Screw the RIAA !

[sculpey]

I'm mad. Mad as hell. So this post will probably wander all over the place. I just finished reading an article in the business section of the Washington Post, about the RIAA getting ready to sue individual users of file sharing programs. Talk about a group that has totally lost sight of what is happening in the world today.

I spent about fifteen years in the music business. In retail, promotion, management and as a crappy musician. I saw firsthand all the excesses of the industry. And I saw how little money filtered down to the artists from actual sales of their music. Most of the money is gobbled up by greedy companies. If it wasn't for concerts and the sales of merchandise, a lot of groups wouldn't make any money at all.

The industry has very simply priced themselves out of existence. It's well known that the cost of a typical CD is artificially set, and there have been lawsuits about this. The cost to the user, does not actually reflect what it cost to record and manufacture. In any industry as technology advances, one would expect to see the price of a product decline, but in the music industry, this has not been the case at all. And it isn't because the artist is getting a much bigger piece of the money that is brought in.

The RIAA fails to see that consumers have basically figured this out, and don't intend to pay inflated prices for their products anymore. You can make the argument that "why should I pay for it when I can get it for free", but that begs the larger issue. I still buy about 20 or 30 CDs a year, but usually feel like a total dumb ass when I buy one for the amount that it costs me.

The RIAA should put this attempt on hold, until reasonable pay for sharing alternatives are more fully explored. For an industry that has already alienated most of its consumers, this is only going to make the situation worse. If their plan works, watch the cost of a CD climb even more.

You want to sue me? Bring it on

[SHATOUSHKA]

this will only result in the rise of more 'crime'...

it would be nothing to supply a few choice
files within a proxy file....

what needs to happen is anarchy....
and i'm not talkin about anarchy from the
user/fan level....

*glares at musicians*

[demon chloe]

SCulper...hiya [img]smile.gif[/img]


I didn't over look this...I read some more..on it....and thought about it....some...


I never can just put my thoughts together fast....except w hen im talking about my feelings and then the words..just come cruisiin out