France hates the Internet, something we’ve firmly established in the past. In fact, they hate the Internet, and especially piracy, so much they established a “three-strikes” law, one of the harshest in the free world. Steal music three times, and no Internet for you!
Needless to say, it worked. Piracy declined.
You know what else declined? Revenue collected by the French music industry. It took a 3.9% hit, which isn’t industry killing but isn’t good, either.
We’re torn, because we don’t know whether to blame this on music industry shortsightedness or the French music industry (seriously, have you heard French hip-hop?). But one of the points we’ve been making is that a song that’s pirated is not necessarily a sale lost…something the French just accidentally proved for us.
(Image courtesy Shutterstock)
