Submitted by Alexanderthegr8

CNN announced this morning that Sam Goody's is closing 90 - 100 stores, saying it's due to free downloading on Kazaa.

Everyone E-mail CNN (http://www.cnn.com/feedback) and let them know about the RIAA boycott.

Just pick the "news in general" option. If a lot of people take the time to do this today, it could mean cnn will finally have the other side of things, instead of what they've been reporting.

CNN rightly stands for "Contains No News".

www.tvnewslies.org

I left a complaint.

Mine, too.
http://www.geocities.com/mr_scayf/ ...

This is sad but needed, 900 ppl will loose there jobs, but in the long run, it will stop the RIAA from controlling ppl's lives and get the control back into the ppl. Also, yahoo sites other reasons for the closing of the stores, including filesharing and competition from other music stores, i could add that the CD is on its way out as more and more ppl want music online. I even wonder what is in store for warehouse, or the other bid chains, time will only tell.
In the end, over the counter music is not what it used to be and is becoming out dated.

I closed mine with:

"But then again, maybe I was expecting too much honesty from a company owned by Time Warner."

Harsh, but true.

This comment is in reference to the Anoucement by Sam Goody that they are closing store due to illegal downloading. First of all, there is no proof or even technical relationship to proove such a claim. I am tired of hearing companies publically annouce that illegal downloads are damaging their business. They give no regard to any of the other many factors that affect a business. Not to mention the surge in online purchasing, which does directly correlate to the decrease in sales revenue from the bricks stores. When it comes to digital entertainment bricks a loosing to clicks, period. So far I have found all of CNN's reports of issues dealing with P2P and the threat of online copyright infringement to be completely one sided. A simple association between a technology and an illegal activity is not a reason to condem that technology. The big record labels and hollywood have been bullying people for almost a hundred years now. And still organizations like your own sell out to their communist ways and support their reign of terror all the way. The issues the RIAA has with P2P has nothing to do with copyright infringement. They would like everyone in this country to believe that is their problem but it is not. Their real problem is the threat P2P makes to their business model. Currently record labels and hollywood alike spend billions on promotion and distribution. They have created such a large business model around these functions that a large number of investors simply live on the dividends. There is not progress with their business model. If they get their way with our government we will all still be paying the equivelant of what we pay now to purchase music. In fact we would all probably pay more because we would loose any rights to own any music or movies. P2P and other computer technologies hold the power to lower promotional and distributional costs to a negligable level. That means bands would no longer need the mainstream to become popular. It also means small movie production studios would be able to compete with hollywood. Hence the reason Vallenti decided to ban screeners. Have you notice the surge of indie films making it to the awards shows and the mainstream. If you havn't you've been hiding under a rock, or maybe a vail of RIAA/MPAA propaganda. Well the growing popularity of indie films threatens the business model hollywood has developed. If Vallenti really cared about copyright infringement he would have given the owners of the films to right to choose whether or not to make a screener. Yes banning screeners could have an impact on the availability of films, and therefore lower the level of copyright infringement. But why make it mandatory for everyone? Why ban screeners of films that have already have DVD's in the stores. At that point it would be harder to copy a screener than it would a store bought version. It is far too broad, just like every other mandate and legislation the RIAA and MPAA have pushed through. It's like using a sledge hammer to bang in a nail. Yes the nail will go in. But the hammer will go through the wall. The only reason a person would use that type of hammer is if they wanted to get to the other side of the wall. Get you facts straight CNN. Report more than one side of an issue. Otherwise dont call yourselves reporters. Call yourselves public relations specialist.

I fail to see how this will stop RIAA from controlling people's lives... if anything it will give the lawyers and marketing analysts more wood for the fire. As I have mentioned before, I believe the collateral damage from the boycott will fall on the artists, employees, and ultimately the consumers we are trying to defend.

Back to the subject at hand...

I wonder how online music distributors like cdnow.com, amazon.com, and others are fairing. It's funny that these journalists never bother to get the sales figures from other distribution systems like direct order (internet or snail mail).

That aside, I agree that the journalists should be informed of the dynamics of the situation including consumer unrest, dissatisfaction with mediocre marketing generated pop-music, and organized boycotting.

~MaW~

Sam Goody has imo always had a weak selection of music/video/media marked up to rediculous prices. I am surprised that they lasted as long as they have. I thought they would close many years ago when file sharing was just a twinkle in some computer geeks mind.

I've written to newspapers around the country, each major news network, Including CNN twice, and I know hundreds of others have. I just wrote CNN a third time this morning and got one of those nice polite form letters about how our opinion as viewers is important to them and that it will be sent to the nes department the following business day, yakity yakity yak.

It will hurt the artist. Most certainly. But what else can we do? It's like ripping off a bandaide. If you rip it off it will hurt like hell. Through from disinfectent on and your good to go. But if you leave it on until it falls off you'll probably have an infection as a result and then your screwed. The bands will realize that they can't stand around and take the abuse. They'll survive. The RIAA will not.

