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RIAA Sues Audiogalaxy
Frizzled writes "The RIAA has struck again, this time filing suit against Audiogalaxy's "Satellite" file sharing program. (Nevermind that Satellite is loaded with spy-ware ... good riddance)." News.com has a story. The RIAA's press release links to their complaint.
I think that they would rather have the cash.
Its more that they don't understand either the technology (which is probably unstoppable), or their own customers.
In particular, the major music labels don't seem to understand that:
1) Some people will pay money anyway for CD's if they like them enough.
2) Alot more people would buy the music if they sold them directly over the internet.
I personally believe that their sales would rocket up even at the same profit margins if they just dropped the cost of producing and distributing the CD's from the price of an internet download. This might only be a few dollars cheaper than what you pay to a major music store for the CD.
So what I think is happening here is the equivalent of what happened to encyclopedia salesmen with encarta. They were so locked in to a large existing sales network with high production costs that they could not bring themselves to cannibalise their own networks to maintain sales. This nearly destroyed the companies (such as britannica) before they finally did a U turn. People were happy to buy an inferior (M$ Encarta - not that it was bad, just less information) product because it was so much cheaper, and almost as good.
The analogy here of technology hitting an established high premium sales network is pretty tight. And I believe that the outcome will be the same. Eventually the networks will recognise this, and sell music tracks online for alot less than they currently do. They will prosper under this arrangement, although much of their distribution network will have to die in the process.
For the record, I can see the same thing ultimately happening with video, and a similar process of technological change is occuring with cameras and film. Our home computers will take on all of these tasks. We will still shop, but for production tools (printers, cameras) and 'raw' materials (blank CD's, DVD's high quality paper). Companies that get on this bandwagon will do well (ask Kodak), and those that pretend it isn't happening will go towards the wall (ask britannica!).My 2c worthMichael
Yes...AudioGalaxy is out there stealing songs?
And Sears should be held responsiable for all illegal breaking&entering done with a craftsman hammer. And there has already been the Wincherster case. And Buck should be held liable for all knife crimes, and rap for all crimes of insanity, etc...
What's next - RIAA against Berkeley for creating FTP cause they found an FTP mp3 site? RIAA against DARPA for creating the Internet?
Back to AudioGalaxy's FTP Search. It doesn't even need Satellite. However, it might be RIAA's next target, right after other FTP search sites.
First time I read it I thought it said "RIAA sues the galaxy". Funny thing is, I didn't think it was strange.
Been pirating from the RIAA since I was but ten and three, And I don't think I've missed single MP3, Just this old hard drive's space to lose, Now, I don't blame them cause they've gone and sued, But the stupidest thing they ever did, Was claim all their actions protected revenue.
Well, they must o' thought that is quite a joke, And it got a lot of laughs from a' lots of folk, It seems I've downloaded my whole life through. Some napster clone would die and I'd get red And some p2p'd openup and they'rd songs to multithread I tell ya, my life had nothing to do with their "revenue"
Well, I grew up quick and I grew up l33t, My hacking got hard and my wits got street, I'd roam backdoor to backdoor to hide my name. But I made a vow to the moon and stars That I'd search the databases and systems far And kill that connection before it got too lame
Well, just finished with a shell I had since mid-July And I just kissed my DSL connection bye-bye I just battled a round of security with big blue At an old cybercafe in case they pulled the lud's, There at a table, spewing FUD Sat the dirty, mangy dog that "protected" the RIAA's Revenue
Well, I knew that snake was a lawyer so bad From the way he jumped up and down so mad Cause Kazzaa Lite was installed on every rented PC, no lie.... He was big and bent and gray and old, And I looked at him and my blood ran cold And I said: "How dare you say you protect the rights and reveue of all the bands, they only see a cent or two! All he let out was a "sigh"
That pissed me off and Well, I hit him hard right between the eyes And he went down, but to my surprise, He come up with a lawsuit in hand, and the court date was in early next year But I called right back and marked him the theif, And he forced the conversation into the non-witnessed street Acronym'in and a' cursing, I finally made him leer
I tell ya, I've stolen identities of tougher men But I really can't remember when, He tricked like a mule and presented Pocket PC and filed Another suit as he said I'd pay for this fuss, He went for his digital pen and initialed first, He stood there lookin' at me and I saw him smile.
And he said: "Son, this world is rough And if an Association is gonna make it, their legal gotta be tough And they know you'll never help the Music Monopoly along. One by one we'll take away your songs, and give you enough time to say goodbye We work with the Telco's so you'll pay high And have no choice, our over-priced CD's you'll buy And from those sales the RIAA's goes on strong"
He said: "Now you just fought one hell of a fight And I know you hate me, and you got the right To report me now, and I wouldn't blame you if you do. But ya ought to thank me, before your case is tried, For the l33t circles, and coding skillz in ya eye Cause I'm the son-of-a-bitch that forces you underground when I yell "Sue.'"
I got all choked up and I threw down my palm And I recognized his crooked law, and it was there that I saw That everytime he sue'd it's True. My skillz improve, and my knack gets better Every time I find a P2P that's l33ter, and in the end, even though I think I win, The RIAA gets stats, and make then facts to continue their evil daze... And if I ever have a son, I think I'm gonna teach him better ways... Like buying DVD's from George and software from Bill..
Nah, the RIAA can kiss my ass cause I'll continue to pirate over prized CD's and warez and start to use linux just in spite, and support local artists with all my might,
and maybe after a generation or two...
Their greed'll thin, and freedom will win, And we'll finally, finally, exhaust all their grounds to Sue.
