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It has been well established that it costs the labels less than $1 to press and package a disc. Also, anyone with a computer and a good sound card can be a recording studio these days. Even if the recording rackets stopped ripping off the artists and paid them their fair share, there would still be no legitimate reason to charge more that $5 for a CD. I predict that they will fool no one with these ridiculous claims. Don't Buy CDs!

This is one of the most laughable things I have ever heard.

CD prices were always higher than the equivalent cassette tape, which was much more complicated to produce and had the same production and marketing costs.

FTA: For example, when you hear a song played on the radio -- that didn't just happen! Labels make investments in artists by paying for both the production and the promotion of the album, and promotion is very expensive.

The only thing that gets played on the radio is the latest Britney Spears bubblegum crap-ola. In fact, Mandy Moore recently apologized for making such bad music

So we have to pay for all the payola in getting the radio stations bribed to play the songs on the radio.

And then when a CD gets scratched, broken, or stolen, do we get a free replacement? Oh no, we have to pay the full retail cost all over again even though the RIAA wants us to think that we have somehow "licensed" the music from them.

I am glad that they are sweating, which they must be in order to be trying to play the "victim" game. The days of the Internet are here to stay, and bands can finally distribute their own music without getting shafted.

In the linked article it says that only 10% of all CD's make a profit. The other 90% of CD's put the bands into debt to the record companies, making it a really bad deal to sign a record contract. Courtney Love does the math.

The RIAA sounds desperate, and I hope they are -- it would serve them right.

Neither "A" in RIAA stands for artists. The Recording Industry Association of America is of, by and for bloodsucking management and executive types who never created one note of music. This move to lower royalties is proof of that if anyone still doubted it. Don't Buy CDs!

I agree. Boycotting is the only recourse consumers have. But there is one other thing I have to say. Do not call the recording industry the music industry. Plastic disks are a commodity produced by an industry, music is not. It has been around since the dawn of time, not just since the invention of the phonograph. It is best enjoyed live, not on any payback medium. It in many forms that the recording industry bloodsuckers don't think they can make a buck off of, and ignore. No industry owns music.

I watch movies at my computer all the time, and will boycott any studio that uses this DRM scheme. I stopped buying CDs the first time I got one that wouldn't work in my computer. The only way we can make the entertainment industries treat us like paying customers again and not suckers is to vote with our wallets.

Recording Industrialists Against Artists will try anything to make sure no one hears so much as a note of music without paying them. Music has existed since the dawn of time, not just since the invention of the phonograph. RIAA, you are obsolete and your products are too. No one needs you any more. Don't Buy CDs.

There are three ways I know of making a normal audio CD impossible to pirate/play on a computer:

1. Mess with the Table of Contents. I believe this is an example of a ToC that has somehow been changed so that computers don't see it as an audio CD. Unfortunately, it would also probably affect mp3 cd players and other, similar devices which are not computers, cannot possibly enable piracy, but still read the ToC and the data areas so they can find mp3 files.
2. Mess with the audio data. There have been some clever attempts at changing the audio such that it sounds normal on a normal CD player, but it has annoying pops and hisses when played on a computer, or ripped to mp3. Unfortunately, this also has the same problems -- devices could always have the same problem reading the disc as computers.
3. Install a rootkit or other evilness in the autorun. This can be countered by one or more of the following:
   • Turning off autorun
   • Ripping on anything that isn't a Windows OS
   • Suing the shit out of Sony for abusing our computers
   While the rootkit method will have the least false positives, it will also cause the most damage, and it's the easiest to circumvent.

I suspect that any method which allows you to burn your own DVD, even if it'll let us use single-layer media, is going to use one of the above retarded methods for attempting to prevent copy protection. They could try using Blu-Ray, except that Blu-Ray media isn't cheap enough yet.

The real question is, will the downloads be full DVD quality, and if not, will they be DRM'd before they get to the DVD? In other words, could I download these using their software (undoubtably they'll require software), then copy them over the network and play them on my Linux box?

If not, then this will likely be used to say that people will always pirate, no matter how cheap/convenient they make it. They could take a hint from the pirates, though. You can't make it much more convenient than an un-DRM'd BitTorrent download, and it's certainly cheaper to publish that way.

