December 31, 2007
Yo, RIAA, you’re killing the golden goose
The RIAA is eating their own. They are killing their industry’s Golden Goose: the CD.
The MP3 Lunatics simply can’t believe the latest twist from the crazed industry association.
Amazing, but true, Ira Schwartz, representing the RIAA in an Arizona lawsuit against Jeffery Howell, claimed “it is illegal for someone who has legally purchased a CD to transfer that music into their computer.”
Ira Schwartz, the RIAA’s legal hound, is busy trying to hold Jeffrey Howell liable for thousands of dollars in damages for uploading 2000 songs to his computer from CDs he purchased. He was NOT sharing these songs with anyone, but he is being sued for supposedly illegally downloading. That’s right. The RIAA is claiming it’s against the law to copy a CD you bought to your own computer.
The current brazen RIAA reasoning was articulated by Jennifer Pariser, chief of litigation for Sony BMG. She testified recently that “when an individual makes a copy of a song for himself, I suppose we can say he stole a song.” Copying a song you bought is “a nice way of saying ’steals just one copy.’”
Duh, RIAA, how can anyone get a song from a CD they bought to their digital device without uploading it to a computer first? We guess the RIAA reasons this will force people to repurchase the songs they like as downloads, making CDs useless.
According to RIAA spokesman Jonathan Lamy, the industry “will continue to bring lawsuits” against those who “ignore years of warnings.”
The MP3 Lunatics think if they’re serious about warnings, the RIAA members should print a skull and crossbones on each CD sold. It could read something like “YOU DON”T OWN THIS MUSIC.”
Yo RIAA… this is pretzel logic. This behavior will not increase CD sales. This has the potential to backfire and amplify the doctrine of Fair Use.
I was actually in a riot once. I didn’t mean to be; me along with almost everyone else started off planning an exuberant yet peaceful celebration. The police originally had the sympathy of the crowd who honestly didn’t want to start any trouble. In their misguided attempt, however, to show how tough they were, the police came down hard on a few kids who I honestly believe would have moved along peacefully given a friendly warning. They slammed the kids down hard and handcuffed and arrested them. I will never forget the response of the crowd. You could just feel the hatred towards the police who were outnumbered at least 100 to 1 and were forced to give up and retreat.
It wierd but that seems to be what’s happening with the RIAA police effort. The music industry failed to deliver a solution for people to purchase downloaded music and instead came out with billy clubs against overwhelming numbers of their own fans. Recent mixed efforts may be too little, too late. The crowd has turned against them.
Comment by Sam — December 31, 2007 @ 7:27 pm