Good grief I hate the RIAA!

[ivseenbetter]

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/06/18/minnesota.music.download.fine/index.html

I don't care what anybody says. This is extreme. This organization needs to be dismantled. She may be guilty of illegal downloads...but a guy who rapes a 4 year old only gets one year while a downloader of 24 songs gets fined 1.9M. INSANE. The RIAA is the PETA of music.

 

[rnatalli]

It's the law that has to change. Although I'm no fan of the RIAA, they did nothing wrong on paper.

 

[ivseenbetter]

I agree it is the law that needs to change. I guess the reason I get so ticked off about the RIAA is based on the closing remarks made by the RIAA rep. She thanks the court for seeing the seriousness of this offense in the same light they do. That tells me that the RIAA really feels that this "mom of 4" has hurt the music industry to the tun of 1.9 million dollars.

Sure, she broke the law and you want to make an example of her...but they literally just destroyed this person's life...over 24 songs.

 

[CraigV]

This is a local case (for me) so it gets a lot of coverage. The fact is, this woman does not have, nor will she ever have (sans a lottery winning) $2M dollars. They’re making an example of her by flexing their muscle, nothing more. There’s no way she can be expected to pay them money she doesn’t have, and that’s the fact that everyone involved with the case is conveniently overlooking.

 

[ivseenbetter]

Exactly. It's insane. The jury has to be a bunch of boneheads to do this...and the RIAA should be ashamed of themselves for thinking that they are somehow justified in doing this. I don't know how the they see $24<$1.9M as $24=$1.9M.

 

[Ito]

...and if you didn't hate the RIAA before?

I think if you talked to every artist that she download, I don't think a single one of them would think that there songs are worth that much, even if they were shared illegally. Not to mention that them "making an example" out of her doesn't frighten anyone. There tactics don't work, ruin someone's life, and just generally piss people off.

 

[jamie2112]

The RIAA is dying fast and they are scrambling to try and use this poor woman as an example.Good luck with that and I am truly glad to see the recording industry especially the main ones are dying quickly and they brought this on themselves..........

 

[MDS]

I don't agree with the RIAA either and think their tactics are definitely over the top.

However, it is not just '24 songs'. The premise behind these suits is that when you download songs for free and also make them available for others to download, there can be millions of copies available and that could add up to a large loss of potential revenue.

Times are changing. People seem to much prefer 'a la carte' pricing where they can buy only the few songs they know they really want. That is the justification most people use for illegal downloading - 'I only want one song, so why should I have to buy the whole crappy album'. If you only want one song, then you should buy that one song and not download it for free.

 

[ivseenbetter]

I don't agree with the RIAA either and think their tactics are definitely over the top.

However, it is not just '24 songs'. The premise behind these suits is that when you download songs for free and also make them available for others to download, there can be millions of copies available and that could add up to a large loss of potential revenue.

Times are changing. People seem to much prefer 'a la carte' pricing where they can buy only the few songs they know they really want. That is the justification most people use for illegal downloading - 'I only want one song, so why should I have to buy the whole crappy album'. If you only want one song, then you should buy that one song and not download it for free.

True. Pay for what you want. I think it is important to pay for what you want. I’m currently looking for the best value solution for that and posted a thread on it in the Music forum. However, this woman’s situation is ridiculous.

Based on what I have read so far, it appears that they couldn’t prove that anybody downloaded it other than the RIAA watchdog folks. So, essentially there wasn’t millions of dollars lost over these 24 song. On top of that, why are they going after her? She had to get them from somebody. Go after the source. They aren’t doing that though. Instead, she is an easy target with minimal means to defend herself. She was an easy target…they should be proud of themselves for using her to stop the evil P2P downloading pirates.

 

[MidnightSensi]

If they like it or not, the model of business has changed.

It's not the good musicians that need to worry, musicians make more money touring anyways. Or, they make plenty of money touring.

File sharing helps independent artists get out there, it's going to be good for music, bad for the old-model of doing business where people in suits take a artist they think has marketing potential and get a bunch of professionals to make them into some iced package to sell.

File sharing has already helped music. People are finding all kinds of quality music, seeing people live they would have never done before. I can't tell you how many shows I go to and people found the band by ganking their music off the 'net.

I'm very optimistic about the big picture of this, but I think we'll see some tough stuff in the short run.

 

[jamie2112]

Another way to look at it is Dave Matthews Band would not be where they are if their music wasn't traded and all of their live shows were recorded and traded on almost every collage campus in America. Phish is another band whos music is freely traded and it has turned them into a monster act....Just a thought......

 

[haraldo]

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/06/18/minnesota.music.download.fine/index.html

I don't care what anybody says. This is extreme. This organization needs to be dismantled. She may be guilty of illegal downloads...but a guy who rapes a 4 year old only gets one year while a downloader of 24 songs gets fined 1.9M. INSANE. The RIAA is the PETA of music.

Something very wrong with legislation, not only in US.

Now in France they may cut your Internet connection if you illegally download music, without going to the courtroom, without a trial, Blame RIAA and their fellows for this

 

[MidnightSensi]

Another way to look at it is Dave Matthews Band would not be where they are if their music wasn't traded and all of their live shows were recorded and traded on almost every collage campus in America. Phish is another band whos music is freely traded and it has turned them into a monster act....Just a thought......

Exactly.

Slightly Stoopid is also a good example of this. Jimmy Buffet has /new/ fans, considering the guy has been around so long this is amazing, and I have to believe that all the recorded concerts and ganked albums that are played at every tiki-style party in colleges and high schools and where-ever have everything to do with this. Nine Inch Nails told their label to go F-off and launched their last album online... their concerts are absolutely packed.

And these bands grow real fans. I'm not a huge Dave Matthews Band fan ...not that I don't like their music, it's just considering me a DMB fan compared to a real DMB fan is like comparing a fiat to a ferarri. I say that to say this: I bet Dave Matthews Band, who probably sold less albums than Britney Spears or Kanye West, has more real fans than the two of them combined.

And that's just the easy ones to list...