RIAA lawsuits against internet music piracy

[Daddy Dee]

The following is an excerpt from an Associated Press article today.

For the full story check out: www.wire.ap.org

Jun 26, 6:35 AM EDT

Music Labels Step Up Online Piracy War

By TED BRIDIS

AP Technology Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The music industry pledged to begin steps Thursday to file lawsuits against hundreds of individual computer users who illegally share music files on the Internet, an aggressive gamble to cripple online piracy by suing some of music's biggest fans.

The Recording Industry Association of America, citing significant sales declines, said it would begin searching Internet file-sharing networks Thursday to identify music fans who offer "substantial" collections of MP3 song files for downloading. It urged users to uninstall popular music-sharing software or adjust program settings to prevent such downloads.

The RIAA expects to file at least several hundred lawsuits seeking financial damages within eight to 10 weeks.

Executives for the RIAA, the Washington-based lobbying group that represents major record labels, would not say how many songs on a user's computer might qualify for a lawsuit. The new campaign comes just weeks after U.S. appeals court rulings requiring Internet providers to readily identify subscribers suspected of illegally sharing music and movie files.

RIAA President Cary Sherman said that after Thursday, tens of millions of Internet users of popular file-sharing software will be exposing themselves to "the real risk of having to face the music." He said the RIAA plans only to file lawsuits against Internet users in the United States.

[formica]

I still fail to understand all the fuss over MP3s with their quality nowhere near that of a CD... those who will download only are the same people who used to tape the top 40 off the radio.

MP3's are a scapegoat

As many are aware, they should not forget the incredible DVD sales... which many consumers feel are a better entertainment for the money. A good example is the 2003 release of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars ... at the same store the CD: 32$cnd but you can get the DVD for 30$cnd with the same songs plus video footage and extras... I have seen a survey, which showed most households are spending more on entertainment now than before when considering only the increase in DVD/video and decrease in music CDs.

I use MP3 extensively to "try before I buy"... unless they are afraid that I'll only buy the CDs I like... If I didn't like music so much, I'd do like the other consumers... and take my money elsewhere.

Rob

PS: I'm still trying to figure out why cassettes are cheaper than CD's as well... especially if they cost more to produce?

[cyclonecj]

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On 6/26/2003 10:55:27 AM formica wrote:

I still fail to understand all the fuss over MP3s with their quality nowhere near that of a CD... those who will download only are the same people who used to tape the top 40 off the radio.

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I think everyone here on this board would have to agree with this (I know I do), but since I work at a high school, my view is different.

The newspaper here did an article about this, & found that 90% of the students download & burn, & do not buy the original CD. These are students in a VERY rich community, who can afford anything they want. I would guess that the poorer communities are even worse.

[ZAKO]

Copy right is copy right. Go get em RIAA Sic em. I lost millions because of Pirates. Sic the HOUNDS on them.

[justin_tx_16]

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On 6/26/2003 11:09:47 AM cyclonecj wrote:

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On 6/26/2003 10:55:27 AM formica wrote:

I still fail to understand all the fuss over MP3s with their quality nowhere near that of a CD... those who will download only are the same people who used to tape the top 40 off the radio.

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I think everyone here on this board would have to agree with this (I know I do), but since I work at a high school, my view is different.

The newspaper here did an article about this, & found that 90% of the students download & burn, & do not buy the original CD. These are students in a VERY rich community, who can afford anything they want. I would guess that the poorer communities are even worse.

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Not sure that is very accurate. Check Sound/Vision's article, very last page I think. Very new statistics show otherwise.

For instance, I downloaded a Ben Folds Five CD... a day later I bought every Ben Folds and Ben Folds Five CD made! I think around 6, even live CD's. I downloaded one song from Chantal K. and bought 3 of her CD's. Same with jewel, sarah m., natalie merchant/imbruglia, fiona apple, and most recently, jason mraz, dave matthews, matchbox 20, john mayer, diana krall, sarah brightman (downloaded TWO songs and now have about 8 of her CD's), and the list goes on and on. I have a CD for almost every MP3, and I have 4266 mp3's now. I DO have a CD for every MP3 I listen to however.

