The case around these downloads is of course very different from the problem of illegal downloads (via file sharing or the like). This has less to do with the general problems of copyright, and far more to do with the question of what public service should be on the Internet. In Denmark we have a quite strong tradition of public service through radio and TV, but  as the Internet takes on the role as the main mass media that tradition will of course be put under pressure by those who wishes for a world of only private, non state-subsidized media.

DR (the Danish Radio) is doing a lot to create a new tradition of public service through the internet (as is the BBC in England), and the offering of Mozart symphonies for free is of course a part of this attempt to take state subsidized media to the internet. It goes without saying that those who's ideal is a more or less completely private media market, based on free competition (with the USA as a model), are doing their best to stop these moves; and the move from TV and radio to the internet opens up the old fronts in the fight over visions for the media landscape.

This is why the claims of unfair competition are important. There are already a lot of attacks on the public service TV and radio stations in Europe from commercial stations, and the battle is raging in the EU commission as well as through the EU court. But in this area the commercial interests faces stiff opposition because there is already such a firm tradition in place in those EU countries that have strong state funded public service media. Not so on the web, where public service is still something new and untried. In Denmark, for example, the main government party Venstre has proposed that DR should finance the content on the web by charging users directly (through subscriptions and the like) and only use the license money for the traditional areas of public service. I am sure the BBC is facing similar attempts to curtail their online activities.

So behind the simple pleasant fact of now being able to download classical music legally and for free, a complex political game is going on, with public service stations trying to secure their role in society, as the media landscape is changing.

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Disclaimer: before I moved to Madrid I worked as a freelancer for the music area on the webpage of the Danish Radio.


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