The RIAA Armageddon has begun

next step of having to pay monthly fees to renew yr mp3s, can't wait.

Now that all music can be converted to a practically non-physical object by even an 8-year-old kid, is there really anything pointing to a future for the RIAA beyond Orwellian info surveillance?

The only rationale they can offer is that pirates are "hurting the artists" but please take a look at the above chart to see how well the legitimate industry treats those same artists.

let's also be fined for whistling the tune we heard on the radio. a lot.

Why stop there? How about paying royalties when you get an earworm?

i already do. sadly for all concerned the royalty-paying is all in my head.

Has there ever been a good, in-depth comparison of the RIAA since 2000 versus the film industry freaking out over videocassette in the early 80s? I'd be really curious to see a side-by-side to see what steps were taken that lead to wildly different results.

RIAA is going to be non-existent within 20 years, is my prediction

in-depth comparison of the RIAA since 2000 versus the film industry freaking out over videocassette in the early 80s?

these aren't even remotely comparable scenarios, sorry

"Sony BMG's chief of litigation, Jennifer Pariser, testified 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,' " she said." This is just crazy!!! Are they saying we only pay for the right to listen to the music we have bought, but our ownership of the music ends with our ears?

afaik, the riaa has always taken this position. they do so not because they intend to prosecute anyone for "committing the offense"(they've said they wouldn't prosecute someone for ripping an MP3 version of something they already own). they do so to avoid waiving other legal theories over which they would prosecute someone for "committing the offense."

hydrapower

is it just me or do these figures indicate that any musician wishing to make a living making music should just stop recording? there's no point in it. nobody thinks it's worth anything. if you want to increase the value of something, choke off supply. make a living via live performances and commercial/product placement recordings

these aren't even remotely comparable scenarios, sorry

Um, I would say that two industries dealing with new technologies that have a dramatic impact on the distribution of their major products are somewhat similar.

nah. the scale is completely different, and is the key thing.

Well, yeah, the scale is a big difference. I'm not saying the two situations are exactly the same, but I still think it would make for an interesting study.

well the film industry just took a page from the music industry and reacted by upping the product "quality" (ie, DVDs are better than VHS! "the quality is AMAZING!"). So as people replaced their tapes and records with CDs in the 90s, so people replaced their VHS copies with DVDs in the 00s. Except now DVD sales are tanking, and everyone's streaming/downloading TV and movies - and as filesharing of those media get easier, the film/TV industry will face the same problem the music industry has. I think the only real difference that they have to console them is their advertising revenues, which are deeply entwined with the media in a way that they never were with the music industry.

eventually everyone in these industries is going to have to accept that turning all their property into ones and zeroes was probably the stupidest, most short-sighted policy imaginable.

I'm not sure there was another option. LPs aren't a good long-term solution either.

CDs were a totally pointless product. I don't accept their "inevitability", especially given how shitty 80s CDs sound.

how long term is long term? LPs will reportedly survive a century

I think his point is that with the rise of the internet, demand for cultural content would have gotten everything converted to a digital format eventually. Of course, CDs helped to actually furiously accelerate this conversion process.

so at best, even if there were no CDs, this would have just delayed the inevitable.

(said hypothetical delay might have worked in the industry's favor though, because it might have bought them time to develop and nurture alternative revenue streams)

eventually everyone in these industries is going to have to accept that turning all their property into ones and zeroes was probably the stupidest, most short-sighted policy imaginable.

― I won't vote for you unless you acknowledge my magic pony (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, April 15, 2010 5:04 PM (14 minutes ago) Bookmark

the hell? more music is available more easily to enjoy in more different ways than ever. it's great! if it drives "the industry" into the ground, boo hoo

"CDs were a totally pointless product. I don't accept their "inevitability", especially given how shitty 80s CDs sound."

Man LP purist sure are focused on CD sound from three decades ago.

"I think his point is that with the rise of the internet, demand for cultural content would have gotten everything converted to a digital format eventually."