[ben.]

Justin (may I call you Jason ?)-

I think you are the exception to the rule in this case.

Intellectual property is still the property of the owner! Quality of reproduction is irrelevant here, as is profiteering by record companies. This is a free market. You are free not to patronize vendors with whom you disagree. You are NOT free to steal from them. IMHO, of course.

[formica]

Wasn't all this already discussed with the release of the 4track Philips cassette?

I used to own a "dual cassette" deck when I was younger... was this intended to only make copies of my own material? or backups of purchased cassettes? The way I see it, the medium may have changed, but the principal the same. Maybe i'm mssing something... maybe some of you guys would be able to enlighten me?

Rob

PS: Like Justin, i too purchased many albums after discovering them on P2P... i don't think it's that uncommun. The "find more files from same user" is a great way of discovering similar artists.

[dbflash]

I wouldn't know how or where to download.

I just saw this on AA yesterday and thought it was a good aritcle.

I buy at least 2 cd's a week, more if I've been drinking wine. Went out to dinner Sat night and the restaurant was playing opera. Woke up Sun morning and I'm the proud owner of 3 opera cd's. They also had a salt water tank with some really cool fish. Thank God the pet store wasn't open.

Any way I hope you can open the article.

http://www.stereophile.com/shownews.cgi?1671

Danny

[justin_tx_16]

That is right, Stereophile not Sound and Vision. Sorry about that.

[M6 Driver]

Well if the CD price wouldn't have skyrocketed.

and I understand that the artist only gets a small fraction of the sales

The labels sign an artist for millions the artist doesn't produce anything worthwhile for the label to get a return.

Plus if the artists make poor choices of investments,drug addiction,bullet to the head or other business venture to put them in the red well to bad.

Watch an episode of CRIBS on MTV I have yet to see any of those artists starving or crying poor.

BLING BLING!

[cyclonecj]

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On 6/26/2003 1:23:52 PM justin_tx_16 wrote:

Not sure that is very accurate. Check Sound/Vision's article, very last page I think. Very new statistics show otherwise.

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It's only accurate to the limitation of this schools journalists, & for this school only.

I just did the same thing. I just ordered 2 CD's from Mindy Abair after hearing her music on Music Match Jukebox.

[justin_tx_16]

And you know what? I now use Listen.com's Rhapsody. I pay $10 a month and have access to hundreds of thousands of albumn. I found out about Josh Kelley that way (via blubster), bought his CD last night. 100% legal

In fact... Annie Lennox is playing on Rhapsody right now, her brand new album, in full, "cd quality". Think I will pick it up tonight. Never really "listened" to her, but I kinda like it

[shoe11]

I agree with what Justin said.

I use to go to the MTV sites each week to get their current playlists and then I'd use a P2P to find copies of those songs. I'd download them, stick them on my portable MP3 player I use at the gym and then those I liked, I'd go out and buy the CD. The best part is that many times these were unheard of artists so the CD's at retail were less than $10. I found a lot of new music that I liked by doing this. Even with the ones I downloaded, but didn't like, I wouldn't share those. I'd delete the whole batch every Sunday and start over again.

To me one of the biggest reasons that CD sales have gone down is that at this time there is little to no distribution/release of multiple tracks from an album. As a kid growing up, I was able to buy 45rpm singles which would contain 2 songs from an album. In some cases the record label would release 3 or even 4 singles from that album. Nowadays there is no singles distribution at all. I remember specifically that Van Halen's 1984 and MJ's Thriller each had almost half of their tracks released outside of the dedicated album. Now the labels release one song from a CD and that's it. To me it's no wonder so many albums never get off the ground. The labels look for only the initial Tuesday sales figures and then it's over. So then consumers have to decide if on the basis of that one song, if it's worth dropping $10 or more, blindly for the other tracks.

