All Complex Ecosystems Have Parasites (2005)
craphound.com
craphound.com
"Simple ecosystems are the goal of proceedings like CARP, the panel that set out the ruinously high royalties for webcasters. The recording industry set the rates as high as they did so that the teeming millions of webcasters would be rendered economically extinct, leaving behind a tiny handful of giant companies that could be negotiated with around a board room table, rather than dealt with by blanket legislation."
The recording industry specifically backed a percentage-of-revenue legislation, and lawmakers took it upon themselves to enact something much more crippling than even what the RIAA had proposed. Why they did that remains a mystery; but it was the actions of either corrupt or ignorant lawmakers, not the "recording industry" that destroyed internet radio.
Here is a more readable version of the same http://www.readability.com/articles/6tqfeib9
A system which allows for complexity will evolve in unpredictable ways. Some economic and security models don't account for the variety, and have tried to solve the problem by constraining the system using trust & authority tools (like DRM). This (he purports) is often unsuccessful in its intended purpose, and the ecosystem's lack of unintended consequences removes its capacity to change.
I think it's an interesting argument, though he does let his feelings toward media companies color it. What it makes me think about is the negative consequence of over-engineering; maybe sometimes it's better to leave some unanswered questions.