Ex-IFPII boss: fighting peer-to-peer "useless"

Per Eirik Johansen used to be chair of the IFPI, a role to which he was elevated after his time being someone senior at EMI. And, now he has neither of those roles, he's able to share the benefit of his experience. And that's that the IFPI and the RIAA are wasting their time:

He now believes the music industry’s fight against piracy has been useless and says he disagrees with the assertion that illicit file-sharing is the same as theft. Referring to an earlier EMI anti-piracy initiative, Johansen noted, “The message of that campaign is that there is a reason why we have copyright, and I agree.”

“But the main thing is that a whole generation already violates copyright, and the only thing we can do now is find better solutions,” he says pragmatically.

It might have been a bit handier if he'd mentioned this when he was in a position to call a halt to the expensive folly of the pursuit of the battle.