The RIAA's Latest PR Strategy: Gibberish
from the jedi-mind-trick dept
News.com sat down for an interview with Cary Sherman and Mitch Bainwol, the president and chairman, respectively, of the RIAA, who did little to improve their maligned reputations. Some of their answers to the reporter's questions are such bad non sequitors, you almost wonder if something's gotten screwed up in the transcription. When asked if they regret suing people like 12-year-old girls and grandmothers, Sherman says no, and that they're "feeling pretty good", then goes on with some lines that pay lip service to the idea that they're interested in coming up with new business models, rather than just using litigation as the cornerstone of their strategy. The most egregious comment, though, comes from Bainwol, who says "nobody" has any problem with DRM and copy protection. While consumers might not know what DRM is, they know when they songs they've purchased won't play on their new MP3 player, because it's not compatible, or when they can't burn a CD to their computer because a record label thinks they're a criminal, or when the copy protection on a CD opens their computer up to hackers. People understand the restrictions copy protection and DRM impose on them and content they've legally bought, even if they are unfamiliar with the term. Bainwol's belief that "nobody" has a problem with DRM fuels his efforts to mandate the use of copy protection by law, and it's a belief that ultimately undo the music industry. Continually frustrating customers by rigidily controlling how they play back content and making the digital content world a morass of incompatibility will come back to haunt it.
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whats that you say?
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agreed
RIAA, Really Idiotic Association of Arses
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I think almost anyone of us in his position would say 'screw the world and fairness, just give me my paycheck'.
That is reality.
What? You didn't think he was just really that stupid with those anwsers now did ya? Only looking out for his own interests, just like everyone else that works for controversial businesses but make big $$$.
Tis life my friends, otherwise anyone working for such companys like the RIAA / MPAA would have quited a long time ago for 'principle'.
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Re:
No, a lot of people actually value honesty and fariness over money, and play fairly with you as long as you play fairly with them.
I have no real compassion for someone who got screwed and cheated when that person's philosophy is to screw and cheat both their clients and their customers.
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Re: Re:
Yeah, but how many of those people run major corporations? There are probably a few, but they are also probably the minority.
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RIAA
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Re:
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Re: Re:
If you want to strike at the heart of the RIAA/MPAA then STOP USING THEIR MONEY!!!!!!!!!!! and start using
www.e-gold.com
www.pecunix.com
www.goldmoney.com
Join in with thousands of other businesses that already do:
www.gold-pages.net
Good Luck
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That's it
Q: Do your view your lawsuits, even ones where you sued a 12-year-old girl or a Boston grandmother, as a success overall and do you think the process is working?
Sherman: Yes. We're feeling pretty good...
Bainwol: Now there is additional legal clarity.
These sorry SOBs now "feel pretty good" and get "additional legal clarity" at the expense of 12 year old girls and grandmothers.
Go to Hell.
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A short boycott might work
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Re: A short boycott might work
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Re: A short boycott might work
If it were this easy movie tickets and gas prices would not be where they are now.
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Re: A short boycott might work
I'd suggest promoting some kind of "painless boycott" (from the boycotters' perspective, that is): badger people into buying only *used* music and movies. Consumers could tolerate that for a lot longer than an absolute boycott.
Secondary to a campaign like that, I'd promote awareness of independent artists, studios & labels who've broken ranks with the MAFIAA (http://mafiaa.org).
If we don't make the dollars dry up for a significant stretch of time, these goons will continue to have the resources to invade our privacy, our property rights, and our autonomy. In the US, you can't restrict even hate speech, so why do we let them restrict technical speech and software freedoms? Every dollar we fork over to these extortionists helps them lobby congress to step even harder on our constitutional rights, and for what? ...all for the sake of the entertainment industry's profit margins.
The general public has *got* to start thinking skeptically about what that new CD, DVD or movie ticket is costing society. They need to acquire a healthy suspicion about the latest and greatest shiny new HDTV equipment... and for God's sake, someone stop them from buying in to HD-DVD, Blu-Ray, or Windows Vista. If those products turn hot, it's probably too late.
The Battle for Your Digital Media Devices:
http://www.eff.org/IP/fairuse/
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the only way to stop the riaa is to stop the government from supporting them. aka as killing them all.
now who is up for a rebellion?
oh crap, how are we supposed to all get together with gas prices like this? i guess well have to wait till they drop..
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WTF!!!!
Q:Do you actually need to make certain receivers illegal to manufacture, which is the path being taken by Sen. Ted Stevens' proposal or Rep. Mike Ferguson's bill?
