The RIAA Strikes Again

[AssMan]

The music industry is asking 50 Ohio University students to pay $3,000 each to avoid lawsuits accusing them of pirating songs off the Internet.

Recording Industry Association of America asked the university to pass along letters to the students with Internet addresses accused of being involved with the illegal sharing of copyrighted music. The university notified the students on Monday.

"The downloading has occurred and we can't change that, but we can let them know what their options are," OU spokeswoman Sally Linder said Wednesday.

Patrick McGee, a local attorney the university arranged to meet with students, said $3,000 is the standard offer though cases have settled for as much as $5,000. He has represented four Ohio University students in file-sharing lawsuits.

Jenni Engebretsen, spokeswoman for the trade group, based in Washington, D.C., would not disclose or confirm what the standard settlement offer is. She did say no cases have gone to trial yet across the country.

As part of its ongoing copyright crackdown, the association has already sued about 18,000 computer users nationwide since September 2003. The figure includes 1,062 computer users at 130 universities.

The association said last month that it intended to sue more students and others on campuses in the next three months than it has in the past three years and that it would send 400 letters a month to computer users suspected of copyright infringement.

Letters were sent to 13 universities last week, giving students 20 days to pay a settlement.

A letter to one Ohio University student told her that she distributed 787 audio files, putting her total minimum potential liability at more than $590,000. The minimum damages under the law is $750 for each copyright recording that had been shared, the letter said.

Many students cannot even afford the $3,000, McGee said.

"I think the record company is smart enough to know that a lot of students do not have the money," he said. "They can't actually take them up on the offer."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070309/ap_on_hi_te/downloading_music_ohio_u

 

[jaguarr]

The RIAA and their masters are such pricks.

jag

 

[Colossal Spoons]

Find Bin Laden and quit harassing people for mp3s!!!!!

 

[Fanticon]

Extortion Is Illegal!!! They need to fight back...The RIAA is going after broke college kids and threatening them to pay or be taken to court.

 

[PLAS]

they need to pay for Britney's rehab somehow

 

[hippie_hunter]

I know my view is unpopular but I support the RIAA's actions. The music is their property and people downloading it without permission is technically STEALING

 

[jaguarr]

She's got a copy of a Bay City Rollers song on her hard drive that she didn't pay for! Let's take her tuition money!

jag

 

[ScottyBBadd]

they need to pay for Britney's rehab somehow

Exactly.

 

[ScottyBBadd]

I know my view is unpopular but I support the RIAA's actions. The music is their property and people downloading it without permission is technically STEALING

Well instead of suing, maybe the RIAA could tell the artist to make cds that are actually worth buying.

 

[Addendum]

I know my view is unpopular but I support the RIAA's actions. The music is their property and people downloading it without permission is technically STEALING

Detective: You downloaded a lot of songs! Says here you even downloaded Judas Priest? That's hard time you boys are lookin' at. You got anything to say for yourselves?

Kyle: We d-didn't think it was that big a deal.

Detective: Not a big deal! You think downloading music for free is not a big deal?! Put your coats on! I'm gonna show you something! And I don't think you're gonna like it!

Detective: This is the home of Lars Ulrich, the drummer for Metallica. Look. There's Lars now, sitting by his pool.

Kyle: What's the matter with him?

Detective: This month he was hoping to have a gold-plated shark tank bar installed right next to the pool, but thanks to people downloading his music for free, he must now wait a few months before he can afford it. Come. There's more. Here's Britney Spears' private jet. Notice anything? Britney used to have a Gulfstream IV. Now she's had to sell it and get a Gulfstream III because people like you chose to download her music for free. The Gulfstream III doesn't even have a remote control for its surround-sound DVD system. Still think downloading music for free is no big deal?

Kyle: We... didn't realize what we were doing...

Detective: That is the folly of man. Now look in this window. Here you see the loving family of Master P. Next week is his son's birthday and, all he's ever wanted was an island in French Polynesia.

Kyle: So, he's gonna get it, right?

Detective: I see an island without an owner. If things keep going the way they are, the child will not get his tropical paradise.

Stan: We're sorry! We'll, we'll never download music for free again!

Detective: Man must learn to think of these horrible outcomes before he acts selfishly or else... I fear... recording artists will be forever doomed to a life of only semi-luxury.

 

[ScottyBBadd]

Detective: You downloaded a lot of songs! Says here you even downloaded Judas Priest? That's hard time you boys are lookin' at. You got anything to say for yourselves?

Kyle: We d-didn't think it was that big a deal.

Detective: Not a big deal! You think downloading music for free is not a big deal?! Put your coats on! I'm gonna show you something! And I don't think you're gonna like it!

Detective: This is the home of Lars Ulrich, the drummer for Metallica. Look. There's Lars now, sitting by his pool.

Kyle: What's the matter with him?

