So Stephen Fry managed to whip up quite a storm with his controversial address to an enthralled audience at London’s Roundhouse on Sunday. His comments on piracy – and admission that he, like six million other Brits, had indulged in filesharing – were reported over on Stuff (naturally), Sky news and in this spot-on blog post by the BBC’s Rory Cellan Jones (who was present and asked the first question).

It was, of course, an honour to share the stage with Mr Fry, even if my role was merely to look awestruck and pose a few questions from Stephen’s Twitter feed. But Stephen was right: the creative industries need to grow up. Heavy handed tactics haven’t worked in the past, and they won’t work in the future. Easy for a rich celebrity to say when he no longer needs an industry to market him, of course, but that doesn’t make it any less true.

Back in 2002 (I think) I wrote my first polemical cover story for Stuff, which criticised the music industry’s aggressive tactics that forced to the closure of the original filesharing site, Napster (and the subsequent Hydra-style blossoming of P2P networks). I suggested a better alternative: working with Napster to create new ways of reaching fans. To sell more music, more tickets, more merchandise.

It’s taken seven hard years for the industry to realise that DRM isn’t going to work, that music lovers want to own the music they love, not ‘license’ it – and that means being able to share songs with friends.

Had they had the foresight, the RIAA could have turned Napster into Spotify before a generation had grown used to getting everything for free via illicit means. Even now, the industry is still taking grandmothers and teenagers to court for downloading songs illegally. Such actions don’t stop filesharing – they just alienate a generation.

Truth is, piracy goes hand in hand with rock and roll. Back in the 80s, home taping didn’t kill music – it spawned a generation of truly fanatical music lovers with broader tastes than ever before. I’ve spent thousands of pounds on CDs and – yes – downloads because I love music, and I love to own the ‘real’ thing, even when it’s virtual. I subscribe to emusic and I’m glad the major labels have been absent from it because I’ve discovered dozens of new bands I’d never have encountered otherwise.

Because I love music, I get annoyed at what Stephen Fry calls ‘industrial scale’ illegal downloaders (and I know a few). But then I think of that wall in my childhood bedroom, built of hundreds of tapes recorded from the radio, from vinyl and – most distressingly – from third-generation tape-to-tape bootlegs. Just like home taping, the internet won’t kill music – or movies, or games. But it’ll continue to reshape the media landscape.

It’s easy sympathise with Fergeal Sharkey when he eloquently argues that struggling musicians need to be paid. A society should support its artists (although history suggests it often doesn’t). But it’s still impossible to feel sorry for those record execs who grew fat and complacent in the 80s by selling all our music back to us on CD, and in the 90s and preferred to hope the internet would go away rather than embracing its possibilities. And then made the problem worse by letting slip the dogs of law as soon as the fans took matters into their own hands.

The music industry isn’t alone in feeling bruised by the web: we’ve been suffering our own pains in the world of journalism. But we haven’t resorted to suing our own readers. Yet. Because while the internet often forces painful change, it’s also opens up new possibilities. It is a trulydemocratic force, linking the creators directly with their audiences. That doesn’t necessarily diminish the power of brands (whether that brand is Radiohead, or Stuff, or MTV) but it does allow bloggers and bedroom musos to reach an audience, even if it’s a small one. And for many of those DIYers, it’s not about money: it’s about communicating a passion. Let’s not forget that the vast majority of musicians never make a living out of their art. They do it in their spare time, for love.

Like Stephen Fry, I believe we need to develop a more sophisticated attitude to this whole shebang. 21st-century solutions to 21st-century problems: solutions that embrace a multitude of possibilities including free sharing, streaming services, subscriptions, live music, user creations, premium physical products, and more. And solutions that meet the intense desire for ritual and connection that keeps live music blossoming, that keeps audiences at the cinema, and that has spurred the resurgence of vinyl.

The fact is that more people are consuming more… (I’m going to avoid the dread word content)…  more art than ever before. A wonderful future is guaranteed. So the creative industries need to relax a little, and have fun with their audience.

Right, I’m off to download a torrent of House. Apparently it’s fine. The God of Geeks said so.*

*As long as you’ve already bought it on DVD.

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