Warner CEO: "We were wrong to go to war with consumers"

In a surprising admission, Warner Music boss Egar Bronfman confessed that the music industry has taken the wrong approaches with consumers. He explained:

We used to fool ourselves. We used to think our content was perfect just exactly as it was. We expected our business would remain blissfully unaffected even as the world of interactivity, constant connection and file sharing was exploding. And of course we were wrong. How were we wrong? By standing still or moving at a glacial pace, we inadvertently went to war with consumers by denying them what they wanted and could otherwise find and as a result of course, consumers won.

You can see more about the presentation here.

The industry has been actively involved in lawsuits against music pirates through their trade organization, the RIAA and has been slow to embrace digital downloads and other legal alternatives to retail CDs. The result has been strong criticism from consumer advocacy groups and increasing use of file sharing, despite efforts to shut down major sites like "OINK" and Demonoid.