, Starbucks et al should be starting points in corporate innovations that capitalize on cutting edge file-sharing technologies and take them to new (legal) possibilities that excite and delight customers. Do that, and people will pay. Gladly. And more computer-phobic people will start downloading authorized music, and paying. Gladly. The alternative for the industry, regardless of the unanimous Supreme Court ruling, is pretty grim.

And you know, since I’m a big believer that leaders who make important decisions should never make them in an isolated, analytically detached vacuum, I can’t help but wonder how many of those Supreme Court justices have ever downloaded any music off the web, legally or not.