If your business is driven by youth trends, tastes and young wallets, you should worry if you find yourself suing children.
This is the situation that occured in the US last year when Brianna Lahara was sued by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for $2,000. Brianna is 12 years old.
At Collaborate Marketing we believe that having a current and accurate picture of the market you operate in is vital.
But now the RIAA's UK cousin, the British phonographic Industry (BPI) -- sounds like an up-to-date organisation, eh? -- is about to do the same.
Both organisations rail against the disgraceful activities of downloaders that will bring the industry to its knees etc....
Modern Marketing would suggest this legal action is the wrong route for two reasons:
Firstly, it suggests that the industry is out-of-touch with its market. Downloading is just like recording music from the radio and in most cases people end up buying the tunes they like, either on CD or a legal MP3. Yes, a few people will then burn CDs and start selling them on. But that's just criminal activity which happens everywhere.
Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, it won't work. People will disguise their IP addresses and we all know that when you are younger it's cool to be bad.
The industry needs a different solution. How about advertising on Kazaa and WinMX offering a discount for people who go legal and promote the benefits of better sound quality.
Modern marketing is about understanding modern markets.
Comments