Leave P2P users alone, says publisher

A leading music publisher has claimed that internet file sharing could actually improve the quality of music in the long term.

Ellis Rich, chairman of the Independent Music Group, suggested that the music industry is making a mistake by equating piracy with downloading by peer-to-peer users.

"Ultimately this could be good for the music industry," he told an industry roundtable.

Genuine piracy, which involves organised syndicates making multiple copies of music for resale, is causing direct damage to the music industry, said Rich.

Downloaders, on the other hand, hurt the industry less but are more high profile.

"Songwriters will have to produce albums full of good songs rather than a few good tracks and filling the rest of the album with padding," stated Rich.

"As for piracy most small MP3s [on the internet] are too low quality to be used in pirated media. I'm more concerned with attacking pirates than students."

At the roundtable, security access company Clearswift warned that companies should protect themselves against litigation, in case content providers turn their attention from individuals to companies that allow staff to download copyright material from the internet.

"The biggest threat to companies these days is copyright infringement," warned Paul Rutherford, chief marketing officer at Clearswift.

"Spam and viruses are offensive tactics and are highly visible, but IP isn't seen this way. But wait until you see the first executives in handcuffs and that attitude will change."