Here's my conditions for using this service or a service like it:

• Saturate my connection, whether you use BitTorrent or HTTP.
• Use a standard protocol -- BitTorrent or HTTP. Please don't use FTP.
• Charge a reasonable amount (I think they're doing that now).
• Let the files themselves be un-DRM'd and in a standard format -- I'd love h.264 in an avi, mkv, even mov. Note that h.264 != high def.
• If you give me subtitles, let them be soft subtitles.
• If I must download commentary and special features, they should be no more than 20% of the total download size.

I'd like high def with lots of extras, but that's not necessary. The above list is, though. Miss even one of those and I'll just rent them and rip them, the way I always do.

Right and they "could" do many other things to be fair to that artists, but they aren't. AS it stands right now you are saying that it's legit to say, "I am going to buy music from AllofMP3 because I am sick of the music industry "ripping" me off." So, you fuck the artist by not giving them any money and you give the music publishers even more ammo to mess with prices. And in the end, no one is ripping you off. You can easily choose not to buy music that is supported by the RIAA - http://www.dontbuycds.org/ or http://www.boycott-riaa.com/. So, if you really want to help support indie artists buy paying them and not dealing with the big labels. Don't try to use AllofMP3 as some kind of bullshit protest.

CRIA stands for Canadian Recording Industry Association. RIAA stands for Recording Industry Association of America. No "A" in either group's acronym stands for artists. I am glad they are finally forming organizations of their own. Boycott the big labels!

I will not buy any DRM crippled product, movies or music and am not shy about encouraging others to boycott them. Respect my personal property rights after the sale, or there will be no sale.

Not only that, but you have to pay for satellite radio. Users are already coughing up dough for that music. Why should they have to pay even more? The RIAA are mobsters. Don't buy CDs.

Radio stations play songs so frequently they are impossible to avoid, so why would I want to buy it? I can turn on the radio and wait 30 minutes and it will be on (in most markets, which are moving to the "Jack" format, it almost doesn't matter which station!)

They pay lots of money to put stuff on the radio ( payola: http://www.dontbuycds.org/payola.htm ). Instead of requiring labels to pay radio stations so that I can hear a song, I just download it - which costs the labels no money whatsoever! And, I don't have to hear it so many times I have it memorized.

In fact, every time I download a song, I should send the label a bill - either as the newest incarnation of payola, or maybe for my time spent listening, depending on how good it is.

Do your part! Save the label bundles of money!

So, teen pop shiiat loses sales, but real musicians find their audience with P2P. No wonder the RIAA hates it. You can't snooker people who get to try before they buy. P2P makes it much harder to rip off children, which has been the recording industry's MO almost since Edison invented the phonograph. Don't buy CDs!

The whole Idea of DRM is flawed. It will never stop the black market of counterfeit CDs at flea markets, on street corners, and in regular retail outlets in some parts of the world. DRM will only stop legitimate paying customers from using their personal property as they see fit. I hope this thing bankrupts Sony, and that their demise becomes a cautionary tale for the rest of the industry. Don't call your customers thieves and expect to still have customers. Don't buy CDs.

The recording industry's M.O. is simple: rip off children by selling them pieces of plastic at an obscene markup. They aren't interested in changing that in any way. Let them join other obsolete industries in the dustbin of history. Don't buy CDs.

Check out this quote: "To have only one price point is not fair to our artists..." Our artists? Did the labels buy then at a slave auction? Are they property? Niether "A" in RIAA stands for artists, so when the recording industry claims to care about them, don't be fooled. They are as disposable as a loaded diaper (not the cloth kind, duh!) to the labels. Don't buy CDs.

CD-rom drives have been "regular CD players" since their invention. Now, the recording industry wants to take that away? To hell with them! If you won't respect my property rights after a sale, there will be no sale. Dont buy CDs.

The labels think the kids are too dumb to ask thoughtful questions like that, and are complete suckers. Steve Jobs says that they are not that dumb. If the prices are a rip-off, even "stupid" teens with disposable income are not going to pay. Who is right? That remains to be seen. As for CDs, when the ones at the mall crippled by DRM are $21.99, and the bootlegs and pirates at the flea market are $4.50, and DRM free. I'll bet the kids will go to the flea market. Greed can be self-destructive, and the recording industry just doesn't get that. Don't buy CDs

Here's a little cartoon about that. Niether A in RIAA stands for artists. It's the Recording Industry Association of America.