"Any kind of traditional copying would be fine. Just don't create a library like an iTunes library."
So with this comment I'm a criminal cause my library can play 70 days without repeating.
Q: Could the DRM debate flare up again because of public missteps like Sony's rootkit-enabled CDs?
"DRM has just gotten a bad rap based on this notion that it's going to restrict consumer choice. "
That is exactly what DRM does is restrict a consumers choice. A person buying a tune from the itunes music store won't be able to place it on their non-ipod player without a bunch of workaround steps that will increase the quality loss. So how is this not restrictive?????
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Maybe that's why RIAA has lost touch with reality and common sense. The people coming up with these insane ideas that suing 12 year old girls or those without any means of copying music are criminals must be sequestered away in isolation to reduce their desire for compassion and fair use.
Maybe it's time that we begin to feel bad for these poor deprived fellows? .... Nope .. not gonna happen!
And did I misinterpret a statement that implied that for those who don't know what DRM is, it doesn't matter to them until they try to copy it?
In many cases, people who don't know what DRM is find out the hard way when they try to PLAY, NOT COPY, the CD they purchased legally on a PC.
I might be wrong here, but isn't music simply a melodic form of self expression intended for all to hear and maybe enjoy?
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No different than what's happening in Hollywood. Hollywonks havent put out a decent movie in years but instead of looking within as to why Hollywood as an entertainment enterprise is losing money hand over fist they instead they look to pass the blame onto "pirates" instead of themselves and look to the crooks in congress to give them a free pass and business as usual.
Clooney, Sarandon, and the rest of the Hollywonks need look no further than themselves to see why Hollywood is no longer "entertainment" but instead has become nothing more than an arm of the lunatic left, thus effectively taking away around 50% of their audience. Real fn smart....
Mitch
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Well...
Of course, I'm not implying that these job losses are completely due to piracy, but the logic says piracy can't help.
And boycotss wouldn't help us either. And they really wouldn't affect the RIAA that much. So please, continue to buy DVDs and CDs, even if you want to copy them to your MP3 player, etc. It's keeping my family fed.
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Re: Well...
I agree though that a boycott of the RIAA won't work. To make any kind of effect you would need a large percentage of the world population and that isn't going to happen.
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Re: Well...
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Re: Well...
> I would like to point out that some of us are employed by
> CD and DVD manufacturing facilities and are facing severe
> job losses (read: thousands of layoffs) due to slow sales.
I am sorry, but if you aren't working at a company that provides something consumers value, then sales are going to go down. Demand for content delivered on optical disks is going to go down. I want content delievered to me directly.
You should probably look for a new job, and not expect consumers to buy stuff just to keep you feed.
> Of course, I'm not implying that these job losses are
> completely due to piracy, but the logic says piracy can't
> help.
I highly doubt you can truly make convincing logical argument that concludes that music swapping results in job losses. If you do try and make this argument try not to ignore the actual facts and studies like the RIAA likes to do.
I would guess all the money for these jobs are going to the lawyers...
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Re: Re: Well...
I did not say that music swapping resulted in job losses. What I contend is that piracy does not improve sales.
As for all the heartfelt comments regarding the fate of anyone who works for a CD/DVD manufacturer, I am teary-eyed. It's so nice to see people coming together to support one another.
I'm not naive, nor stupid. I realize that technology evolves and we must evolve with it. My contention was that by refusing to purchase a DVD or CD, based *solely* on whether that item had copy protection, you are helping the process.
If it were sociology, that would be called "ethnic cleansing." These are real people who depend on these jobs. And you're going to give them a pink slip because you can't copy a song?
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Re: Re: Well...
I did not say that music swapping resulted in job losses. What I contend is that piracy does not improve sales.
As for all the heartfelt comments regarding the fate of anyone who works for a CD/DVD manufacturer, I am teary-eyed. It's so nice to see people coming together to support one another.
I'm not naive, nor stupid. I realize that technology evolves and we must evolve with it. My contention was that by refusing to purchase a DVD or CD, based *solely* on whether that item had copy protection, you are helping the process.
If it were sociology, that would be called "ethnic cleansing." These are real people who depend on these jobs. And you're going to give them a pink slip because you can't copy a song?
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Re: Well...
whether it comes from a CEO or the layman, the cry is the same: we can't survive doing what we've been doing for X amount of time because things have changed, so let's hang on as long as possible. there is nothing wrong with you wanting to hang on (or the CEOs), but inevitably things WILL change and people will be put out of jobs. adapt or be eaten--it applied to more than just ecology.
