http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7837605.stm
andhe music business has finally come to terms with file-sharing, according to executives at the Midem conference in Cannes. But now they have a different problem.
Until recently, the music industry was in a blind panic about illegal peer-to-peer downloading.
Millions upon millions of fans are spreading music around the world, and the people who made and own it don't see a dime.
A vast 95% of all digital music comes from unlicensed sources, according to a recent estimate from the global trade body the IFPI.
But the blind panic now seems to have stopped.
The Recording Industry Association of America, which represents US labels, has traditionally been the most aggressive in chasing file-sharers.
But it has just announced that it will no longer sue suspected offenders.
Interesting to say the leastThe industry seems to have reached a conclusion that the strategies for fighting file-sharing will not work.
It is now a fact of life.
But now there is a new panic.
If we are not going to stop file-sharing, and with sales falling, the dilemma now goes "how do we make money now?"
That is the question dominating Midem, the main annual industry talking shop.
Howie Singer from Warner Music said his company wanted to see "compensation and not simply control".
"It's interesting to be in a business where there's no issue about creating demand for your product," he said. "The issue is finding a way to get paid for it."
