Lawsuits, threats, platform control, industry hacking. What's the problem, Big Five?

I know it's been a rough ride for a couple of years for the industry as a whole. But don't you think this has all gone a little to far?

Of course not. Protecting your market share and profit margins is an almost noble undertaking in a capitalist society. And where would we be without you? There would probably be fewer rock stars in the world without your giant promotional war chests. And could any of them achieved global status without your guiding hand and liberal financing of "the dream"? Most assuredly not. But that's not the problem. There's only one Britney, and she's yours. The question that should be posed is as follows......

Why has an industry that moves billions of dollars a year (averaging about 40 bln per year total revenue generation in the United States) turned its attentions to smaller and smaller targets, effectively blocking the efforts of a myriad of artists that you will never know, and who will never achieve stardom?

Creating an entire industry with no middle ground, no middle class?

Why turn your sights on the 'blue collar' ranks of music? Until Nirvana, you never seemed to care. And to further attack the music buyer, those kind folks who make this whole thing possible?

You seem to see some inherent threat in technology and information. But can you feel it?

I can. I'm one of those threats.

I am an artist and performer. Although our troupe is constantly impressing audiences, we're not the next rockstars. We're quality musicians with something unique to offer.

We invest tremendous care into the quality of our craft. It's personal.

We also use every resource available to expand our audience while containing within a small group of artists and performers the very same structures and drives as the industry giants.

The big difference between my little cottage industry and a major label is the finacial targets we aim for. We just want to have good work, something we can live from and maybe raise a family.

The million dollar payouts from #1 singles aren't even a consideration. And yet when you put together all the pieces of the industries' legislative push in the last three years, it becomes very apparent that this is unnacceptable for the giants of the industry.

The independents have gone digital, and the industry wants to mantain the musician underclass.

I can't think of another industry that does more to squelch it's own developement and simultaneously control the developers of the very content they need so desperately.

Let's not forget without the input of artist the industry dies. Okay, so we're your stock in trade, but the slave trade has been illegal for a long time.

We've learned as a society that it's wrong to use up humans as products and property, and yet, that's where we find ourselves today. Not even the mega stars are immune. It's a forceful hand you're wielding and through further consolodation and legislation, it looks like it might get stronger. Take a moment to think, my media giant friends: maybe, just maybe, you've gone to far and are now cutting into your own legs.

Like I asked before - can you feel it? That's the digital underclass calling your name.

Now let's allow our minds to wander to a more fanciful realm. Imagine for a moment a world in which the indies and the majors, from top to bottom, share a common respect for each other as the multiple layers of a thriving music economy.

Not as it is now - an industry turning on itself in the misguided pursuit of profit.

There's a lot more money in cooperation, my corporate/consolodationist/capitalist amigo. A thriving independent market becomes a hotbed of development and creation. New ideas and sounds are flying out of the US. A population of music buyers(remember them?) is reinspired by a revitalized music scene. New formulas for success are generated quickly - quickly enough, in fact, to avoid the endless recycling that's the true bane of the industries existence.

It's the clones that kill record sales. The music buying public is smarter than the industry seems to believe. 40 bln becomes 60bln. The Big Five have a KICK ASS! fiscal year, and a whole bunch of independents keep doing what they love, and guess what, it's a good job. A thriving middle class is important, the whle things gotten that big.

A fundemental change in attitude needs to occur industry wide. The resulting profit margins would be high, very high. I didn't write this for you struggling musicians alone. I write this in support of we performers AND the music buyer.

This is for you, largest of the large. Just a little reminder ...

... W.A.I.T.T. That's right. *We're All In This Together.*
Sincerely,
Yer Pal, Ethan

ooh...

dont think the riaa will listen, they dont like to listen.

