14 DAY TRIAL // And when I say that the Chief Executive Officer of Warner Music keeps piracy in the family, I mean that literally. Warner Music CEO Edgar Bronfman has been put in the position to combat music piracy on the streets, on the Internet and in his own house. And Bronfman, head of the world's fourth largest music company hesitated a little when it came to discipline members of his own family about bootlegged songs.
"I'm fairly certain that they have, and I'm fairly certain that they've suffered the consequences," Bronfman revealed to Reuters in an interview admitting that the Bronfman offspring were involved with downloads of pirated materials.
And while Warner Music is hard at work combating illegal music downloads and sharing over peer-to-peer networks, the phenomenon has crept into his own family. Apparently, Bronfman has eradicated the P2P ways of his children with a discourse about morality, legality and ethics.
"I explained to them what I believe is right, that the principle is that stealing music is stealing music. Frankly, right is right and wrong is wrong, particularly when a parent is talking to a child. A bright line around moral responsibility is very important. I can assure you they no longer do that."
However, he failed to make public the nature of the punishment administered: "I think I'll keep that within the family." But it is safe to assume that a hefty financial penalty from RIAA is out of the question.
But the case goes to show that, in fact, there is only one way of stopping the piracy phenomenon, be it on P2P networks or not, from becoming a universal truth. Education. Education within the family and education of the consumers.