BRONFMAN: STOP PIRATES,
NOT RUM

Seagram ruler edgar bronfman',390,400);">edgar bronfman',390,400);">Edgar Bronfman lashed out at Internet piracy at RealNetworks' Real Conference 2000 in San Jose today, saying that MP3 file-sharing and kindred copyright violations threaten the future of the Net and the music business itself.

"If the Internet should require an unfair and unjust paradigm to perpetuate itself, it will crack, crumble and collapse," he said. "Much the way the bootlegging of liquor by certain scofflaws ended the time-honored tradition of drunkenness."

Bronfman said that Seagram and its affiliated media companies would be working with Real to sell music legally online—and would also be cracking down on piracy via technology and litigation.

He singled out file-swapping services like Napster and Gnutella as "ringleaders" who justify theft with the claim that Net content should be free.

"Relentless enforcement of the rules against piracy is bound to stop those who illegally share music online," he added. "We just need a catchy name for it…I've got it: ‘Prohibition'!"