I have to agree with iH8RIAA...the only thing they understand is "losing their business model"...i.e., no money coming in from sales!
You gotta remember, we are dealing with an association of record labels exes led by a LAWYER (Cary $herman).
They have a jaundiced and jaded view of everything and everyone. They have no concept of what this guy is talking about. They would put out a singing chimp if there was big money in it.
I mean come on...does the word "American Idol" mean anything?
The Studdard kid that won is now suing a clothes company that made the clothes he was wearing because they used his image without authorization.
Ethan wrote a passionate letter to a bunch that believes in artists writing "hits" by a formula, like repeating the hook line x number of times. It's cookie cutter music. And what artist appears on most of the subpoenas? Busta Rhymes. BUSTA RHYMES!!!! Geez Louise.

What needs to happen for a change in the way music is distributed?
DMusic and others are pioneers. More and more people are turning to the internet for their news, medical advice, and entertainment. Why? Because they have learned that medical doctors, news people, and others present a biased source of information, each with their own agenda. For example, yesterday, anyone relying on the major news would be unaware our movement was underway. The major news and entertainment are all about telling you what to like, by offering you what THEY want you to believe or choose from. The news frames the national debate (or has) based on what THEY want you to talk about. THEY want you to talk about Saddam's daughters or a crazy woman pretending to be a couple's long lost daughter...before this, they wanted you to focus on Laci Petersen's murder.

The public is not adverse to buying on the web. They aren't taxed on the purchase. If I was a musician, I would do what I could to generate some buzz or get my name out (granted, it's tougher right now if you don't have a big distributor) and offer samples of my tunes online, in a format just good enough to let the listener get an idea of what they are getting. A sample, a taste. You don't see the majors giving samples of every song because they know they are crap fillers. That's why they are getting so mad over people downloading single songs...because that's usually the only thing worth having on a whole CD is one song!

Word of mouth is good for quality indies, especially for college kids who IM each other a lot.

Then, for those wanting to do an online sales of their album, there are the options of online downloads or physical CD delivery (which would cost more). This would cut out several middle men and the cost of the CDs would decrease as they sold more (economy of scale).

This really is the first time that artists have the ability to do this kind of self promotion and sales without the big labels. And, has everyone has said, we need to listen to more indie music, and buy indie music.

Well, that's my rant. In closing, if you haven't spoken out, please do so..doesn't cost anything to e-mail congress or the news media, and doesn't take but a few minutes.
Let's load up the Letters to Leaders forum with one letter after the other about the RIAA!!!!!

peace and luck and mad props to ALL
/
~code

This sounds familiar! The RIAA, like Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and Imperial Japan, at one time they thought they were invincible. Killing, stealing and raping the world around them, until they stepped unto too many toes they started to crumble one by one. The RIAA is no exemption. It won't be today nor it will be tomorrow, but their days are numbered. But before they go I would like to file a lawsuit against them for all the money they have stolen from me. Since I was a teen, I started working and using my hard earned minimal wage earnings to buy singles, LPs and now as a grown up CDs. I figure they owe me $3,500 in overpriced LPs and CDs. Out every LP and CD I have ever bought, I probably like one or two songs and no more. Wake up RIAA! You have written your own sentence. If you have followed the new market trend you would have figured out that markets and habits do change. You don't control the consumer, they control you. You serve the consumer, so how dare you sue us? Remember the customer is always right. Sorry iH8RIAA, they will start listening soon if not later, but they will listen. They have not gone deaf yet. All those nickels and dimes they have stolen from the consumer have not made them deaf yet. They are selective in their hearing. One more thing, I would like to meet their accountants. For every dollar the RIAA spends in suing people there has to be an offset. Have they forgotten that many Americans are losing their jobs, many are surviving from their savings or investments and others have no income at all. I wonder how deep their pockets are? No matter how powerful or rich you are, money can only go so far. I believe the only ones that would make money off this fiasco are the lawyers and the IRS. Keep spending money stupid RIAA! Oh by the way, when this is all over, I don't want to see any of you RIAA pirates on the street corner asking for a dollar to pay your butler, pay taxes on your mansion, pay your club fees or pay your new Mercedes. I drive a five year old Honda and live off my hard earned salary. At least I go to bed every night with a clear conscious and knowing when is time to check out from this world, no one up there is gonna direct me to the red room and I don't mean red in color. Burn RIAA, burn!

