It seems that the music industry is planning the introduction of so-called music sheriffs in music stores by April 1, 2008 which happens to be today. According to a high level executive of one of the major brands their plan is to „fight copyright infringements at the root level“. As you first need to buy music before you can illegally share they identified the root level to be people buying music. By today this practice will be illegal.
The music industry (along with the movie industry) is lobbying for a long time now for stricter laws against illegal music sharing. Now they seem to have succeeded and both in the US and the EU buying music is now illegal. To protect the industry further there are plans to place music sheriffs in music stores which can handle people who still try to buy music. They will also patrol the streets and will go after any e.g. car radio playing music too loud and thus making protected assets available to listeners who do not own them.
As copyright infringements by illegal music sharing is on the rise for years the music industry did not see any other solution than going this route. They expect a severe decline in these activities already in the coming weeks and months. They expect the same to happen soon to DVDs and art in general.
Technorati Tags: musicindustry, drm, musicsheriffs, illegal, 0401