Radiohead: Filesharing good for music biz

The trial of Joel Tenenbaum is rapidly shaping up as a referendum on the harm of file-sharing, or lack thereof.

Thus the star witness in Harvard law prof Charles Nesson's defense of Tenenbaum will be Radiohead manager Brian Message, MediaPost reports (via Ray Beckerman.

When Radiohead released In Rainbows as a freeware (pay what you want) digital download, the band sold 1.75 million copies of the commercial (pay what you're told to pay) release. Message will testify that compares very favorably to Amnesiac's 900,000 sales and Hail to the Thief's 990,000.

Nesson says Message is

leading a wonderful group of U.K. artists who are coming out in favor of the idea of non-commercial sharing among music fans. It's clear that one of the issues that's at play in the case is this idea that there's been tremendous damage done to the music business. While there may have been some damage done to the CD business, the music business is going to be saved by readjusting and developing these exciting new business models that are consistent with a digital environment.

Nice point, but relevant to Nesson's fair-use defense of Tenenbaum? Wendy Seltzer, a digital rights lawyer formerly with EFF, privately told Nesson:

I think it would be more convincing to argue that Joel's conduct was 'fair' as an ethical matter than to claim that it meets the legally established category of 'fair use.'