You are right "CodeWarrior" The media is bias. Here where I live, Clear Channel has a talk show every morning, and they sponsored a particular event a few days earlier to benefit the community. Lord and behold! One of the local TV stations who also owns a radio station, did not mention the ones that were actually doing the event nor they mentioned Clear Channel, Well to make it short, everything was clear up after a phone call on the air and blasie, blasie. You pet me and I'll pet you. A bias media only serves their own interest. At least Joseph Goebbels tried to serve the German people with his twisted propaganda.

The media is VERY bias. I've only seen 2 slots on the news about this, and both were RIAA propaganda spots. Both stated that "piracy" was the leading factor in declining sales. Asked if the economy or high prices could be to blame, the mouth-piece said that those were only minor contributors, and that piracy caused the MAJORITY of the loss. As for the RIAA listening to someone, well, hell won't freeze over, but they will have to be backed into a corner before they even THINK about accepting ANY kind of compromise.
Keep fighting the good fight people!

Side

The RIAA will listen to us. In other news, the sun has become pitch black, the moon is blood red, and there are four guys with horses at my door. They're lost and are trying to get back to the interstate.

~code, the media sucks! the only one we have on our side is yahoo-because of the sbc/riaa brawl. yahoo has been giving pretty good reports in their news section. we need to do what we can to support companies that are fighting this fight right along side us! also, we all need to donate a few bucks to buy us a senator, that way it will be a fair fight!

I agree with you completely the-question..after all the emails that CNN got (including many from me) on the need for coverage of our national/international protests yesterday and today which are on the net, in the mails, and on the street,heres what the CNN toadies for the RIAA published as their tech story today...
http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/internet/08/02/downloading.music.ap/index.html
Totally biased, totally negative of downloaders...BULLSHIT FROM CNN.
F*CK CNN, F*CK NBC, F*CK CBS, F*CK MSNBC, F*CK FOX NEWS...
lets spread OR story all around the internet, and put it on the P2P net..
and put a copyright notice and if the RIAA downloads it...let's sue em!
~code

BTW, I was gonna blacken my splash page of my web site for just two days...now, am doing it for an indeterminate period so that visitors know where I stand on this issue.
BLACK W/ BRIGHT RED LETTERS
BOYCOTT THE RIAA/INVESTIGATE THE RIAA!
~code

to paraphrase Pink Floyd..
HEY
RIAA...
LEAVE THOSE KIDS ALONE!

Good job, Ethan.

Too bad the RIAA is too stupid to read English. Or is that just because the terrorist group is made up of 80% foreign companies?

funny how the RIAA are hell bent on their own distruction. Here in the UK one Education authority found that 30% of all the software used by them was pirated
When it came to light Bill Gates said he was not worried and that they would not take any action as he was not in the business of prosecuting education he was in the business of education and hfurthering it
may be billGates is the man to run the RIAA also

all,

sorry, i've been having computer problems (F*****G Microshit) anyway I have talked to some local musicians (all unsigned of course) and they like the idea of pushing congress to rework the copyright legislation (I posted this about a week ago before my computer crashed). Here's the thing. Sometime this morning when I get off work I will post a letter I'm sending to my congressman outlining what I feel is a fair overview of what copyright law should be. Basically what I'm proposing is that the laws be changed to prevent the record companies from keeping the rights to artist's work for more than 3 years. I'll have to post the letter when I get home but it's something to think about.