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Re: Well...
If its not a boycott, it will be the management.
You have to think about the mentality of those you work for. they will make money, even in the face of their own mistakes, at the cost of their employees.
Your not losing jobs because college students are sharing music. Your loosing jobs because the executive in charge wants a new house.. and his wife wants a new house... and his mistress wants a new house.... not to mention the kids trip to Europe.. . oh and there’s the cruse in the Caribbean.
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Re: Well...
The next thing I knew, people were buying fewer and fewer buggy whips with which to whip their horses because they were buying automobiles instead. The buggy whip lobby wasn't anything near the size of the music/production/entertainment lobby and guess what happened. We failed to make cars illegal and people stopped making buggy whips because it's stupid to try and whip a car to make it go faster.
You need another job instead of asking/bribing/contributing to the election funds of lawmakers to make innovation illegal to protect sunset technologies. (not you personally, that would be silly, the people you work for)
How do you think the film stock industry is doing or the video tape manufacturing industry or the post office are doing. The only difference between these industries and the music/movie business is the amount of money that gets funneled into protecting their interests.
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Re: Well...
I, like the trucker in one of the previous posts, used to buy a lot of musics. 100+ alums a year. From 87-01 my music collection grew from 15 albums to over 1,500 albums. Unfortunately I had to stop buying for a while due to financial constraints imposed as a result of Sept. 11th. By the time I could afford to do so again the RIAA was in full "attack" mode and I didn't buy any albums for almost four years.
Sorry but I'm an NOT paying $15-20 for an album that is 80% rubbish with only one or two good song, DRM laden on top of it, and sold by labels that steal their artist's property (the rights to their songs) then try to cheat them financially (if the music is a "licence" ask Sony why the are being sued for paying their artists the lower sales royalty rate instead of the higher licencing royalty rate).
These days I'll only buy music from secondhand shops, inpdependant labels, or direct from artist whenever possible. Sorry your family is starving, but if you can't get your bosses to sell stuff I actually want to buy, I'd suggest perhaps finding a new line of work.
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Re: Well...
Do not forget all the people who lost there jobs during the evolution of the Auto industry. (Most people had cars and the demand had almost disappeared)
You should NEVER drive a used car because that used car is taking away peoples jobs!
DO NOT stop buying new Cars every 4 years!
Or Auto makers will lose money and workers will lose jobs!
Welcome to a growing/changing world of business. To resist is only going to cause more pain for the lower end workers.
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Stand Up For It
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DRM is restrictive
Another thing is if each company comes up with their own DRM then our PCs will have to run multiple DRMs, which will slow down the PC over time.
(I get a little fired up over DRM dont I?)
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RIAA----DRM
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Re: RIAA----DRM
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Re: RIAA----DRM
I used to buy 50-60 CDs monthly. For over 30 years I also used to produce for the record labels (gasp!). For the past 2 years I produce and market ONLY directly for artists, and no longer buy commercial CDs.
No, I wasn't laid off. Knowing how things work from the inside, I just couldn't live well with myself knowing how things really work.
P.S. I've heard the word 'boycott' here. It can only be effective if endorsed by major public figures. Good luck!
P.P.S. No names, but if you read the music rags you can find such celebrities willing to endorse such a move, and have even begun giving their recordings away for free rather than let the RIAA continue to suck their lifeblood.
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solution?
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I can tell ya who keeps them in power, though. Anybody dumb enough to buy a CD. One day boycott? How about a permanent boycott? After a one year boycott - yes, that includes iTunes - and no artist will ever deal with them.
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Music Archive
http://www.archive.org/details/etree
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I would be happy if the entire entertainment/industrial complex goes belly up. Creative artists will always be able to find an audience and support themselves doing so. The system as it is does absolutely nothing for the creative people. Rather, it funnels the megabucks to Ashlee Simpson and other creatively bankrupt hacks.
Like the trucker above, if there's music I want to buy, I do it directly from the artist. If the artist isn't selling direct, too bad for them. Unfortunately, there's no similar way to support filmmakers, but I'm betting one will be found soon.
The Sony's, Disneys, etc will get not one penny from me.
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Walk away
There is WAY more than enough good music in the world that you can enjoy with the RIAA:
- Play it yourself
- Go see a local band
- independent artists on the internet
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Brain worms!
Go my friends! Save the poor man! Pry the brain worms from his skull! *passes out crowbars to the crowd*
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Don't buy music,in any format that has DRM.
