What the Record Companies Should Say to Apple

The record industry needs to send this message loud and clear to Apple and all cloud services:

"We do not want every illegal download and rip from 1996-2011 made forward-compatible with every new service that comes down the pipe.  If you have not come up with a method to verify a clean cloud, it is because you have not been trying hard enough.  And the reason you have not been trying hard enough is that, ultimately, you don't care about content.   Heaven knows, you have invented everything else you needed to invent. 

"You see, content is simply a means to an end for you; but for us, it is our entire livelihood.  And some of you have been building empires based specifically on an 'opt-out' concept of content access.  Sitting back and waiting for takedown notices or counterfeit seller notices.  But we are the record companies and we are responsible for preserving the value of content.  So we will use every means of leverage at our disposal to get you to care about content.  On behalf of our artists.  On behalf of the long-term health of our industry.  And, no, we are not going to send takedown notices for every user that stashes unbought music in your cloud.  We will simply count on you to do the right thing."