Angry Birds boss Mikael Hed thinks that piracy 'may not be a bad thing'

According to Rovio's chief executive Mikael Hed, his company learned from the music industry's mistakes when it was deciding how to combat the piracy of its Angry Birds games and merchandise.

"We have some issues with piracy, not only in apps, but also especially in the consumer products. There is tons and tons of merchandise out there, especially in Asia, which is not officially licensed products," Hed said.

"We could learn a lot from the music industry, and the rather terrible ways the music industry has tried to combat piracy."

Hed believes that it's "futile" to drag known pirates through the courts unless they pose a threat to the Angry Birds brand or its fans. Rovio actually sees piracy as a way to attract new fans.

"Piracy may not be a bad thing: it can get us more business at the end of the day," Hed explained at this morning's Cannes-based Midem conference.

Rovio has also taken several positive points from the music industry, including how it treats its "fans".

"We took something from the music industry, which was to stop treating the customers as users, and start treating them as fans. We do that today: we talk about how many fans we have," Hed stated.

Finally, Rovio's chief executive revealed that the developer is currently in talks with several record labels in order to ink a deal that would see the parties cross-promote content.

"We have some discussions with labels about what we could do together to give access," Hed announced.

"It is possible to promote music content through our apps as well... We are positively looking for new partnerships, and we have a rather big team working on partnerships, so it's just a case of getting in touch with us and we'll take it from there."

And, no, your name doesn't have to be 'Kanye West' for Rovio to sit up and listen. Though it probably helps.