My message to CNN:
Sam Goody is closing 90-100 stores. They say it is due to music files being shared with Kazaa. CNN has reported Sam Goody, and the RIAA's version of this story, but regurgitating corporate press releases is not journalism.

There is more going on here. RIAA labels have be producing fewer CD titles, many music lovers would contest that the average quality of titles has gone down as well.

The economy is in the hole and people are buying less of everything. Cd's are a luxury; they are one of the first things to be cut from peoples budgets when times are tough. If the perceived quality is lower than it has been, it is a double negative.

Finally, and most importantly, the RIAA has been bullying it's customers. It's customers are not falling into line. People are tired of being bullied. They aren't going to take it anymore. They are voting with their dollars, against the RIAA and their labels. They are organizing against the industry. See http://www.boycott-riaa.com/.

Impartial journalists report both sides of a story. Professional journalists take the time to investigate an issue. As CNN employees you are responsible to major corporations and aligned with the music industry but as American Journalists you have a higher responsibility, to the American People.

18-20 bucks per cd......I stopped buying from sam goody 5 years ago.


-Dave

my message to CNN

btw, I left out that the RIAA labels are producing fewer titles:

-------------------------------

File-sharing is not why 90-100 Sam Goody stores are closing. At the most, filesharing is a very, very, small reason for these store closings. The RIAA and major labels just love to deceive the public with their corporate lies. Would you like to know what _really_ is causing these store closings? See my reasons below:

- CDs are overpriced, and continue to inflate.

- Major labels continuing to sign "bands/artists" that they call "music" - to them though, it is spelled "mu$ic" - no talent necessary. This is the way I see major labels today: "Hey, if you've got sex appeal, why should we care whether or not you have talent? We'll sign you!"


In 1998, pop music exploded - nSYNC, Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, Ricky Martin, etc. - music sales started to increase, peaked in 2000, then started declining. Again, file-sharing has very litte impact on the decline of sales - it's because of the endless miles of garbage in the mainstream media that they try to shove down our throats and sell.

- The CD format is going to become obsolete - it's inevitable. People want to buy music online. Why doesn't the music industry embrace the endless possibilities? The Apple iTunes website has had remarkable success ever since it's recent launch.

- And last, but certainly not least, the educated people such as myself, whom have extreme hatred towards the RIAA and their lies, actions, lawsuits, ignorance, and much more. The number of boycotters (us) is growing as more and more people learn about the RIAA. The RIAA doesn't want the rest of the public to know about the boycott because they are scared.

Happy, happy, joy, joy! This is the best news I've heard all day!

Go back down and read the article below entitled, "RIAA launches Midwest 'mix' raids.

Here we have a puppet talking out of both sides of its head. You can tell from the messages it is making that the head is full of stuffing and not brains. The message of those p2p pirates is a handy catchall when things are going bad. Funny you never hear that raising the price of the cd's to outrageous levels and shipping far less of them had anything to do with folks not buying...

Here is the letter that I sent, all involved need to write these ppl, as well as your reps in congress. VOTE

I am writing this to you in response to a story that you aired about Sam Goody closing due to file sharing.
Well there is a better explaintion than file sharing. IF you did not know this hopefully this will clarify some things for you. There is a Boycott on of all RIAA product, and this grass rights movement is growing on a daily basis. We as the consumer are tired of paying for high prices for an inferior product. As well as the recording industry having complete control over the music libraries and deciding what we listen to.
Copyright laws as we know it and the recording industry are dinosaurs and need to catch up with technology. Did you know that Peer to Peer companies have been trying to get licensing from the RIAA and the RIAA has refused them every time. Also the DMCA needs to be removed from the law books for this law is a violation of our constitution rights. Why should a multi billion dollar company have more power than our own law force. Why should a copy right holder be able, with out a judges signature
to obtain any information in the name of copy rights. If you would like some more information visit these sites

WWW.BOYCOTT-RIAA.COM
WWW.DOWNHILLBATTLE.ORG


Thank you for your time
Woodhead

You're all geniusses. I love you all.

BTW, looks like my letter to Entertainment Weekly will get published this week, I've heard back from them on a few occasions about it (fact checking, name address correct, etc) .

So if you see a copy, give it a read and then put it back on the shelf (they're owned by time warner). Thanks.

I emailed them, just as a show of solidarity. The two Sam Goody's in my area malls have already closed down. I say death to any arm of the entertainment conglomerate that is stifling the industry. Since we have to have corporate failures and loss of jobs, let's at least make sure some of those serve the ultimate common good.

This November will mark three years without a single RIAA-purchase for me(other than receiving some DVD's as gifts). We are Legion.

Sam Goody's might not close so many stores if their prevailing prices for music wasn't SO HIGH!!!