Spotted on: Ars Technica
The RIAA finally got their first case in court over people who serve MP3s on file sharing platforms. So all bland arguments aside, here’s the bottom line.:
The new argument is that if we rip or download songs we already own, we’re stealing.
Let’s cut through all the fancy arguments and cogent dissections and get right to the nitty gritty of it all.
Major media companies complain people aren’t buying music (as if over 500 million album slaes is some kind of small number), so they try to force us to buy music by restricting our access to it. The general public (that’s us) then gets indignant that we are being limited in our ability to enjoy music, and we download everything we can. The major labels then raise the prices of CDs, and add malware to their products (with some benign name so we don’t make the connection that a rootkit is a kind of virus).
We are told that when we buy music online, it will include some form of control, so that we can only enjoy it on proprietary software or hardware (think about how cellphone companies have 400 different adaptors to their chargers). Now they want us to believe we have no right to backup our data.
Now they are finally in court with us for downloading and sharing content, and they accuse us of stealing from them if we rip music we already own. There are now record players that will turn your albums into MP3s as you play them. I own lots of vinyl, and some of it is hard or impossible to find, even as an MP3. Am I criminal if I want to preserve my record collection? Most of these albums can only be obtained second hand at this point, anyways.
Where does it stop? At what point will they sue for the right to audit every harddrive on the planet, or require us to carry some sort of permit to listen to the music we have? Are we all to be fined for singing Happy Birthday?
Let’s look at it another way. People still pay for HBO. People still buy CDs, and digital downloads are a robust market (just not robust enough to support the behemoth of major record labels). It’s possible that if people weren’t forced to buy music, and told that everything we did with our music was a crime, we would be more inclined to buy more. What would happen if everyone stopped using DRM, and file sharing was accepted as part of society? What if intellectual property wasn’t treated like another flavor of soda?
If major labels want to revive their fiscal bottom lines, perhaps they could invest in developing talent, instead of suing us into buying music. Perhaps the answer to selling music lies inside of the music itself (this might explain why artists like Jimi Hendrix and Pink Floyd never stop connecting with younger generations).
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I stopped buying music on CDs -because- of these practices. I buy music online, but sparingly. The music industry is pretty desperate at this point because in the digital age they have no clue how to sell their product.
The good news is that the music industry is dead. I’d be mighty surprised if there was something like a ‘major label’ in 10 year’s time, if that. The RIAA’s argument that it was about giving money to the artists is a callous lie considering how many artists were denied royalties on their work or were forced to serve their masters through draconian contracts that were never in their favor.
The music industry has done itself in. The sooner they’re gone the better. In today’s world technology allows the artist to make and promote their own work without someone leeching off of their efforts.
The only reason why the music industry is lashing out so viciously by suing their customers is that they realise that the gravy train has stopped running and the days of stupid money for nothing are over. No more cushy office, no more strongarming young and inexperienced artists into signing their careers away.
They’ll have to start working to earn their money and they don’t like it. It can’t happen soon enough.
The greatest determent for me buying CDs is the price factor. I understand more with bands recently coming out with music, thats fine to me if they charge 13 bucks or so. What is so skewed is the price for music that was produced decades ago. Compared with other media, you can buy relatively any 1980′s movie, brand new, generally for under 7 bucks (often less than 40% or the original market value), but as for CDs, the record industry still requires the original msrp. Even with band/artists long gone/dead, they continue to hash out records to the consumers without compensation to those artists. Especially with older media, I absolutely refuse to physically purchase CDs.
Hopefully, the music industry will fade out and artists will be able to freely and properly manage their own media.
I’m a mom and grandma who used to buy CDs for myself and my kids. Since the RIAA began prosecuting those downloading music (which I never did), I buy only used CDs and if that is attacked by the RIAA, will never purchase music of any kind ever again – for gifts or personal use. I used to spend considerable money on CDs for my children as gifts, but corporate greed has alltered my gift giving. I watch every news story telling how the CD business is tanking. Glad to see it and I’ll be even happier when those responsible for going after those who LOVE music are jobless and have to face the music they themselves have created.
I don’t buy music because I’m cheap and like to steal.
Touche graj, touche.
Nice one graj, it’s clear that you work for the RIAA. The RIAA justifies their immoral tactics of milking customers and artists for cash by calling customers thieves. No true music lover would steal from their favorite artist. All we want is to have the artist fairly compensated and then be able to play the music that we own on several devices that we own.
I haven’t buy a cd in about seven years nor have I paid for an mp3, and that hasn’t stopped me from listening to the music I want, I just search for it and download it, and I’ve become pretty good at it, it’s actually easier to download “illegally” than “legally”. However when I can’t find what I want to listen to I feel the slight temptation to buy it, but I never do it, so I just forget about it move on to another band or artist. I guess people who download illegally and legally are to different kind of species. Those who don’t pay for music will never do it no matter what and if that’s the only way to get the music, too bad then, later bitch.