Detective: This month he was hoping to have a gold-plated shark tank bar installed right next to the pool, but thanks to people downloading his music for free, he must now wait a few months before he can afford it. Come. There's more. Here's Britney Spears' private jet. Notice anything? Britney used to have a Gulfstream IV. Now she's had to sell it and get a Gulfstream III because people like you chose to download her music for free. The Gulfstream III doesn't even have a remote control for its surround-sound DVD system. Still think downloading music for free is no big deal?

Kyle: We... didn't realize what we were doing...

Detective: That is the folly of man. Now look in this window. Here you see the loving family of Master P. Next week is his son's birthday and, all he's ever wanted was an island in French Polynesia.

Kyle: So, he's gonna get it, right?

Detective: I see an island without an owner. If things keep going the way they are, the child will not get his tropical paradise.

Stan: We're sorry! We'll, we'll never download music for free again!

Detective: Man must learn to think of these horrible outcomes before he acts selfishly or else... I fear... recording artists will be forever doomed to a life of only semi-luxury.

I like. Good point.

 

[jaguarr]

The artists aren't the ones that really benefit from CD sales, except for in the upper echelons of the industry where they have some negotiating clout. No, the proceeds from record sales, for the most part, go directly into the pockets of the record industry execs who short-change the artists and pretty much everyone else involved in the making of the album. Artists make the majority of their money off of touring, merchandise sales and endorsement deals.

Then there is the matter of so much of what's on the airwaves today just being formulaic crap that's developed and groomed by the marketing pukes at the major record companies for the sole purpose of making money. It's not done because the artists really had talent, it's because they were marketable somehow and that's where the majority of the marketing dollars went to; pushing a particular artist in every way imaginable including payola scams to the radio stations (there was just another one of these payola things that cropped up in the news). The artists with real talent that happen to get signed usually don't get as big of a marketing push as the in-house groomed "talent". And, usually the groomed marketing-machine bred "talent" only has a handful of songs on their albums that are worth a damn at all and the rest is filler. And they usually try to get rid of those artists after a couple of albums before they can get enough clout and popularity to negotiate stronger contracts that will entitle them to a larger piece of the pie. Music industry pukes don't care about artistic merit or finding amazing artists that make amazing music for the most part; they care about making money and that's all they care about. There are exceptions to the rule, of course, but the majority of the industry is like this.

Now you have a lot of artists who have used the internet and falling recording costs to take back their own careers. Pearl Jam, Madonna and Prince are notable stars who left their labels to form their own. They can promote themselves for cheap these days with the advent of the internet and venues like the iTunes Music Store, CD Baby and Amazon, plus all of the internet and print music sites. And, a lot of newer artists are starting to do the same, and some of the Indie labels have found new business models built around helping these artists practically run their own label as well.

Digital Rights Management schemes for electronic music formats has largely proven itself to be a bust. Even Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, came out against them a little while back, pointing out that they change nothing in the way of "piracy" (I hate that word because it's such an emotionally charged one that doesn't really represent the crime of stealing music. Carjacking is closer to real piracy than downloading a song off the internet.). DRM basically only makes it more difficult for legitimately paying customers. The people who do steal music have may ways around DRM, no matter how sophisticated it might be. (Just ask DVD Jon about that).

The other major problem I have with all these lawsuits from the MPIAA and RIAA is that, basically they are asking the government to help them build and enforce laws that will protect a very outdated business model that they have not evolved since the 1940's. They basically seek to punish their own customers with the help of the government (and I'm not a big government kind of guy) for finding ways to circumvent a business model that puts a GIGANTIC markup on it's products, even though production costs have dropped through the basement long since the latest advents in technology (the CD and the DVD) permeated the market and R&D costs were recouped from them. It costs far less to create a CD for example in this day and age (roughly $1.50 per disc, including all production costs and advances to the artist), yet prices have continued to go up. And people know this about the recording industry. So, they find ways around having to pay the ludicrous amounts of money they industry wants them to pay, including stealing the music. Instead of adapting their model so that it is sustainable in today's cultural climate and technology, the industry tries to locate the people that do this and punish them. Despite having punished a handful of people over this, the industry has proven that they're inept at catching people at stealing their music and many of the lawsuits don't stick when taken into court. So, now, they have created a culture of customers that loathe them and look for any way around their system. It's a simple law of economics; any business model that cannot stand on it's own is destined to fail. Without exploiting the legal system and government assistance, the major labels in the recording industry would collapse under their own weight. I have problems with my tax dollars going to support a business or industry that refuses to streamline for effectiveness, personally. If they'd learn how to use technology to their advantage and scale back on their greed and make their products more affordable, they'd end a lot of the stealing of music that they seek so hard to stop, ironically. The film industry has increasingly higher production costs but has still found SOME ways to use new technologies to their benefit and get consumers into the theaters. As bandwidth increases, though, they may find themselves on much the same playing field the recording industry has where it's easier to download their product because the file sizes are no longer so daunting. It's interesting to see Steve Jobs and Apple trying to set up technology to make it so easy and inexpensive to d/l movies and watch them that the consumers will use it. It will be interesting to see how they work with him (or don't), no doubt.