Yes, music was going to be packaged digitally and the size/convenience of that product was inevitably going to supercede early formats was my point. I was also thinking of the cost/eventual scarcity of petroleum for vinyl production as well.

Didn't realize how shitty iTunes rates were for the artist. Bought a local singer-songwriter's album today, I should have just pirated it and handed her a fiver at her next show.

I'm not really complaining (altho there are a lot of side effects of these industries' collapse which are unfortunate). I meant it was a stupid, short-sighted policy FOR THEIR INDUSTRIES.

xp

if you want to increase the value of something, choke off supply. make a living via live performances and commercial/product placement recordings

fwiw Courtney Love (!!!!!) basically said this a few years ago.

Man LP purist sure are focused on CD sound from three decades ago.

nah I think MP3s sound like shit too

fwiw Courtney Love (!!!!!) basically said this a few years ago.

and then she... made another album?

shut up Courtney

"nah I think MP3s sound like shit too"

Man LP purists sure are focused on 128k mp3s from 10 years ago, etc.

the gist is that she makes her money through the gate @ live shows. The album is the catalyst for a tour

That Courtney rant was basically just to get her label to renegotiate her deal. IIRC, Beck made similarly confrontational noises around that time, and then happily re-upped with his label.

Man LP purists sure are focused on 128k mp3s from 10 years ago, etc.

lol

I hate some new stuff too fwiw

I'm an equal opportunity hater

why don't you increase the value of your posting

nyuk nyuk

http://sistasmiff.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/don_rickles.jpg

I'm not sure there was another option. LPs aren't a good long-term solution either.

Almost every CD I bought in the last 20 years is utterly unplayable, whether through scratches or CD-rot. Yet I can buy a record from the 1940s at a thrift store and expect to be able to listen to at least 90% of the music.

what the hell dude, you must not take very good care of your CDs. 98% of what I have from the early 90's still plays fine.

Didn't realize how shitty iTunes rates were for the artist. Bought a local singer-songwriter's album today, I should have just pirated it and handed her a fiver at her next show.

Indeed, it would have resulted in a better profit for the artist than buying 55 copies on iTunes!

"Almost every CD I bought in the last 20 years is utterly unplayable, whether through scratches or CD-rot."

Hilarious.

I have CDs going back to 1987 that are still playable!

My big fault was putting them all in big thick 100-count CD cases because they were getting too unmanageable. Then the original cases kept getting busted so I took out the inserts and tossed the damaged plastic cases. Then eventually some of my 100-count cases were stolen and I ended up keeping what i had left in used CDr spindles. I actually haven't listened to a store-bought CD in at least 5 years. So yeah that post is kinda BS.

i bought my first "nice" cd player last year (marantz one) and damn cds can sound fucking amazing actually...bought a bunch of jazz reissues and stuff like that, really gorgeous

my 2 yo is royally fucking up what remains of my CD collection - doubt I'll hold onto them for more than a year or more.

vinyl she doesn't bother with (too unwieldy!)

Didn't realize how shitty iTunes rates were for the artist. Bought a local singer-songwriter's album today, I should have just pirated it and handed her a fiver at her next show.

This is essentially where I'm at, philosophically. If I had direct contact info for artists whose work I admire, I'd gladly send them the purchase price of every work of theirs I steal. The RIAA and MPAA clearly have nothing but contempt for their customer base, so fuck them and fuck them hard.

i don't really get why an artist wouldn't make the same from an itunes download that they would from the sale of a cd single (divided by 4 or however many tracks)

Because Apple has about as much contempt for artists as the RIAA has for us?

i don't really get why an artist wouldn't make the same from an itunes download that they would from the sale of a cd single (divided by 4 or however many tracks)

― mdskltr (blueski), Thursday, April 15, 2010 11:57 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

works like this:

old system:

sell a CD
record store takes a little
record company takes a lot
you get a little

new system:

sell an MP3 on itunes
Apple takes a lot
record company takes a lot
you get even less

apple takes a big cut