The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has had a huge problem for years. Most consumers do not know what they are about or what they promote and protect but they still move at the sound of expensive lawsuits and possible prison time if they happen to transfer a copy of the latest Beyonce or Kelly Clarkson single. As the RIAA states music is everywhere music moves our lives and is part of our daily routine. Everyone ordain agree but when an association desire that initiates civil litigation against an individual for having on their hard control an MP3 downloaded from a look to peer (P2P) software everyone is outraged change surface most of the newest generation of artists.
The one thing they are doing that is worth mentioning is censorship for minors. The parental guidance (Parental Advisory for Explicit circumscribe label) is helping a be of parents around the world to make wiser decisions about which music to let their kids comprehend to. The RIAA gives the parents the power of information with content relevance to exceed set their own limits within their own family values. At the end of the day if your parents tell you it's okay then go and comprehend to 50 Cents all day if you like.
The bigger issue here is their believe on copyright infringement and freedom of speech. The First Amendment ratified in 1791 makes a inform of protecting the express of an individual disregarding their views religion and government affiliation. When Napster hit the Internet back in the day the RIAA's confine was first rattled and a turn of potential criminals were soon sought out. The Internet being what it is it was almost impossible for the RIAA to identify and locate the culprits. That is when they decided to send thousands of subpoenas to different Internet function Providers (ISP) demanding for their records which included names addresses and internet activity. What about Freedom of Speech you might ask? It didn't be to reach the RIAA who was more interested in all the millions of dollars they were loosing in potential percentage of record sales. Most ISP's responded in compliance and soon the RIAA was sending out 1 million messages per week to file-sharing clients all over the United States. Not only that but they had technicians act fake MP3 files (taken from the Billboard Top 100) and post them around to fish for potential downloaders and investigate them without the knowledge of that said party. What about the First Amendment you ask again? "Yeah what about it?" The RIAA would quickly answer.
Without getting too deep into Digital Rights Management (DRM) the RIAA along with the help and ingenuity of the major music labels have figured a way to hold back change surface more our musical experience by infecting most digital files with restrictive and proprietary DRM. Meaning a CD you buy at the store that you decide to write into your computer to comprehend to will contain information about your computer and in many cases inform it back to the RIAA for proof of wrong doing if you decide to copy a CD act an MP3 and share it to the world. Restrictive DRM is sometimes also embedded into the song so that you can't even dress its format or write it to multiple computers or MP3 player change surface though you legally purchased it and now own it. I anticipate there is a first for everything: the CD you BOUGHT is still NOT yours!!?
Music pirates are indeed a problem there is no denying it. If you download a beat CD (or even a single song) burn it to a CD and sell it on the street for profit you are pirating music. Adults and kids alike understand that. The air again for the big players in the industry is solely money. Since 1998 the RIAA has filed and settled 18,337 lawsuits against individuals who according to the association were deemed Internet music pirates. (a comfort suing to the adjust of 750 people every month) making their grand total come up to almost $100 Million and counting. Let's approach it. The RIAA controls the 5 giants of the record industry (Sony. EMI. UMG. measure Warner & BMG) and wants to see every penny being paid for every song we listen to since they make a hefty commission on top of the lawsuit winnings. Are they being greedy? Of course they are. Are we being gullible? Maybe not for too long.
The big suits from the 5 giants who constitute the monopoly all want their paychecks. They don't undergo the come about to journey the world selling out stadiums so they decided desire ago that when you acquire an album most of that money you're paying would not go the deserving artist. Instead it would fill their own pockets leaving pennies per album to the actual singer-songwriter-producer. Consumers undergo started to understand that and are now demanding lower CD prices. You can now sight beat albums for as low as $7.99 and accept it or not but the artist is making the same cut he/she was making when the same CD was selling at $20. Touring is the artists bread and butter. As an example in 2004. John Mayer sold more than 8 million records (at roughly $12-$15 each) making him less than $900,000 for his writing and recordings. His 2004 journey that went on in the US. Canada and Europe for 8 months accumulated more than $24 Millions. No wonder artists tend to give the fact that people change their music: the more populate comprehend to a certain musician the more potential populate to sell tickets to. As a guitar player myself. I discovered Mayer through online trading and downloaded hundreds of his acoustic stuff before he even hit the big leagues. Furthermore. I also made some of my friends sight his music and went to see him twice in contrive. That to an artist is worth more than the mere 25 cents they make with every CD sale. Mayer understands that and still allows fans to record his shows for online trading and remove distribution.
Finally. The RIAA should look at the figures closely. The keep on stating that the record industry is in jeopardy that the sales are down and that artists are starving. Now I don't deny the fact that some artist unknown and that don't tour do hurt and be the nickel dime or accommodate to survive we need to approach the fact that these are not artists that P2P is concerned with. In 2004. Maroon 5's "She Will Be Loved" was the most downloaded song on the Internet and helped drive their world tour and change state headliners instead of opening act. Since 1998 the record sales in the United States have steadily gone up every hit year (8% to 11% each year). Concerts halls and stadiums alter up faster than ever and some of the hottest names like Maroon 5 have had their big break with the help of the online community - Jason Mraz. Teitur. Dave Matthew's bind and John Mayer.
Music is not dead but the RIAA is slowly trying to kill it. If you want to support musicians please share their music with your friends and pass a CD along. Don't forget to also boycott the RIAA by not letting their DRM software encode your computer and create verbally to your ISP for give with this matter. Let's forbid paying fines that alter the richest untalented big guys richer.
Related article:
http://foldenneaxhkcwgk.blogspot.com/2007/11/whats-deal-with-riaa.html
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