Bottom line, stealing music or films or any other type of creative content is wrong. But, these industries have sort of created their own monsters and they're refusing to evolve so that those same monsters don't exist anymore, (or at least aren't as big and formidable). Instead, they're using our tax dollars and our government to try to keep their business models going when they are obviously starting to fail. There are only so many times you can plug each new hole in the dam. How long they'll be able to do it remains to be seen.

jag

 

[Mr Sparkle]

I used to buy CD's all the time.
but ironically they were cheaper back then.
why aren't cd's 5 dlls? with 10 dlls for double cd's?
how much are they spending with anti-piracy technology and stuff?
they could be making their product more affordable and hence more marketable.

 

[PhotoJones]

I used to buy CD's all the time.
but ironically they were cheaper back then.
why aren't cd's 5 dlls? with 10 dlls for double cd's?
how much are they spending with anti-piracy technology and stuff?
they could be making their product more affordable and hence more marketable.

that makes too much sense, though.

 

[jaguarr]

I used to buy CD's all the time.
but ironically they were cheaper back then.
why aren't cd's 5 dlls? with 10 dlls for double cd's?
how much are they spending with anti-piracy technology and stuff?
they could be making their product more affordable and hence more marketable.

That's one of the big reasons I've seen some of these people who are hardcore music "pirates" do what they do. Their mentality is "if you're going to overcharge me, I'm going to find a way to make you have to spend that extra money you made".

jag

 

[CyberFaust]

i have 50.000 songs on my harddrive, guess how many are bought with hard earned money, no really, guess?
i would need to pay how much for this?

 

[Addendum]

My mp3 collection consists primarily of

1) songs by bands I like that appeared only compilation albums or soundtrack albums

2) songs that appeared on import albums

2) entire albums that are no longer in print and/or hard to find albums

Now, if I see one of the albums I have in my mp3 collection in a used CD store, or for a reasonable price brand-new in a music store (for me, $12-$15 is pretty damn reasonable), I'll buy it.

 

[Kritish]

What *****e bags, this is a chicken **** thing they're doing.

 

[Ghostvirus]

That's one of the big reasons I've seen some of these people who are hardcore music "pirates" do what they do. Their mentality is "if you're going to overcharge me, I'm going to find a way to make you have to spend that extra money you made".

jag

That is why I do some um dabling in downloading. There are certain bands that I will pay for out right. Like Metallica, & Various others. It is just to much a gamble these days to buy new artist.

I will usually download a musician to check, & see if they are good, & if I don't like it. I will not buy it. Sadly I don't buy to many Cd's.

 

[Kritish]

There's such bigger issues to worry about. There's murders and rapes out here that never get solved and we're having pissing contest with college kids with illegal downloads?

 

[Matt]

I know my view is unpopular but I support the RIAA's actions. The music is their property and people downloading it without permission is technically STEALING

I agree with you.

There are three arguments people use to counter anti-piracy laws in this thread:

1) The music industry is full of rich fat cats

It doesn't matter. If I shop lift from Wal-Mart I am still going to jail even though the Waltons have more than enough money.

2) If artists made songs worth buying they wouldn't have that problem:

Umm, if these songs aren't worth listening to why download them? Lets face it, it has nothing to do with quality. People steal good songs just as quickly as they do bad.

3) There is violence, and war, and poverty in the world, why does this matter?

That is such a stupid argument. RIAA isn't around to save children in Africa or to end war. We have people who do those things. These people's job is to end piracy...which whether you like it or not is stealing.

 

[CyberFaust]

I agree with you.

There are three arguments people use to counter anti-piracy laws in this thread:

1) The music industry is full of rich fat cats

It doesn't matter. If I shop lift from Wal-Mart I am still going to jail even though the Waltons have more than enough money.

2) If artists made songs worth buying they wouldn't have that problem:

Umm, if these songs aren't worth listening to why download them? Lets face it, it has nothing to do with quality. People steal good songs just as quickly as they do bad.

3) There is violence, and war, and poverty in the world, why does this matter?

That is such a stupid argument. RIAA isn't around to save children in Africa or to end war. We have people who do those things. These people's job is to end piracy...which whether you like it or not is stealing.

...ok, ai get that, and your point is?

 

[Kritish]

I feel so bad that some rap star won't be able to get 75 cents from that song some kid in NY stole.

 

[Matt]

I feel so bad that some rap star won't be able to get 75 cents from that song some kid in NY stole.

Theft is theft whether you like it or not. There is an old school of thought that the police can never lose a fight. They either have to make the arrest or die trying, because if 5 people see the police back down, they will think they can commit a crime, and 5 more people will think they can commit a crime, and it spreads. Sadly, many youths are breaking the law and winning...and it gives them a sense that if they can get away with this...what else cna they get away with? It is more than a 75 cent song.

 

[CyberFaust]

double post