And yes,Id like to see a grass roots movement with the help of Defective By Design and Move On do something about these greedy fat-cats...Seems to me it all started with Microsoft's bright idea of one Windows product per computer...The record companies noted this and little light bulbs flashed atop their narly bald heads...It's been downhill since.
It's all about power and control and the big corps' want it all at any cost.
And btw,I can make my own music..I've played the hammer dulcimer for over ten years.
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WTF man
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TV/Movies/Music: Money to Congress
http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/summary.asp?Ind=B02&cycle=2006
TV/Movies/Musi c: Top 20 Recipients
http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/recips.asp?cycle=2006&ind=B02
$441,080 to the probable Dem nominee, $3,506,954 total to the party, and $3,125,493 to the GOP. Good luck with that boycott.
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You're kidding, right? I must be nobody because I have a problem with digital objects that are FUCT (Fair Use Constraining Technology).
I refuse to buy an ipod until I know I can move my music around freely. The only reason I buy DVDs is because I can rip them. It's nice to use the copy that is user-friendly; that is, starts with the menu, instead of showing unskippable FBI warnings and ads.
Here's my response to "The world at large is not aware of DRM as an issue. Nobody feels any real problem with it.": FUCK YOU.
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WHAT?
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Evil as a Necessity
They will sue as many 12 year olds and grandmas as it takes to scary people off trading music. They are acting savage and doing things without appearantly caring for the consequences and they are winning. You can't reason with these people who has no regard for polite rules of society.
The bottom line is: They have the resource and the lack of moral to do whatever they want, and there is no realistic way to stop them.
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Huh..Huh...!
They should worship Todd!....
Huh... huh...
Morons!
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You must aquit!
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Remember, when they say "nobody has a problem
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Remember, when they say "nobody has a problem"....
It's simply too troublesome for them to cater to the needs of every consumer in the world. After all, when the chips are down, always look out for number one... themselves.
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Surprised
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Re: Surprised
The hell of it is, this really doesn't affect me. I have no Ipod, I buy no cd's. On the rare occasion that I do buy a cd, I strip it of everything but the music. One might say that I'm already part of the boycott, and have been my whole life.
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Open Source
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F-U-C-K the RIAA
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Litigation is a business model?
Nice strategy. Ever hear of SCO Linux? Yeah, where are they now?
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Well I'm somebody
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Hmmm...
Remember, the artist who crated the song is the ONLY entity which OWNS the music. When you buy a CD, or a song separately, you are buying a "listen only" type license. Which means you can listen to the music you purchased however many times you want. But it does not give you the right to sell, give, copy or auction the song in any way, shape or form. In my opinion, they should have cracked down on this a long time ago and a lot harder than what they do now.
I'm sure none of you agree, as you all seem to be under the impression that it's perfectly OK to copy whichever song or CD you bought and sell/auction/copy/... it however many times you want... That is not the case. That would be the equivolent of buying a book, making copies of it and giving them away or selling them or giving them away. It's just not right.
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the rush
by the way..there is a program to make itunes into mp3!! http://www.hymn-project.org/jhymndoc/ its free..
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boycott may work
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Don't get caught
The internet is the largest information center in the world. Use it. If someone can think of a security issue, some crazy Asian kid somewhere is gonna figure a way around it.
They did it with video games, they did it with cable, they did it with movies, they did it with music, and they'll keep doing it until the end of time.
Google makes it even easier for those ultra lazy skim readers. There's no excuse.
I suggest checking out Peerguardian while you're at it for anyone getting started.
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boycott
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Re:
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The RIAA is descended from...
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So flippin' complicated, this music industry...
Musicians SHOULD be able to be independent, and actually function as their own business, as opposed to being an entity of a business. The only problem with being an indie artist is that you have to be the artist, the management, and the promotion machine. Most artists are not wired for all of those things, and there's no way that the artist themselves can get the kind of marketing and exposure on a national and international level that a "signed" act can, simply because the "signed" act has a multi-million dollar machine behind them. Artists just want to make music, and they want as many people as possible to hear their music. So the trade off is, "Do I sign this peice of crap record deal with Sony, or do I stay indie, and keep my freedom and my artistic rights, and not be given the time of day by radio, MTV, etc.?"
Hopefully, with the advent of MySpace Music, Pure Volume, and others, the internet can be where the grassroots can take hold on a large enough level to counter the crap like Britney Spears that the RIAA machine puts out. And it can be DRM free, and the artist will actually get what they deserve---instead of the suits getting rich off of their hard work. And the songs could actually be CHEAPER for the consumer.
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