It would be helped along greatly to have a petition signed by the artists themselves asking for some relief from the RIAA and it would help give our cause some credibility in congress if they could see the insiders are pissed about this too..



what i'd like to know is-- does anyone know how we could go about getting some artists to sign on. I'm afraid I'm just not well enough connected to do this on my own but I know there's a lot of indies out there and probably even a lot of commercial artists who would like to see an oppotunity to take control of their work.

it's a thought

RIAA is still down. I wonder why these hackers haven't hit the ones that are selling RIAA music. Is the Independent Artist In there listings. Just wondering.

I have not bought a CD from an RIAA owned label since last fall. Most of the best music in my collection is on indie labels. I will definately NOT buy any CDs on any RIAA labels until they cease and desist from waging war on consumers. I believe record sales would improve if the RIAA promoted some decent artists instead of the intelligence-insulting crap on the shelves in most record stores. I use file-sharing along with CMJ New Music Monthly to discover new artists whose material is worth purchasing...and I have an interesting CD collection as a result of it. You can still buy good music AND boycott the RIAA labels.

You are all a bunch of whining crybabies who think you have a right to steal music over the internet. Wake up. You actually think the public is going to support a bunch of thieves? Ha ha. What a joke. Maybe you guys should find a bunch of car thieves or house robbers and you all can join together as a lobbying group. Call yourself "Thieves of America". Demand your right to steal!

Want the definition of a thief? SOMEONE WHO MAKE MONEY FROM SOMETHING THEY DIDN'T CREATE!!!!!!!

Want the definition of a thief? SOMEONE WHO MAKE MONEY FROM SOMETHING THEY DIDN'T CREATE!!!!!!!

The RIAA rapes musicians (most of which unfortunately agree to this deal with the devil in exchange for fame and fortune). I would glady pay the musician directly per song if music was offered this way!

You know what. We ARE the public! The issue is not about whether it is right or wrong to steal. We all know the answer. It is about greed, invasion of privacy, and total disregard to us the consumers. I stopped buying cds way before the internet and I was a cd nut. I had over 300 cds. It made me wanna puke when I added up how much money I squandered on them considering most of them are scratched and skip terribly now. I simply could not afford them anymore. I grew up had bills to pay that mattered like rent,electricity and water. The fact that NAFTA has sucked away virtually all the jobs that I went to college for hasn't helped either. Remember, we are talking about MUSIC. I don't know about you but it is not needed for survival. I don't download but more importantly I also do not BUY from corporate labels. You see. I want to support the ARTISTS not the CORPORATIONS.

I feel kinda ripped off by the CD media itself. When they first came out there was all the hype about how they were so much more indestructible than tape medium. The truth is, You have to handle them like a surgeon to avoid scratching them. I have lost a ton of cds just from scratching alone.

HOW MANY DOWNLOADERS WERE ACTUALLY REDOWNLOADING MUSIC THAT THEY HAD PURCHASED BEFORE AND HAD THE CD SCRATCHED? IS THAT STEALING?

so I'm a thief huh? I got news for you pal (mroop). I've been called worse by smarter people but I still own the rights to my soul. how many musicians with RIAA contracts can say that? What you need to do is check up on the people you're defending when you say things like that. You'll be surprised. Where do you get your news, CNN? guess who owns CNN? Can you say Time Warner? AOL? How about Satan? See you're posting on this site because you're curious about what's going on. That's good. But you're only hearing one side of the story - Theirs. That's what the world has been doing for years. They are afraid of technology that they can't control. Why? Learn the whole story then let's see if you still think I'm a theif.

I won't stop sharing. the capt

Hey wethepeople, I fall into that catagory. Most (about 80%, the other 20% is obscure, hard to find stuff) of the music I downloaded was music I already paid for once. Many a record, tape and CD have fallen prey to scratches, breaks etc. Why should I put more money in the RIAA's pockets when I have already paid for it? And maybe I'm naive, but I always thought that copyright laws were supposed to protect the creator of something (whether it be music or written word), from someone else getting credit(or making a profit)from their work. Maybe its just me!

