Like many across the world, we have been following the Pirate Bay trial closely. Some call it “the trial of the century”. This may not be an overstatement, as the stakes are high indeed. The major Record Lables, along with most of hollywood, are mounting charges against pirate bay for accessory to breaking copyright law by helping millions of Internet users download protected works. The future policy concerning how to handle the question of file sharing of copyright, as well as the future of the music business, will be directly influenced by its outcome. Rather than give you the low down of the trial proceeding we thought we would provide some good links from which you can follow the trial.

The Local – A Swedish news service reporting in English. They have great up to date reporting on the developments of the Pirate Bay trial.

WIRED - as always, the folks at wired are writing interesting and insightful articles about the Pirate Bay trial. Don’t forget to check the links on the “see also” section, and the hundreds in insightful comments.

The independent – Reporting by a major newspaper in the UK.

The Pirate Bay – Pirate bay have a dedicated area of the sit focussing on the trial. Always a fun read.

The above video is an except from a documentary called “Before the music dies”, we posted an article about it a little while back. Provocative, or what? What this clip tries to get across is that there is something “soulless” about pop music made under these conditions, and they may well be right. But surely not all pop music fits this category? Many pop artists possess some kind of talent, they can dance and sing, and have struggled to hone their craft just like any other performer, right? People like them for a reason. What this clip does illustrate is a darker side of the music industry, a dishonest side, where music is created not for the joy of self expression on the part of the artists, but with a naked profit motive in mind in which the artist is just a vehicle. All in all, this clip raises some interesting questions.

A little while back we wrote an article about the so called “music like water” debate. The idea behind “music like water” is that instead of paying a per unit price to purchase music, listeners instead pay a fixed price to stream music from an existing library. For some, this set up signals the future of the music consumption. For some, the reinstatement or a centralised distribution/consumption oligopoly.  However, these fears should be allayed, for there are some great streaming services now on the market, such as Spotify, Last FM , Deezer, Lala, Napster which are determined to keep their library open and diverse.

From a listener perspective, streaming services have some distinct up-sides. Subscription based services generally allow streaming of unlimited amounts of music until the subscription expires – this makes the music they listen to “feel free” even though the artists are earning money from their music. Advertising based services work in the same way, though you might have to put up with advertising in between songs or some banners here and there. This “feeling free” aspect is quite in tune with how many listeners would prefer to engage with music, and may well dissuade them from not paying for their music – which is great for artists. Though pay out structures vary between services, artists usually receive money based on the percentage of times their music has been played relative to total plays.

Streaming services provide a viable option to those who would like to listen to music for a fixed cost or don’t mind advertising. Streaming services which are similar to radio in that they decide what track comes next (e.g. Last FM) lend themselves well to music discovery, whereas click-to-play services (e.g. Spotify), allow people to chose exactly which track they want to play. All in all, providing the mechanism is in place to make sure artists receive their share from the revenues, and that streaming libraries remain open and accessible, streaming services provide a good balance to the per-unit structure many of us are accustomed to.