On Sept. 8, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)-- the ultimate demonic force in the universe at present -- filedsuits against 261 people -- including a 12-year-old girl.
These 261 evildoers allegedly had 1,000 or more shared musicfiles on their computers, making me glad that I don't share the 23gigabytes (5,000 songs) I have right now.
And if I did, I wouldn't tell you.
Charged with copyright violation, these 261 people could end uppaying fines as much as $150,000 per violation -- that's persong.
Quick math (yeah, I'm using a calculator): That's $150 millionper person ($750 million for a guy like me, assuming I shared), fora grand (albeit hypothetical) total of nearly $40 billion.
If these people had $40 billion, do you think they'd bedownloading music?
If I had $750 million, would I still be in college?
The RIAA hopes that the lawsuits will help put the brakes onfile sharing. If anything, it could put the brakes on music buying.This won't solve anything. This is the kind of negative action thatmakes consumers want to take out the big guys even more.
David Draiman, lead singer of the band Disturbed, whichinterchangeably sounds exactly like 50 other bands, believes themusic industry should develop better ways of distributing music onthe Internet, instead of suing those who download songs and sharethem, according to a report on Yahoo! Launch.
"This is not rocket science -- instead of spending all thismoney litigating against kids who are the people they're trying tosell things to in the first place, they have to learn how toeffectively use the Internet," Draiman told the San FranciscoChronicle.
Draiman suggests that the RIAA is protecting corporate profits,not artists:
"For the artists, my ass ... I didn't ask them to protect me,and I don't want their protection."
Draiman isn't alone. Artists such as Billy Corgan, Radiohead,David Bowie, Ween, Foo Fighters, Iron Maiden, Less Than Jake, PeteTownshend, Tom Petty, Snoop Dogg, and Ice-T all see merits in filesharing, which gets their music out to curious fans.
To support Draiman, one could look at Apple's iTunes MusicStore, which has been successful since launching this year,effectively using the Internet to provide music.
At less than one dollar per song, fans can enjoy high-quality,file-protected music without the jack-booted RIAA knocking downdoors and hauling children off.
If an artist has one good song, it costs listeners a dollar, not$20 for a CD full of fluff and garbage. The incentive to producegreat art rests with the artist.
But a common complaint with iTunes Music is that the burned CDsdo not play well in all stereo equipment, and the files are onlyreliable in Apple computers and iPods.
Fans are willing to obtain music legally, but the RIAA is busyworrying about 12-year-old girls. Why bother finding out whatconsumers really want?
Hey, ever hear of a new business model?
"Music has to be easier to buy than to steal," Larry Kenswil,President of eLabs, the new media and technology division ofUniversal Music Group, suggested this year.
With the RIAA unwilling to make consumer demand a priority, thatwill be difficult.
Meanwhile, ripping, burning, and sharing remain relativelyeasy.
Not that I know or anything.
Write to John at kingseyeland@bsu.edu
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