And when I say support the artists. I mean within reason. It's sickening that normal everyday hardworking Americans can't make ends meet while these artists are out screwing off pissing away millions on facial cremes that have been processed under specific lunar cycles and stupid stuff like that. I mean. Who decided that musicians should be gods on the earth? Maybe one reason the artists are having troubles is that they have set their standards too high? If the artists want to go after anyone, it should be the industry that is taking a big slice out of their pie. I think the whole industry, artists and corporations are in for a wakeup call. The American people are getting screwed to the point that there is no room for entertainment, clothing, healthcare in our budgets. That is why we stopped buying cds!

The industry must lower their living standards->product prices and adapt or die. We don't need their music to survive, they do need us the consumers to survive. Nows who's in the pickle?

mroopclaims that we're all a bunch of whining crybabies who think we have the right to steal music over the internet. Funny... I don't recall seeing that in any of the threads around here. I wonder what message board he's been visiting? My guess is that nick of his is more than a name... as he just committed another "oop" by sticking his foot in his mouth.

mroop represents what the Big 5 are feeling... F-E-A-R! They know that if the current trend continues... profits could actually be down more than they've lied about, and that scares them. They want not only maximum profit, but maximum control on what we the music listening public listen to. The internet - that as you all know is taking that control, and some of the profit (by letting indy artists get their work noticed) away from them.

Mroop and others like him know the arguments we present are correct. They can't provide valid firepower to shoot down what we say... they know it's true, and instead of admitting the truth and relinquishing control, they fire back with the quickest, easist thing possible... "Uh, you guys are thiefs, and need to be stopped".

Well, the more we talk it up on the net, the quicker our movement will grow. It only takes a few visits to some packed IRC channels and some popular message boards to get the message out loud and clear! Those like mroop... when you fight with the truth, as we do, eventually if you can weather the storm of lies that they tell, and eventually we will win. The better the mroop's are at telling lies, the longer it will take to win the war. But, eventually... even the best run out of lies to tell. When only the truth remains, that's when we drive it home and stake the heart. :

again to mroop,

I paid for my privacy from the RIAA when I bought this hard drive.

See section 1004 of "United States Public Law 102-563
Audio Home Recording Act of 1992". Section 1004. Royalty payments
(a)
Digital audio recording devices
(1)
Amount of payment.
The royalty payment due under section 1003 for each digital audio recording device imported into and distributed in the United States, or manufactured and distributed in the United States, shall be 2 percent of the transfer price. Only the first person to manufacture and distribute or import and distribute such device shall be required to pay the royalty with respect to such device.

I sincerly hope the artist received due portion of those royalties over the past 10+ years . Perhaps a senatorial review of funds to the RIAA will clarify peoples concerns. Perhaps we can find the end of civil lawsuits agains customers altogether. It would be nice to get back to more important concerns in congress.

copied from the,
"United States Public Law 102-563
Audio Home Recording Act of 1992"

Section 1004. Royalty payments
(a)
Digital audio recording devices
(1)
Amount of payment.
The royalty payment due under section 1003 for each digital audio recording device imported into and distributed in the United States, or manufactured and distributed in the United States, shall be 2 percent of the transfer price. Only the first person to manufacture and distribute or import and distribute such device shall be required to pay the royalty with respect to such device.

I am compelled to think that an audit should be held of the RIAA'S financial documents, ensuring that the actual creators of artistic music recieved fair compensation under the "Audio home recording act". After United States citizens concerns about the fair compensation of musical artist by the "United States Public Law 102-563
Audio Home Recording Act of 1992, there concerns will be answered.

So mroop, If I suffer a lapse of reason, and buy a CD of some Big 5 "performing monkey, and let my kid make a copy of it to play on another player, that is Illegal? Hey I bought the fu**ing thing! I paid (overpaid) cash for it! If I can't let someone in my own household copy it, then I won't buy another damned thing from any of them, and go so far as tell my kid that trip to disneyland is off because I refuse to make those assholes any richer.That includes DVD's too!