According to the Wall Street Journal, the Recording Industry of America (RIAA) is going to abandon their strategy of mass law suits against individual file-sharers in search of a more effective way to combat illegal file-sharing. The campaign has been a PR disaster for the RIAA and critics say that it has done little to actually stop file-sharing. The RIAA are exploring new ideas that involve (through a relationship with Internet Service Providers) giving users several notices and then shutting off their internet service if they continue to file-share illegally. For a more in-depth article go here.
Commentary:
It is about about time that RIAA realized how ineffective their lawsuits have been. The absolute mismanagement of who was sued and the PR around the law suits has hurt the music industry more than it has helped it by lowering consumer confidence in the industry as a whole. Working with the ISPs is a step in the right direction but the music industry has to come to terms with the fact that the decline in sales has more to do with the decline in the economy and the diversification of entertainment available then with file sharing.
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