RIAA Throws In The Towel

So, the RIAA has finally given up on its insane policy of suing music-lovers. It's about time. Today I'd like to give props to my friend Terry McBride. Throughout the years of post-Napster madness, Terry was a voice of sanity, reminding all of us that suing customers was no way to build a business. He also had the courage to create a legal defense fund to defend those "accused" of downloading. Now, it's time to rebuild the music business. Certainly, artists need to be paid for their work. But how? I may be naive, but I still believe that fans will pay to purchase music either digitally or on CD, if a) the music is great and b) it's priced fairly.

Today's decision was a great victory for Terry. Congratulations.

Follow Mark Joseph on Twitter: www.twitter.com/markmjm

Comments

[TakLoufer]

I bought a dozen CDs this weekend. 3/4 of them were used, mostly digital versions of vinyl albums I bought years ago but no longer play, so essentially the songwriters have gotten their cut. I went ahead and paid full price for albums by Patty Griffin, Susan Tedeschi, The Pretenders, and Martin Sexton because they are precious and rare to me. Eventually it all comes out in the wash, RIAA.

[BlackJAC]

The real reason the Napsterites download is not to have the music in question (say what you will about iTunes, but a dollar a song is a pretty good deal), but to avenge their own lack of talent upon the industry in general.

[RoseMerry]

Well, that and the fact that many of bought the Beatle's White Album on vinyl, on eight track, on cassette, and then on CD. Do that for about 500 volumes of works and then the industry turns the copyright laws on their ear and kill the public domain and yes, we do thirst for revenge.

[Paw1]

Wake up, Mark. This is not an occasion for rejoicing. Rather, it's the industry's heavy handed way of circumventing due process of the law. Instead of accusing file sharers of breaking the law in a context where they can defend against the allegations, they will simply enlist ISP's as virtual storm troopers who can unilaterally cut off your service whether you like it or not. OR, more importantly, whether they're RIGHT or not. It's not as if the system is even close to infallible - didn't the RIAA sue a dead person recently based on ISP records?

I strongly recommend all customers interested in full disclosure demand that their ISP's state their position on this issue explicitly. With all the competition available (cable, satellite, telco, etc.), the last thing any of them want is to lose a single customer, especially for something as counterproductive as ratting them out to a record label. Mass exodus of subscribers on that basis will change their tune (pun intended) fast enough.

[cylindar]

No, the ones changing their tunes will be the people that get service from the ISP's. Why? Because the record industry will pay them big bucks to do it. They will actually save a bundle this way and force people to buy their music. This is a good ploy and will definitely work. People like you are about to get screwed and it is about time.

[Paw1]

Get real, Cyl. Do you really think the labels can come up with enough incentive cash to ISP's to make them throw those customers away, with the only proof being the RIAA's word that an illegal act was committed? I pay my provider $40 a month for service. That's almost $500 a year per sub at risk. Multiply that by millions of subs - you get the picture.

On top of that, factor in the cost of highly paid technicians to hunt down customer ID's and IP addresses and the potential cost to the ISP is considerable. The incentives that would need to be offered would be far in excess of the legal fees they've already incurred.

[dnddays]

At this point, it's too little, too late.

[sninkychan]

That the RIAA is abandoning their mass lawsuits, in favor of pursuing the people they suspect of violations via their Internet service providers, is a lot like when you're hanging onto a scrap of wood from your destroyed ship, and the distant shark fin you've been keeping your eye on dips below the surface.