Well, that was an exciting day.
By noon, it looked like I’d be speaking on behalf of Digital Rights Ireland on UCD FM.
By 4ish that has switched to appearing with Dick Doyle, CEO of IRMA, on the Last Word on Today FM, discussing IRMA’s announcement of new legal action against uploaders.
Campus to National Radio in four hours. I ought to give lectures on the secret of my success.
I think I did satisfactorily. I’ve yet to hear it myself. I’m told the morbidly patient will find it archived here 22 minutes in. But you’ll need Windows Media Player to listen to it. And the most recent iteration of same doesn’t really work for up to date macs.
With just a bit more time, I’d have made a few additional points. I’ll link to those when I have them collected.
UPDATE: Here are those points now.
6 Comments
I have just had a listen to that broadcast. I think you did a good job of getting the most important points in there with what little time you had. I am very disturbed by the way IRMA or should I say Dick Doyle talks, it sounds like he is on a very personal agenda, “when I take legal action against them??? rather than “we??? speaking as a representative of IRMA. His point of view was very closed, aggressive and it seems he wants to rail road his personal vendetta across the whole country.
He continually avoided the question regarding the very reason why people download, the major reason being the ridiculous cost of CD’s in this country. He refused to acknowledge this and went on to only comment on the “great value??? of iTunes 99c downloads. Again when asked about putting your music on your digital media player from your CD, he would only comment on your right to put iTunes downloads onto your media player. I wonder is he getting some funding from Apple to take these cases as he seems to be a sales person for their products.
Maybe IRMA and Mr. Doyle should concentrate more on promoting Irish artists around the country and pushing for airtime for their music on Irish radio. It is incredibly difficult for an Irish artist to get his/her music exposed because our radio stations are flooded with over commercialised imports from the U.K. and U.S. Indeed it seems one of the best ways for Irish community to hear Irish artist is to listen to music that is shared around over the internet, we will then get a real idea of what artists are out there. Is IRMA really representing the best interests of its members? I think not. Using scare tactics to alienate the Irish consumer, and forcing us to pay for over priced CD’s will only create distain for the Irish music industry and another reason for the Irish community to moan about the “State We’re In???. IRMA might as well just sign onto the payroll in Sony BMG and the other major record labels (I mention Sony in light of this
recent development) for helping them maximise profits, rather creating a fair and sustainable market for consumers and the music industry. But as with most legal and legislative developments in Ireland we will most likely be a few years behind the rest of the world in realising the benefits of a music and file sharing community.
I could ramble on forever about this, but this is nothing, we are all aware of unfair market that we try and buy from, as consumers though we should keep the pressure up. Actively source Irish artists, SHARE their music and buy from local independent record stores that have reasonable prices or buy from online retailers with reasonable prices. Maybe we will some day see CD prices go from €25 back down to €15 again. Keep up the fight.
As a side, this would also be a good reason to support events like Adbuster.org’s “Buy Nothing Day???.
Stephen Judge
[…] Dick Doyle, CEO of IRMA (lol at flash intro), and Simon McGarr of Digital Rights Ireland on the Last Word, Today FM being interviewed about the new round of litigation against music file sharers. Direct WMV link It’s 22 minutes in. Interesting. via. […]
I hope when you’re a rich and famous celebrity you won’t forgot those of us who err made you what you are.
There was a degree of slickness on the part of Dick Doyle – I guess he’d been doing the rounds and had his patter down by the time he got to todayfm.
He seemed a bit baffled at being challenged by someone – so fair play to TodayFM for bringing some balance into the debate.
To paraphrase Shakespeare:
If music be the half-caf latte of love, then ITunes is great value…..
…Mr Doyle’s argument basically boiled down to “you get ripped off for your coffee so you shouldn’t mind being burned for music”. By that logic a flat in Artane is good value as it only costs as much as 150,000 cups of coffee.
Celtictigger says grrrrhhhh…
Just been reading your piece for a newspaper article I’m researching about this whole area for this coming Sunday. Does anybody know of anyone who has either been convicted as a result of previous IRMA action or is one of the 23 people currently facing action? If so, could someone drop me a line? [email protected]
My first credit card! I dream of it as nobody would approve me! Please advise what to do – I applied so frequently my score is almost at ground… My friend said that Bank of America issues cards for students ansd I need one for purchases. My college mate is suggesting a web site but I don’t believe it.
Excellent Credit Card