After years of hemorrhaging money from piracy, the music industry placed its faith in online subscription services like Spotify and Pandora. But a decade on, streaming music appears to be a triumph of hope over experience. Tim Carmody, senior writer for The Verge, says that streaming services and the music industry are clinging to the belief that profitability is ... just over the next hill.

Vitamin String Quartet - Champagne Supernova

A newly-released study from Columbia University gives the most comprehensive picture to date of digital media pirates. Bob talks with one of the study’s authors, Joe Karaganis, about what the findings mean for online copyright infringement and why the failure of a six strikes policy is only a matter of time.  

This week, a British high court declared the self-described "most resilient BitTorrent site" guilty of "massively infringing on copyright", and ruled that British ISPs must block access to the site. Since The Pirate Bay is infamous for telling legal interlopers to sodomize themselves with retractable batons, the team at The Pirate Bay doesn't seem too concerned.

OTM producer PJ Vogt and I have been very public about our love of a video game called Team Fortress 2 (or as we nerds call it, "TF2"). So much so that in April of last year, after much goading and pleading by the two of us, Bob spoke to Robin Walker, a developer for Valve Software, the company behind TF2. Specifically, we wanted to talk to him about the frequent statements that Valve has made to the press about how in order to beat video game piracy, content providers just have to make their product more enticing than the pirates could.

ROBIN WALKER: I think it’s looking at the things that pirates are providing and asking yourselves how you can provide something better than that. So, to pick an example, if you purchased a product from us, we're going to continue working on that product after we've released it. We're sort of making that initial purchase of the product significantly more valuable over time. And so, if you somehow manage to get it for free initially but not in a way that lets you plug into that system, you know, that’s going to be a big hassle for you as you continue to try and figure out how to get each of those incremental improvements over the next few years for free, as well. 

This week saw more then its share of internet drama. The US Government led a massive operation against the website MegaUpload. And dozens of major websites staged a blackout in protest of two proposed laws - the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect IP Act. Bob talks to Techdirt's Mike Masnick about the implications of the proposed legislation and the foment online.

In the face of strong criticism, the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect IP act have been shelved for the time being.  But the movie, music, television and video game industries continue to argue that they offer much needed protection against pirates outside the reach of American law enforcement. Steve Tepp of the business lobbying group the US Chamber of Commerce tells Bob that despite criticism, these bills are narrowly targeted and would protect copyright holders against pirates. 

Ramblin' Man - New Country Rehab