COMMERCE IN THE ERA OF FREE – A COMMON CHALLENGE FOR CREATIVE INDUSTRIES

“There is a tsunami of digital theft on the internet that extends across multiple content sectors, most notoriously affecting music but also spreading across TV, movies, games, software and books. The challenge is to stop this undermining the evolution of very exciting and enormously positive legitimate digital distribution capabilities.” Rick Cotton, general counsel , NBC-Universal. “This was the most viewed TV production in the American history, and the overwhelming access for online viewers was at nbcolympics.com - and the thing that essentially eliminated pirated Olympic content from video sharing sites was content recognition and filtering.” Rick Cotton, general counsel , NBC-Universal. “The infrastructure industries need to come to the table to help reduce the flow of stolen content. We are now seeing many forms of dialogue, and those are absolutely critical to reducing both physical and digital piracy.” Rick Cotton, general counsel , NBC-Universal. “The question for the book industry, watching the music industry, is that if that whole idea of people buying individual works is going to disappear, then how are writers going to make a living in the future? ” Tracy Chevalier, author of Girl With A Pearl Earring “The alarm bells start ringing when you hear from the music business that for 95 per cent of all the tracks downloaded, there is no payment going to the artist.” Tracy Chevalier, author of Girl With A Pearl Earring “It’s a complicated task you have because as well as changing legislation and shutting down illegal sites, there needs to be a broader education effort to get people to appreciate that getting stuff for free means the creator doesn’t get paid.” Tracy Chevalier, author of Girl With A Pearl Earring