This is nice. Today the European Commission allowed a French program which would subsidise legal music downloads for young people. The program called “The Carte Musique” is specifically designed to combat illegal downloads by getting young people to pay for music which is heavily discounted by the government itself.
The program gives younger people between 12 to 25 years old about $50 to spend on music downloads and subscriptions. They purchase the same card for half the price while fifty percent of the cost is subsidised by the government. This program was launched after numerous complaints and the increasing instances of piracy in France.
The service is set to launch in the next few weeks and the European Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia praised the scheme. He said in a statement, “We welcome initiatives from member states to increase the availability of music online at a lower price for consumers and through legal distribution channels. Music online is certainly a driver for the success of the Internet and for economic development.”
This could only help in reducing piracy to a certain extent but such a scheme will never work for the long run. As more and more youngsters find out it is easier to download than spend $25 for $50 worth music.