Two New York lawyers detail here the sleazy legal tactics of the Recording Industry Association of America. The lawyers call the tactics a reign of terror against young people and have set up their blog as a clearing house of information and evidence about the RIAA’s “oppressive lawsuits.” I like the lawyers’ designations, but I would also say that the RIAA, in the spirit of monopoly power and privilege, is practicing marketing by lawsuit, rather than marketing by, well, marketing, that is, making high quality products widely available at low prices.
Jerry Kirkpatrick (a marketing professor)
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One of the two, Ray Beckerman, has figured out a way to successfully, economically defend people maliciously sued by the RIAA – we profiled him here;
http://www.libertyguys.org/articles/detail.asp?ArtID=913
Would that it were so, but (a) it’s too early in the game to see how ‘successful’ we will be, and (b) I can already say that, while I am using discount rates, I haven’t found a way to handle the cases “economically”. There isn’t a way to handle federal litigation economically. All we can hope for is that when we win, the Courts will hit the RIAA hard with attorneys fee awards that will make the defendants whole, at least financially.
Thanks Ray – sorry to put too much pressure on you.
But the work you are doing is freedom-enhancing and worthwhile, whether the current system rewards it or not.
For some time our family has minimised (or avoided) purchasing record lable music. We are not interested in the “hits” any more. There are plenty of reasons.
One was that most of these hit songs are five-minute wonders (most of the rest are plain trash talk with a drum beat- who needs it? I’d rather listen to a drop forge or a steam engine). Catchy advertising jingles that soon go stale and become boring. A half dozen times heard on the radio and that’s the last you want to hear of the most of them anyhow. Why pay good money for it?
The second and more interesting turned out to be what I encountered when a friend invited me to hear his garage band years ago. They practiced and become very good. He is a better guitarist than any of the super-stars. And I can record his music any time I like. Then there are the brilliant musicians at the school for the gifted. Go there any time you like and listen to them play or sing. Record as you like. No one cares (sure you have to ask and sometimes people get embarrased but if you are polite it’s OK). Then there are the casual musicians who’ll come to a party so long as you feed them and give them a little to drink (OK, a lot). There is so much talent and variety. A little time and effort and you can build strong friendships, make your own recordings of some good music and enjoy some really good times. You get to experience better quality than the rah rah rah primitivism that gets pumped out from “mainstream” sources.
I guess it’s like sports. Watching without involvement it is for the unfit. Getting involved and playing sport is for the fit. Same for music. So who do you want to be?
Talofa!
Sione
These days, Russia has more digital freedom than the West. The best place to get music these days is Russian music vendor Allofmp3.com — unlike all the American services hamstrung by the RIAA and onerous copyright laws, Allofmp3 offers terrific choice in the restriction-free format of your choice, and only charges by the megabyte.
As a result, I’ve spent more money in a year there on music than in my entire life previously. In the meantime, the American music industry is developing a more “innovative” business model: suing customers.
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