RIAA Articles

On the RIAA website, there are a number of articles involving pirating, CD Copying, Napster and the like.

Briefly, the summation is that the RIAA wants to push technology back 40 years.

They feel:

Consumers have no right to copy anything.

Cd Burners and the companies who make them are the Devils Children.

Gateway Computers has no right to say that they "Support Our Right to Digital Downloads", because we have no such right.

CD copying is responsible for the severe slump in Record sales. Not bad music, not bad signings, not irresponsible record executives, not ridiculous marketing plans that guarantee over the hill singers 100 million dollars. No, its Cd copying's fault

Sending music over the internet must be banned. Consumers cant be allowed to do this. I guess thats a lot different than borrowing your brothers Beatles LP and making a cassette for yourself. How its different, I dont know.

The record companies and the movie business and all of Hollywood will cease to exist because of CD copying and internet file swapping.

Of course, GOOD Cds still will generate millions for the record industry. GOOD movies will still make trillions for the movie industry. But that doesnt matter. The BAD ones that lose money are CD Burners and DVD Burners fault.

>>>>>A funny comparison is that in the 1920s, if you wanted music in your house, you had a victrola, and your favorite records. Then,
This newfangled thing called RADIO put FREE MUSIC into the house!!! This will kill the record business!! Music on the radio cant be allowed!!!
Whose gonna BUY a record if they can hear it free on the radio??


Isnt it funny that every generation has technology thats going to "Kill the entertainment business" and what happens is that the entertainment business makes trillions BECAUSE of it every time?

You would think after 100 years, they would learn.

 

Give us tube amps, half-track tape and vinyl. Then, proceed to shut up, record geeks.

Course, this will never happen, so too bad. CD technology is clone-able, and they knew it long ago. Duh, it's Data!

I love CDs. I do, I do I do (said like the cowardly lion). This too, shall pass.

Pretty soon, we'll have a flat-platform of communication, the way of a walkman/cellphone/palm pilot. Kids in class will be beaming whole album sides to each other in the hallways.

 

Pffftt. These guys never stop whining. Has history ever proved these guys right? It seems like every major technological advance in the music industry is followed by an alarmist reaction by the RIAA. Everything from broadcasting on radio to audio cassettes and now this. How come they don't put up a fuss about the other "evils" going on in the music industry? You know, labels and managers/agents screwing artists out of royalties, publishing, etc.?

 

screw

Because Matt, its a whole lot eaiser to make money by forcing each and every music consumer to spend more of his/her own money. Even if by doing that, they violate our rights as consumers, and laws that THEY THEMSLEVES put into place.

You know, one reason why cd prices are so high is because built into the price of EVERY CD is a margin to cover what the Record Companies said they would "lose" by Home Copying, under the Fair Use Act.

Now, these SAME companies want to put copy protection on every CD, to make it impossible for you to copy a CD. So, if they DO, are CD prices going to be reduced by that predefined amount?

Never.

Someone should ask Hillary Rosen THAT question. Lets she how she bulls her way out of that.


The good thing is that the public KNOWS that the RIAA is full of crap. We can only hope the government does.

 

I am still waiting for the advent of cassttes to "cause the record industry to collapse".

 

I agree that this is crap. New technology is what makes money. I'd tell the RIAA to let technology evolve and will not want to listen to their BS.

 

Change

Hewy Gary, you are 100% right. The music bix has always been afraid of change.


Its pretty incredible. The fact that the record companies paradigm is now obsolete must scare the crap out of the old men and accountants that run the record business.

For years its been "We'll give the public what WE want to give them". Problem is, the REST of the country operates on a Customer driven model, in other words, the public demands drive what goods get offered for sale.

Until the record companies shift their paradigm completely to the public model, Cd copying, file sharing and downloading will proliferate.

Dont they GET IT? Give the public what THEY want, not what you SAYT they want, and they WILL pay for it!!!! It doesnt take a genius, guys.


Mikey

 

Piracy is what drives this business. It is the purpose Music Companies are in business these days.

From everything from cost of software to new software technology, it justifies the ever increasing high costs for these things, that keeps them in business. If it were not for this illegal activity and the want of Music Companies to create more "illegal activity", we would be paying lower cost per unit price for CD's.

 

I think Roger McGuinn summarized it best in "So You Want To Be A Rock & Roll Star" - the Company is not interested in selling music, but in selling plastic.

And that ain't gonna change.

