Hometown Pride: Storm Gloor

You're probably pirating music while you're reading this article. With a new file-sharing program popping up every few months, it's tough not to just grab 2Pac's yearly albums online.

UC Denver recording arts professor Storm Gloor's proposal to fight music piracy, "What Is ‘Choruss' And Should We Sing Along?," was published in the 2009 Journal Of The Music & Entertainment Industry Educators Association. "When the journal called for papers, I felt like this [music piracy] was a very important topic relating to the music business. Fortunately mine was selected as one they would include," he said.

Gloor's model would allow people to acquire music on a subscription basis with "Choruss," a prototype, legal person-to-person file-sharing program. "It's like a water bill," he said. "You pay a monthly fee, and the fee is so low that you don't even notice it. The idea would be to turn on a faucet, so to speak, and keep receiving music as long as you pay the fee."

"If you're getting your music illegally right now, would you pay a nominal fee to be free from lawsuits and huge fines?" Gloor asked.

According to Gloor, paying for music ensures that not only are you free from legal troubles, but your money is going to the actual artists. "I'm primarily against [piracy] because there's no compensation for the artistic creation. It doesn't help sustain a business model–but I also recognize the challenges given the tech we have now," he said.

To implement the model, Gloor is working with Jim Griffin, founder of "Choruss," in order to make his model public.

"There hasn't been any action so far," Gloor said. "The challenge with such a model is that you still have to pay the rights owners. You have to figure out how do you allocate that money, and assure it gets to the artists without it being taken by the bureaucracy of it all."

To take a closer look at the Journal Of The Music & Entertainment Industry Educators Association and Storm Gloor's article, purchase the book at www.meiea.org/Journals.html