Pirates, Property and Privatization

Abstract

When I joined the music industry in 1992, the unauthorized copying of recorded music was not top of the list of economic threats to the corporation. Bootlegging, which is a term used for the exploitation of unauthorized recording of live music concerts, was at least as big a concern, especially in the US. As for the unauthorized copying of authorized recordings, the campaign which had been launched in the 1980s under the Jolly Roger logo of a cassette and crossbones,¹ and which declared that ‘Home Taping is Killing Music’, had run its course. It was parodied, and at least partially discredited by the sustained healthy growth of the music industry in developed markets.

No black flags with skull and crossbones, no cutlasses, cannons, or daggers identify today’s pirates. You can’t see them coming; there’s no warning shot across your bow. Yet rest assured the pirates are out there. [ ] The pirate’s credo is still the same — why pay for it when it’s so easy to steal

(RIAA website MusicUnited.org, cited by Reyman 2010, p. 63)