Court rules against RIAA

[:) Smiley]

It will be a great day when the recording industry gets run out of this country and moves to India, like most service industries are going these days. Stuff will start sounding better. Manufacturing to China, Services to India. Oil from the Middle East, Labor from Latin America. I'm not sure what people in the US will do when that day comes but I'm sure they'll figguh out something.

[H Tower]

Originally posted by Skanky Burns
The way we win this is by draining the RIAA cash reserves. This is a very good thing.

And then J.Lo will donate the trifiling sum (to her anyways) of 2 million dollars to help keep the battle going, as will all the other artists who don't want their music being pirated. They aren't going anywhere.

[KrazyHorse]

They'll be running out of money too. That's the point. Overall sales are declining, legal costs are climbing, etc.

And some groups will figure out that the RIAA is actually ****ing them over, so they'll go it on their own.

[H Tower]

wishful thinking IMO

[Imran Siddiqui]

And some groups will figure out that the RIAA is actually ****ing them over, so they'll go it on their own.

Not many. They'll see the successes of bands not with the RIAA vs. those that are with them and make the smart choice and join up. Most bands aren't going anywhere (hey, they saw how bad 'Pearl Jam' got beaten up when they tried to take on Ticketmaster).

[Dinner]

Don't hold your breath about them running out of money any time soon. You'll have died of old age before that time ever comes.

[KrazyHorse]

If current trends continue they have a very limited horizon for useful actions. And more of the same-old, same-old is just digging them deeper.

They've got to figure out how to sell intellectual property in an age where intellectual property laws are easily and casually violated by the bulk of their major markets (i.e. teens and 20-somethings). Otherwise they lose money, and thus lose the capacity for serious legal manoeuvering. The answer will not be found in entrenching themselve to defend a losing business model.

Their current strategy is a frigging joke. So what if they shut down file-traders or file-trading networks once a year? They'll disrupt the flow for at best a couple of weeks....

[mrmitchell]

Their lobbyists have a stranglehold on the government. If they got close to going bankrupt, they'd probably even be able to wrangle "subsidies" out. The whole music industry right now, honestly, is just a big flaming pile of bull****.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by KrazyHorse
Since CDs of new recordings are a State-supported monopoly business they are already as high as the market will bear.

I would argue that they are higher than the market will bear, hence the 26% drop in sales over the past three years.

[KrazyHorse]

They've already wrangled some out of the Canadian government. Companies, artists, etc. get money from each blank CD sold there.

*****. Somebody should tell them that people use more blank CDs to put games on, since a CD full of MP3s will generally contain 10-12 albums.

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara


I would argue that they are higher than the market will bear, hence the 26% drop in sales over the past three years.

I agree, but the market has recently been hit with competition of a sort. I'm not sure how much of their drop in sales is due to pirating and how much is due to people simply not listening to music at the prices they charge.

[mrmitchell]

I agree, but the market has recently been hit with competition of a sort. I'm not sure how much of their drop in sales is due to pirating and how much is due to people simply not listening to music at the prices they charge.

It's not piracy. IIRC they also released something like 30% less albums over the same period as the profits drop happened.

Besides, though, CDs ARE ridiculously expensive, and for a lot of people I know, that's the main issue.

You can go to Wal-Mart and get a crappy radio for five dollars, and listen to all the free music you want. Alternatively, you can download a bunch of mp3s, buy a crappy mp3 player for a hundred dollars, and listen to all the free music on demand that you want. Both of the solutions are better than stacking up tons of CDs that cost two or three times out of what they really should cost.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by KrazyHorse
I agree, but the market has recently been hit with competition of a sort. I'm not sure how much of their drop in sales is due to pirating and how much is due to people simply not listening to music at the prices they charge.

It's not unrelated. Given the current prices, people tend to overcome their reluctence to steal. Were prices at a more reasonable level, people would be more willing to forgo stealing music, however, because they've so alienated many consumers and created a market for file-sharing for so long, I expect it's unlikely they will ever recapture that market. Why should kids who've grown up on stealing music ever start purchasing it?

[:) Smiley]

I only purchase from local bands because I like to support local industries and I know that all of the $15 I'm paying them goes straight back to them and their ability to make more good music.

For me the RIAA and its products symbolize all that is wrong and evil with the imperialistic Yanqui consumer-industrial complex. It is rare that individuals have a chance to fight the power like they can and have against the RIAA.

[Lord Merciless]

I will begin to buy CDs once their prices drop below $4.