Rantings of a New Yorker

Yes, we have heard this story, ad nauseum, however, if we don’t keep talking about it, the RIAA is going to continue to sue and push the limits of the law in an attempt to obtain even more money from their failing system.  There is yet another story of someone who has ripped their own CDs and shared the resulting MP3s on KaZaA, despite the numerous stories we’ve read about other KaZaA users being sued for sharing songs as well.

The confusing part of this lawsuit is the apparent contradiction of the previous MGM vs. Grokster [pdf] and the current Atlantic vs. Howell cases.

The RIAA’s war on its own consumers has led to a decline in purchasing CDs precisely because consumers are sick and tired of being ripped off by overpriced CDs that do little to compensate the artists they are trying to support.

The fact of the matter is that they are attempting to sell you the same thing over and over and over, hoping that you’ll be stupid enough to just keep paying so you don’t get sued.

Eventually, this slippery slope is headed towards a listener license, whereby, every single individual is going to have to pay for a license simply to be able to hear music.  This will be enforceable in all public places from the local bar to the sports stadium.

If you really want to boycott the RIAA, there are numerous places to find artists who aren’t affiliated with the RIAA and produce wonderful music.  A basic list to get started includes:

RIAA Radar
Magnatune
Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft