U2's manager Paul McGuinness addressed the music industry with a rather pathetic speech at MIDEM's first International Manager Summit this week. McGuinness believes ISPs (Internet service providers) are largerly responsible for the decline in music sales and should start filtering p2p traffic and take responsibility for the content their customers are downloading and files they share.

Oh boy. Here we go again!

Today, there's a bigger issue and it's about the whole relationship between the music and the technology business. Network operators, in particular, have for too long had a free ride on music — on our clients' content. It's time for a new approach — time for ISPs to start taking responsibility for the content they've profited from for years.

It's amazing to see and read about those ultra-rich music moguls who think they are too poor, hurt and don't get their fair share. Give me a break! As I said many times before, the problem itself isn't that people do not want to pay for music anymore — the reason why record sales are falling year after year is that there simply isn't demand for crappy music. It is THAT simple.

For ISPs in general, the days of prevaricating over their responsibilities for helping protect music must end. The ISP lobbyists who say they should not have to "police the internet" are living in the past — relying on outdated excuses from an earlier technological age. The internet has moved on since then, and the pace of change today means a year in the internet age is equivalent to a decade in the non-internet world.

McGuinness doesn't get it. He says that "the internet has moved on since then..." — it sure did. So why not the music industry?

It is time for ISPs to be real partners. The safe harbours of the 1990s are no longer appropriate, and if ISPs do not cooperate voluntarily there will need to be legislation to require them to cooperate.

So now when your job is on the line you're forcing others to fix your shit? Come on, man! You can't be serious...

Online Bonanza: Who is making all the money and why aren't they sharing it? [U2.com]