What I would like to see is that for any single the record labels release via radio or video, that they also provide a free MP3 for that one track(maybe even a 2nd "B" side track) and give it a timestamp good for a week let's say. That way I can have time to hear it a few times and decide if I like it enough to get the whole CD. I have no problem with the RIAA going after people who are sharing MP3's in order to protect their copyright, but I think they are hurting themselves with a delivery method that could be very profitable for them. Sueing a few hundred may stop the file sharing, but I wonder if they have any idea at the amount of negative sentiment this creates within the buying public. What a PR disaster.

~shoe

[justin_tx_16]

Don't forget, the USA is in a recession since and before 9/11. There are so many things going against the RIAA, piracy is low on the list. Please read the article noted earlier about this. It is very good, two articles about this in the magazine actually.

[reel 2 reel]

I agree ...I have found artist that I have never herd of before,cause they don't play smooth jazz on the radio....if I find an artist I like ...I go out and buy the disc..cause mp3s sound terrible on a good system...compressed to the max...no dynamic range real tinny sound...not something I want to listen to on the main system ..fer shure!!

[ben.]

I agree that a more modern delivery method needs to be implemented. The technology is there both for use as a promotional tool as many of you have pointed out, and as an ultimate delivery format. Mechanisms should be easily implementable for payment as well. I would love to have all my music in high resolution format on a server in a machine room and just drop files into portable devices for flexible use. The industry needs to catch up if they want to survive. Sound quality issues need to be addressed as well.

[Tony Boone]

The music I listen to is mostly from the 1940s through 1970s and a few more current tunes.

Now I've purchased my music on 45 and 33.3 LP. When 8 track came out I purchased my music on 8 track and then some cassette and eventually cd. I've sold most of my cds long ago due to circumstances beyond my control.

Now here's my question: HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO PURCHASE THE SAME SONGS TO HAVE THE RIGHT TO LISTEN TO THEM WITHOUT SOME MUSIC COP TRYING TO PROSECUTE ME FOR DOWNLOADING AN MP3?

I figure that once I paid for them 3 or 4 times on various media that I secured all rights to listen to that music for the rest of my life and if I choose to do so by downloading them on mp3 then so be it. I've paid for them several times already on vinyl, 8track, cassette and cd. That's enough as far as I'm concerned. I've paid my dues and the RIAA and go F**K off! And that includes that stupid white haired bastard they have as a spokesman. I forget his name at the moment.

I think my point is well grounded. Anyone else have any comment on my theory?

Regards,

Tony B.

[Tony Boone]

On another note I don't listen to the garbage being produced today that many mistakenly term 'music' but is nothing more than CRAP. And I'm being civil and kind when I say that.

There are few bands out there today that I like. Counting Crowes and Bare Naked Ladies are a couple. Hard pressed to name any more at the moment.

It seems to me that record execs are going out of their way to reduce the music available to the American people to its lowest common denominator signing people who themselves are society's lowest common denominator.

How creative is it for an 'artist' (I use that term very loosely) to 'sample' (read: ripoff, steal) the work of other actually creative musicians and incorporate that into their work because they're to lazy or incapable of coming up with lyrics or music of their own.

Tony B.

[ben.]

Actually, Tony, I think the law states that you can make as many copies for your own personal use once you have purchased the original recording. By purchasing a copy of the recording, you are granted rights to "mechanical reproduction" (you can tell when the laws were written). I believe these rights extend to use of mp3 files. It does not, however, entitle anyone to distribute said copies.

I agree with you on keeping up with format changes. It reminds me of golf balls. Last year they were the best thing since sliced bread, now I need the Tour Ace or I'll svck....oh wait, I do anyway!!

[cluless]

JTS8-

Your post reeks of someone trying to justifying shoplifting...but let's not go there.

Musicians are subject to the most fickle audience in the world. Us.

If they only get a small percentage of the proceeds of sales, and you download the music without buying, you are depriving of them of even that. Like Justin, I tended to buy more CDs when I could "test drive" the music by downloading mp3s. Sadly that is not the norm. The music clips available for "pre-hearing" tunes are sadly inadequate, so IMO, the industry needs to make decent clips available, and clamp down on piracy.