| How much of the $87M went toward legal fees? Lots of negotiation here. The technology is trivial by comparison. Thinking out loud... Has any publisher managed to control their content in the digital age? Academic publishers still manage to keep their content under control. How? The cost of a subscription is exorbitant. Only large entities can afford it. The large entities, e.g. universities or large firms, pass on the cost to their customers, e.g. students or clients/customers. There's also the small fact that the content is not marketed heavily and in high demand among the general population. Unlike music. Perhaps music should only be marketed to customers who can afford it: large entities. It wouldn't stop piracy by individuals but it would ensure the existence of some customers who were willing and able to pay, and to refrain from piracy. Imagine a situation where working for a large firm or attending a university gives you a temporary subscription to a vast catalog of not only academic journals but also major label music. It would be a huge perk. Yes there would be piracy, but the large firms would have an incentive to try to stop it. They know who their employees and students are and could no doubt do a better job preventing piracy than the RIAA lawyers have done. Whatever might happen, the labels would still make money from exorbitantly-priced subscriptions. Nah, it would never work. |