Back in July, the Recording Industry Association of America madea promise to bring lawsuits against people who illegally sharemusic files. Last week the association kept its promise, bringing261 lawsuits against a wide variety of file sharers. More lawsuitsare expected shortly.
One such file sharer was Brianna Lahara, a 12-year-old residentof the New York Housing Authority.
Few people nowadays will say that sharing copyrighted songs is alegal practice, but this is not merely a legal battle. Thefile-sharing war is an ideological war. It is a war that pits theinterests of the common consumer and the common recording artistvs. the monopolistic labels and their cash cow puppet artists.
Lahara (and ultimately her destitute mother) did not deserve tobe sued. They cannot afford their own apartment, let alone thelegal fees it would have taken to battle this out in court. Insteadthey were terrorized into a $2,000 settlement.
Why? Why not just call little Brianna and ask her to stop? I'lltell you why: Because the RIAA wants you to know that nobody, evencute little girls, is safe. They want to scare you into buyingtheir overpriced products. They want you to be too terrified tolook for any alternative means of music enjoyment outside of theirmonopolized CD distribution.
They want to continue to get rich while the artists do not.
Do not be fooled into thinking that the RIAA wages thefile-sharing war to defend the livelihood and rights of itsrecording artists.
Fact: Every blank CDR and every CD burner has a built-in feethat goes to the record labels to compensate for copied music. Nolabel offers its artists a direct percentage of this fee.
Fact: Vivendi's legal file-sharing service charges their undercontract artists $19.95 a month to sell their own music.Furthermore, the payout to the artist is a merehalf-penny-per-play.
The RIAA comprises 80% of record sales and exists not to protectartists, but to protect record label owners and executives. It isan effective monopoly that helps prevent legitimate, art-mindedrecording artists from making a decent living in music.
You, as a consumer, do not have to lie down and accept thisbusiness arrangement. You can help fight this. By damaging the RIAAyou will help create a more-level playing field that allows formore artists to be heard. When more artists can be heard and cancompete in the market place, the quality of product (not themonopoly) will determine the successful artist.
To start, you can continue to download music illegally. There isa risk to being Robin Hood, but the risk need not be so great.Google-search for and download PeerGuardian. It is a program thatwill help prevent the RIAA from violating your privacy andsearching your computer without evidence of wrongdoing. It updatesevery day with a list of known RIAA-owned ISP addresses and blocksthem.
You can also dent major record label sales in other ways. Splitthe price of a CD with friends and make burned copies. Go to a showat the Speakeasy and buy the album of a local band. Support usedCD-stores.
Visit www.boycott-riaa.com for more info. This is a capitalisticsociety. The consumers, not the manufacturers, deserve to determinethe marketplace.
Write to 'Mouse' at bbmcshane@bsu.edu
visit www.classicalgeektheatre.com
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