-Yo Grark
*--Would read a lot better without slashdot telling me "Your comment had too few characters per line (currently 34.2)"--*
Canadian Bred with American Buttering
I have been using Audiogalaxy for quite sometime now and have actually been pretty happy with it. But I think its structure may make it a harder target for the RIAA than something like Kazaa or Napster. Audiogalaxy already has built in copy protecting. Audiogalaxy has and is preventing a user from downloading certain more main stream songs. You can't get alot of music off Audiogalaxy. This fact is poorly criticized in section 3 of the RIAA statement where it compares its copy-protection to a fishnet filtering water. Also many artists are hosted by Audiogalaxy and it provides the user with a link to buy the album. This is in direct conflict with the RIAA claim that Audiogalaxy has "the ability to download entire sound recording albums, cover artwork..." As well for a fileshare program Audiogalaxy has been one of the most supportive of underground bands and community exchange. Just look at the monthly columns to see why the RIAA is sueing. The bands that are reviewed and advertised on Audiogalaxy are usually ones that aren't controlled by major labels. Although I won't defend the spyware, to me audiogalaxy was the first filesharing that was starting to actually look more like an alternative to the major labels.
fenn
It's odd they'd go after AudioGalaxy, considering other filesharing apps don't work to promote artists in the way it does. AG will (or try to) block you from downloading songs where someone has complained, suggest other artists and genres that may appeal and have a message board for discussing each musician. Seems better than just getting mp3's off napster.
I don't see how the RIAA can claim, with a straight face, that the copyrighted-song blocking was 'not as good as a first year CS student'. They've done the best you can realistically do with keyword blocking, without blocking others in the crossfire. For example:
The Cars, Drive = blocked.
According to the RIAA, if the band "Drive" releases a song called "Cars", it should be denied. Given the combinations of keywords, you'd be blocking pretty much everything that isn't obscure and unique, like "the Crucifucks", "Tumor Circus", "Cockmonger" or "Republican Buttocks".
They also have some light content-based filtering. I haven't researched this, but I think it goes by the ID3 tag. It seems to be used mostly to combat misspellings. Obviously, the RIAA's example was the worst-case scenario.
They've really done a fair amount of filtering, and enough in the other areas to show they aren't just a napster clone (which wouldn't be a bad thing by my standards). It seems they just want any type of music far away from computers, because it's easier to control than to just come up with cooler ideas and incentive for people to buy. I suppose it's also easier than releasing something better than the pussified swill I hear booming by from people's car radios.
--
PS: both AG for linux, and the other linux version called xsatellite are spyware free. The official AG linux binary is still supported.
Audiogalaxy does not contain spyware, nor does it require the use of spyware. The "official" audiogalaxy client however, does contain spyware, but only from version .609 and on. I use .608W for instance. It is 100% functional, and contains no spyware. Here is a download link. Furthermore, audiogalaxy is a pretty much open protocol. There are a number of 3rd party clients, for various operating system, which are spyware/adware free. Some are AGStream, OpenAG, and Sputnix. Quit complaining if you are too lazy to use google and/or download another client, so you can get free mp3s without the company making any money.
Moderation Totals: Flamebait=2, Troll=1, Redundant=1, Insightful=6, Overrated=1, Underrated=1, Total=12. (not mine)
Snipped from the latest bit of news on the weezer site.
It's anecdotal, I know. But I'd say that the RIAA spends more money on lawyers than the industry loses as a result of file sharing... They should probably cut Audiogalaxy in on the profits rather than sue them.
---
Yeah, well, that's just, like, your opinion, man.
Did anyone happen to catch 20/20 last night (Friday)? They had a piece about how radio stations take payola through indy promoters, blah blah blah. The interesting part was seeing Hillary Rosens fat head up there crying about how it costs the record labels so much and that there should be new laws to make it illegal, I'm just bawling my eyes out for them. I wonder how much of a discount consumers would see if such legistlation was put into place.
To be fair most the focus of the segment was mostly about how it prevents smaller labels/artists from getting radio play regardless of how good their music may be, which is a bad thing.
Personally I think its great that the RIAA is taking a stance against this. Lets see, first the RIAA pisses of geeks, then consumers, now they piss off the radio stations, if we get lucky they'll shoot themselves in the foot and piss off the artists and labels too.
-- Button up, your ignorance is showing
Like Napster, Audiogalaxy seeks to profit from its [music sharing :)] system by building an extensive user base to attract advertisers and investment dollars.
RIAA Exec #1: Bob, how's our new "file-sharing" service coming along, you know, the one that grants users the right to listen to a song on one computer for 30 minutes a day, all for $9.99 a month, and if you violate the terms of service, the FBI is notified directly?
RIAA Exec #2: *clik clik* Hmm, it's coming along okay Sue, three people have signed up in the past month alone. Not bad but we just can't seem to get volume of users we were predicting.
RIAA Exec #1: Actually one of those was me, and the other two were Hillary. We need to figure out what type of file sharing service people really want. If only there was some kind of "model" or "prototype" we could study. If only we could figure out some way to use the internet to profit from a music sharing system by building an extensive user base to attract advertisers and investment dollars. If only there was some way to do that.
RIAA Exec #2: I have no idea. To be honest I'm not even sure what the internet is, isn't it like a modem? I heard that once. Oh well, it's 1pm already, the work day is over, time to go golfing!
RIAA Exec #1: Good thing, my brain hurts.
They came for Napster, and I did not speak up, because I did not use Napster.
They came for Audiogalaxy, and I did not speak up, because it had spyware.
They came for Limewire, and I did not speak up, because I did not like the Java client.
Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak up.
There is no sig, there is only Zuul.
Audiogalaxy was actually helping small artists sell stuff. People who *wanted* their stuff on it to get URL's known and for people to buy actual albums. That seems to me much more likely -why- the RIAA wanted to sue them.
After all if there are alternatives to the kind of contracts the big media companies push who is going to sign up with the big boys ?