Who modded up this flamebait? Other than "start voting with your dollars," that post just an attempt to provoke angry responses.

Home taping is killing the recording industry...skip
Home taping is killing the recording industry...skip
Home taping is killing the recording industry...skip

Since they are still around, it wasn't true then. It isn't true now either. They claim that sales are down, but are making a killing with their obscene markups in spite of the poor quality of today's popular music. Price gouging, DRM, lousy music, and treating customers like criminals are several reasons why I don't buy CDs.

Before anyone whines and moans about hurting the artists by not buying, I will point out that RIAA stands for Recording Industry Association of America. Niether "A" stands for artists. Never has. Never will.

I suspect that the RIAA knows damn well that P2P is the best form of promotion that music has ever had, but they don't control it, and can't take control of it, so they want to kill it. Kings fear a revolution, and P2P is a revoluion. Boycott the RIAA.

Artists who go independent, and don't sell their souls to an RIAA label have file trading networks to promote them for free. No need for payola!

Here is an interesting tidbit. In its day, that film was considered communist propaganda for making a common man the hero and a banker the villian. Now, the entertainment industry would have us believe that the public domain is a communist plot, and that "intellectual property" (pure vapor) is worth more than tangible things. Well, it's not!

In the near future people might literally ask, "Public domain? What's that?" and only historians will be able to explain the concept. It will be as extinct as the Dodo Bird.

As usual, Google is your friend.

The industry has found a way around the "anti-payola" laws which makes it "technically legal" to do the exact same thing...

http://www.dontbuycds.org/payola.htm

just because they're not indicted, doesn't mean its any different.

Think a bit, instead of saying "the law didn't stop them, so they're not doing anything wrong". Laws are broken.

That's all well and good, in North Carolina. But, how is it going to play as a precedent in other courts? Particularly of interest is the federal level. I haven't kept up on the various decisions lately, but I believe other court rulings have supported the MPAA/RIAA.

I sincerely doubt that a judge in California will see things the same way. Of course, I've been wrong before.

Additionally, what's the motivation for organizations (schools or ISPs) to fight for privacy versus just rolling over? I don't hear much of an outcry from the public over this bullshit, so it's not like they're really trying to protect their images. And, we all know that corporations don't go to much effort just on priciple (schools are a bit better in this regard).

In terms of "selling piracy", the MPAA/RIAA have won. The public really buys into the idea of it being stealing (as opposed to copyright infringment), and doesn't seem to get too pissed off over the draconian punishments that have been handed down. Even people who are fairly technically literate, or well versed in law, often don't see the distinction between theft and infringement. It's pretty sad. Who else is up for forming a non-profit, whose mission is to educate the public on intellectual property issues? Lastly, if the public doesn't understand the issue all that well, can we really expect much better of the judiciary? In an ideal world, the judiciary represents the populace (of course, I'd hope them to be much smarter than the average asshole on the street though).

I advocate not buying from companies that use DRM, and have hoped to see some kind of legal action taken against them, but I don't trust Congress in this case. They are essentially the same Congress that passed the DMCA and the Sonny Bono CTEA, two horribly pro-corporate and anti-consumer laws.

This will probably degenerate into who can offer fatter bribes: Apple or Real and Napster.

I agree fully. I won't tolerate anyone telling me what I can and can't do with my property after a sale is made. If strings are attached, I will take my money elsewhere. The first time I got a "Copy protected" CD, I stopped buying CDs.

People like to collect tangible things, but don't like to be ripped off. The labels that make up the RIAA need to think about that.

While the companies producing the DRM will make big bucks in the short term, the recording labels will only shoot themselves in the foot by using DRM. When they are forced to abandon the technology as Sony recently did, the gravy train for DRM producers will be gone, too.

The RIAA throw away their garbage, and call it a settlement. This reminds me of assclowns who throw away garbage at Goodwill and call it charity. I am under whelmed. Boycott the recording industry.

It won't matter what we call them if we don't buy them. An industry that doesn't respect the property rights of customers after a sale is made doesn't deserve to have customers. Boycott them.

