While France’s three-strike "Hadopi" law targeting illegal downloaders of copyrighted material came across as harsh to some critics, the country has come up with a novel approach to cut down on music piracy—the government will partially fund the purchase of music.
France’s plan is to sell pre-paid cards to be used to purchase music, with the catch, according to the BBC, that cards valued at 50 euros will cost only 25 euros when bought. The government will pick up the other half of the tab.
The cards, targeted towards 12-25 year olds, will only be able to be used on participating websites and consumers will be limited to buying one card per year. If the target of one million cards sold is reached, the initiative could cost France 25 million euros (approximately $35.1 million U.S.) over a two-year period.
Music retailers will also be asked to cut prices and contribute towards a marketing campaign for the cards.
The European Commission is okay with the scheme, with EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia stating, “The scheme will contribute to preserving pluralism and cultural diversity in the online music industry.”
Comments
Re: France Wants to Subsidize Music Purchases
This is about the dumbest idea I've ever seen! If the government is subsidizing it, that just means it's being paid for by the taxpayers. So you're being forced to subsidize other people's music purchases, and you can still be kicked off the Internet for downloading? That is a crock of shit. It's a double kick to the balls.
Re: France Wants to Subsidize Music Purchases
I agree completely. Plus they will probably put some limit on the use of this card so it might not cover all available music anyway. Perhaps I can only use it in stores to buy CDs, in which case it won't help users who download from itunes or it might not work on certain smaller venders of limited edition releases. In any event, the government shouldn't be subsidizing companies that can't stay afloat through traditional methods. If they can't do the job properly, let them crash and burn and someone else will take their place if there is money to be made.