Inquiry into the role and potential of the National Broadband Network

Submission to the House Standing Committee on Infrastructure and Communications

Prepared by Richard Letts with input from the MCA’s Working Group for Strategic Use of the NBN in Music Education (Anna Howell, Steve Dillon, Jane Law, Bradley Merrick, Mandy Stefanakis), Lynn Gailey and Nick O’Byrne
February 25, 2011

This is not so much an advocacy document as a description of possible uses of the NBN for music education at all levels and of the impact of the internet to date on the music sector and the possible additional impact, positive and negative, of the NBN.

It should be noted that the Working Group for NBN and its use for music education has not completed its task. The submission contains a considerable list of possibilities, the majority of which are drawn from existing activity on a slower speed internet and which are the sort of ideas that might occur to an informed layperson. It is expected that additions will include futures known or imagined by our expert members.

The section on the effects on the music industry describes the problems that have built over the last decade, notes that the NBN’s symmetry in particular as well as its greater speed will offer new opportunities for Australian artists and companies but at the same time facilitate copyright piracy of high data content files such as films. The full economic benefits cannot be realised unless new ways are discovered for creators and producers to derive an income from the now unpaid internet downloading. The industry is committed to finding solutions but it is possible that they will depend upon government regulatory intervention.

Read the Submission