Gizmodo's Anti-RIAA Manifesto - Gizmodo
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We've gotten sick and tired of always seeing the RIAA pulling
deplorable moves and decided it was time for us to do something about
it. We're kicking the month off with this, our manifesto. We want to be
absolutely clear about what this fight is about and why it's so
important. This is an overview of what the RIAA does, why it's
damaging, and what we need to do to stop it. Consider this our planted
flag.
First off, we want to be clear that this battle won't be over on
March 31st. We declared March the Boycott the RIAA month to draw a line
in the sand and to make a strong statement, but this is merely the
beginning. Everything we're going to lay out here will still be true in
April, in May, in June, and in the months that follow. March will be
not the entirety of our efforts, but rather a kick off of our organized
campaign to make a difference. We'll be posting tips for how to get the
word out, ways to support artists without supporting the RIAA, and
keeping you updated with everything that's going on throughout the
entire month. With your help, we can educate people about how important
this issue is and really make a difference.
Who We're Up Against
The RIAA is the industry group that represents the four major record
labels — Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal, and Sony BMG — and all
of their subsidiaries. They work on behalf of their members, and they
have been accused of a wide range of offenses, from price-fixing to
stifling innovation. They're able to perpetuate these crimes due to
their huge bankroll, but that happens to be the one aspect of their
organization we have control over. As consumers, we are the ones who
stuff their coffers. By buying albums released by RIAA labels, we're
giving them the money they use to sue our peers, stifle innovation, and
force DRM down our throats. By cutting off their income stream, we can
help make the RIAA less effective and therefore less damaging.
We're huge music fans here at Gizmodo, and that's why it's really
hard to advocate not purchasing albums from artists we love. However,
what everyone needs to understand is that we are in no means advocating
piracy or not supporting musicians. The fact of the matter is, the
RIAA's practices do not, in the end, support musicians or put money
into their pockets. A fraction of the money from album sales actually
makes it to artists, and not a single penny that the RIAA has received
from their series of lawsuits has actually made it back to the artists
that had their "copyrights infringed" in the first place.
Piracy Lawsuits: Extortion and Privacy Invasion Under the Guise of Copyright Enforcement
The goal of the RIAA's lawsuits is to make people so afraid of being
sued that they will stop downloading music. However, in their lawsuits
they circumvent the law and extort money from people who haven't been
given the benefit of a legal trial.
The process that the RIAA has in place to find and sue plaintiffs is
designed not to provide a fair trial and prove guilt, but rather to
confuse and intimidate people into settling out of court. What exactly
happens is too detailed and lengthy for me to go into here, but Grant Robertson's Layperson's Guide to Filesharing Lawsuits
is a must-read for anyone interested in what exactly happened in the
20,000+ lawsuits (so far) the RIAA has brought upon the citizens of
this country.
Recently, the RIAA began looking to streamline the entire lawsuit process by cutting courts, lawyers, and any semblance of due process out altogether.
Their new plan is to have ISPs point people to p2plawsuits.com
(catchy!) and offer to discount their settlement by $1,000 if they pay
up without going to court at all. By avoiding the court system, the
RIAA can avoid paying those pesky lawyer's fees. Even better for them,
they plan to require ISPs to retain all of their customer records for
at least 180 days in order to be eligible for the $1,000 discount. This
would make everyone's surfing and downloading history available to a
non-governmental organization in order to make it easier for them to
gather evidence for their intimidation lawsuits.
Smothering Innovation: If You Can't Access the Internet, You Can't Pirate Music
Beyond the harassment, extortion, and privacy invasion that the RIAA
commits under the guise of lawsuits, they also stifle innovation by
treating any open Internet source as a potential way for people to
violate their copyrights. Recently, they filed a "motion for
reconsideration" in a suit claiming that anything downloaded via an Internet connection is the responsibility of the owner of said connection.
While the RIAA is trying to make it easier for them to get money out of
the parents of kids they sue, the precedent that it would set would
make it difficult, if not impossible, for open WiFi hotspots to exist.
That means that the RIAA would make it impossible for you to connect to
the web for free while out in a city that provides Internet access
merely because you might use it to download music.
DRM: Pay More, Get Less
Digital Rights Management, or DRM, is the software that makes it so
music you buy from the iTunes Music Store can't play on any other
player other than the iPod, such as a Zune or Sansa. In an effort to
keep people from sharing legally purchased music, DRM actually goes
much farther than copyright law dictates, denying paying customers the
fair use of the music they buy. You should be able to do what you want
with an album once you've paid for it; like a CD or a record, you now
own it for life.
However, music wrapped in DRM software cannot be played on devices
other than those explicitly tied to the store you brought it from.
Furthermore, listening to your music across multiple computers, or
moving your music to a new computer when you upgrade, is often a huge
headache that ends with you needing to repurchase your songs.
In effect, the RIAA's insistence on strict DRM takes value away from
legally purchased music. People have a choice: they can either pirate
unrestricted MP3 files that will let them use them however they'd like,
or they can pay for files that won't allow them the freedom to listen
where and how they choose. It only makes sense that many tech-savvy
people choose to download MP3s rather than pay for crippled files. The
RIAA wants people to pay for restrictions and like it.
Rescuing Artists From Those Claiming to Support Them
As we're a technology website, we're most in touch with the RIAA's
actions in response to music downloading as opposed to their history of
poor artist management and unfair retail tactics. However, it's worth
noting that issues such as the underpayment of artists and album
price-fixing are quite serious and should be considered as good a
reason as any to keep your money from going to their pockets. Two
articles worth reading to study up on how major labels screw over the
artists they claim to represent are Courtney Love's speech to the Digital Hollywood online entertainment conference and The Problem with Music by Steve Albini.
Both are written by artists who have first-hand knowledge of just how
badly major labels take advantage of musicians, and both are guaranteed
to change how you view the music industry.
Out With the Old, In With the New
So what would we like to see happen? First and foremost, we want the
lawsuits to stop. Treating normal people like common criminals and
using fear tactics and intimidation to extort thousands of dollars from
them goes against everything that this country stands for. Secondly, we
want them to stop insisting that DRM software be used on all of their
music being sold online. People are willing to pay for their music, but
they deserve to be able to own that music and use it however they'd
like once they purchase it. And lastly, we want the RIAA to stop trying
to stifle innovation and control the future of the Internet merely
because the possibility exists for piracy to happen using upcoming
technologies.
But all these things, in the long run, are temporary solutions to a
problem that will eventually end with a permanent solution. The fact of
the matter is, the RIAA is becoming more outdated and unnecessary by
the day. Their seeming inability to grasp the reality of today's music
industry has doomed them, and there will come a time when they will
cease to exist.
That's because the era of the major label is over. Why should a new
band want to sign with one? They no longer need a $50,000 recording
budget; more sophisticated and powerful home recording equipment and
software is released every day. Music videos are cheaper to shoot and
edit as well due to the lowered costs of cameras and computers.
Promoting for radio is increasingly unnecessary, as more and more bands
are discovered via blogs rather than through traditional channels. And
manufacturing is slowly being erased from the picture altogether,
allowing artists to distribute their music online with little overhead
costs.
While twenty years ago a band needed a record label to discover
them, help them record, help them shoot a video, manufacture and then
distribute their album, a resourceful band can do all of those things
themselves. Eventually, bands will be able to sell their music online
direct to fans with minimal reliance on a record label. The RIAA is
teetering on the edge of irrelevance, and it's our job to give it a
hearty shove. They can still do a hell of a lot of damage on their way
down, and that's what we need to try to stop. Stay tuned.
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