Home taping is killing music,

burningfool

 

Record Labels--the current state of affairs

All,

I do not believe that home taping is "killing" the record business! Home taping has been going on for decades in one form or another and nothing is going to change that. I am not talking about piracy, but legitimate personal use home taping. What is hurting the record business is poor quality product that is largely marketed to pre-teens, teens and young adults without signficant regard for those of us over 25 years of age. The demise of the wide, traditional Top 40 Radio format has also the hurt the business. There is, simply, too much market differentation. The major labels treat their older catalog much like they treat the music marketed to the younger audience--with more fluff and hype than substance and largely poorly mastered as well. The record labels never appear to want to take responsibility for their own poor performance. Rather, they blame the consumer--their customers. Interestingly, the many mergers and consolidations from the business end of the industry have focused the labels on the "quick buck" and quarterly earnings that have, ultimately, affected the music being recorded and the way it is mastered and released. Too much short-term thinking. Ridiculous contracts with non-deserving artists have also hurt the business significantly.

Record labels remind me of the Airlines in many respects. They have lost sight of the customer. There is an old adage about the airlines--"they are great as long as you are going where they want to take you when they want to take you". The same can be said about the record business!

Bob

 

Yes, Bob, and then when BIG companies with big 'fly-by-night' pop groups make enough money off their spoon-fed teen music to swallow a smaller company they take the aquired company's catalogue and sit on it.

At least this might be benificial to 'special market' companies like DCC, Mosaic, MFSL, S&P, Rhino, etc. to release some of those long forgotten, shelved goodies the way they should be.

 

Alex,

Bravo!...great observations.

Bob

 

RIAA wants it both ways.

Create and exploit software technology to pedal their plastic, and slap you on the hand and say "no, no, you cant do that".

As long as it serves their purposes they will sound stupid...and gladly take your money.

Hypocrites and thieves !

 

How often do you even see pre-recorded cassettes anymore. Not even Best Buy carries them. CDR copying also pays some money into RIAA, anyone that buys blank "music" CDs, part of the price is for licensing.

 

As person who has written and recorded music, I resent the cavileer attitude by some of you on here. I personally think it isn't a big deal to make a copy of some music for a friend and swap back and forth. However some people are boot legging copies and selling them. Some people are just tight wads and are trying to save a buck at the expense of the recording artist. With the internet being accesible to millions of people the possibility of whole sale piracy exists.

Perhaps if we could duplicate the work that some of you do for free I could save some money too.

 

Tightwads

Well, that was ALWAYS the case.

Actually, I dont see any huge difference now than in the 70's.

I went to School with a guy who had a Nakamichi Cassettes deck, and a TELEX cassette copier that did 4 cassettes at a time.

He would buy a new Lp the day it was released, and he next day bring like 25 cassette copies to school, which he sold for 4 bucks each.

The point is, bootlegers have been around since 1890 when an enterprising guy made bootleg records of the Metropolitan Opera, and they will probably be around 100 years from now intecepting satellite music transmission.

 

A Point of Reference

All,

We all need to remember that copying music for your own personal use from music you have personally purchased is perfectly legal. Any type of "commercial" distribution is, of course, illegal.

Bob

 

I guess I should have put my tongue more firmly in my cheek when I posted this, because I do not believe that home taping is killing music. I do however find it somewhat amusing that the record industry continues to cling to old business models (sell plastic) in the face of ever expanding technology. Their response has always been the same: litigate, or attempt to thwart those who would promote the use and dissemination of that technology. Think about the efforts to tax blank tapes, the DAT hysteria and now CD copy protection. It's a well established pattern of behavior on the part of the major labels. And it's almost laughable how poorly they execute their plans.

I was once employed by ASCAP, so I certainly understand and respect the right of the copyright holder to protect their intellectual property rights. But songwriters are not the same as record companies. They don't share the same interests, really. I just resent the tactics used by the labels to try to protect their own business interests.

 

efforts

Well, the efforts are silly, really, becase anyone who REALLY wants to pirate music will still do it, even if its a little harder. That wont stop 99% of the professional pirates. And THATs where the real money loss is, not in Joe Blow making a couple of Cds for his friends.

 

Re: efforts

Exactly, only the average guy loses.

 

Piracy is illegal...it's that simple. But the original topic of this thread is about personal duplication. Not for profit duplication. This is where we should all draw the line and thumb our noses at the hypocritcal "digital-tech" regulations that the RIAA want to see passed.

Off-topic: it's the record companies that are not paying proper royalties and decent wages to artists, not the consumer. I think it's rude to tell consumers that they should pay more to compensate for the industry's BS.

Off-topic #2: How many of us have a VHS video collection of your own recordings? How many us prefer to buy CDs at the cheaper used prices at our local 'second-time-around' stores? Good questions to ponder within ourselves.