Yes, they have no respect for the property rights of their customers. They want to convince congress that "intellectual property" is more important than real, tangible property. They intend to do it through bribery. The RIAA and the labels that make it up won't have money to do this if we boycott them until they are broke. Don't buy CD.

This reminds me of ass holes who take their garbage to Goodwill or The Salvation Army Thrift Store, dump it, and call that donating to charity. All the record labels which are members of the RIAA need to be boycotted into oblivion. Don't buy CDs.

In the 1980s. The software industry tried all this copy control nonsense with Commodore 64 software. Many companies did not survive the backlash. The record labels will not learn until everyone stops buying. Any business that alienates their customers deserves to fail. Vote with your pocket books. Stop feeding the hand that bites you.

What is the answer to this problem? Don't buy Contraband by Velvet Revolver. For that matter, don't buy CDs from any of the big labels. Boycott is a consumer's only recourse. If we let them get away with this, then we give up our fair use and personal property rights forever, and accept the RIAA et al's pay for play model. Kids, stop feeding the hand that bites you!

The biggest problem is that any form of copy protection disrespects a customer's property rights. Also, a seller presupposing that buyers are thieves is insulting. Once a sale is made, ownership is transferred from the seller to the buyer period. I won't patronize anyone who doesn't respect this. Don't buy CDs.

Indeed! Kids, stop feeding the hand that bites you. Don't buy CDs.

Don't Buy CDs.

The backlash would be if everyone stops buying CDs, and the labels have no money to bring frivolous lawsuits. It seems, however that the latest teen pop shiat keeps flying right off the shelves, lining the pockets of the RIAA and affiliated labels' executives. Kids, stop feeding the hand that bites you!

True. Any new medium that the recording industry doesn't control will be attacked. It is all about power and control. They will have less money to hire lawyers with though if we don't buy CDs.

99 cents is already too much to pay for something that is essentially no different from listening to the radio. The label doesn't have to produce or surrender anything tangible in the case of downloads. They are vapor. I am surprised anyone will pay at all for something that they could lose with a simple false keystoke, or mouse click.

Since Apple doesn't respect the property rights of their paying customers, they deserve to lose them, just like the record labels.

I don't buy anything from the major labels any more either. The first time I got a "copy protected" CD that wouldn't play in my computer, I stopped buying any. I hope the 7.6% decline is because of the boycott called for by sites like dontbuycds, Downhillbattle, and boycott-riaa. It would serve the major labels right if they all went bankrupt.

The RIAA and the labels would have us believe that music did not exist before Edison invented the phonograph, but it existed for millenia if not millions of years before then. Music will survive without the recoding industry, or should I say racket, when it goes away like the horse-and buggy industry.

I hope that Hatch and Leahy both get voted out, and that people all over the world don't buy CDs.

...but not the courts. At least not this one. The RIAA are the real criminals here, and the ones who should be sued. I hope that Michele Scimeca, the lady in New Jersey suing them for extortion and racketeering wins. Read more about what's wrong with the recording industry at www.dontbuycds.org

History also indicates that DRM will frequently make it impossible for legitimate owners of media just to play them. The problem with all DRM is that it is an attempt to tell customers what they can do with their personal property even after a sale is made. That is why there is always a backlash, and rightfully so. Take for example, "copy protected" CDs that won't play in a computer.

Judging by all the FUD spread by the recording industry, you might be tempted to believe that music didn't exist before Edison invented the phonograph. In truth, it has been around since early hominids first banged rocks and stick together, and doesn't depend on the recording industry for its survival. The recording industry is not the source of music, but a bunch of leeches and hangers-on exploiting music, and the artists who create it. Read more at dontbuycds.org.

I wonder how many of these 532 are children and kindly old grandparents this time. It is the height of hypocricy to sue people and cry to Congress on one hand, but pay Big Champagne to track what's hot among file traders on the other. The RIAA and affiliated labels are a criminal syndicate just like the mafia. Boycott them!

Senator Coleman seems to understand these issues relatively well. If we write to him, then the voices of music lovers and consumers can be heard at this summit, too. If media executives are the only voices heard, disaster can be the only result. Read more about these issues at dontbuycds.org. Get help writing to Senator Coleman, and others in Washington at congress.org.