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Hilary Rosen Will Step Down As RIAA Head
Phoenix666 writes "NYT Business reports Hilary Rosen is leaving. Question is, what head will spring from the Hydra next? Could this signal a shift in the RIAA's tactics? The article reports 'Rosen's departure comes as the organization sought to soften its image among Internet consumers, many of whom viewed the RIAA -- and Rosen personally -- with antipathy over incessant pressure for crackdowns on sharing digital music over the Internet.'" A press release on the RIAA site says that Rosen will leave at the end of this year.
Music Industry Lobbyist Rosen to Leave
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 7:47 p.m. ET
NEW YORK (AP) -- Hilary Rosen, the U.S. recording industry's head lobbyist who waged a high-profile battle against Napster and music piracy, is resigning at the end of the year.
Rosen cited personal reasons for leaving the Recording Industry Association of America, where she has served as chief executive since 1998.
``During my tenure here, the recording industry has undergone dramatic challenges and it is well positioned for future success. I have been extremely proud to be a part of this industry transition,'' Rosen said. ``But I have young children and I want to devote more of my time to them.''
She said the RIAA board will conduct a formal search for a replacement.
David Munns, chairman and chief executive of EMI Recorded Music North America, called Rosen ``a tremendous advocate'' who has been ``extremely influential in both transforming the music industry in the digital age and in fighting piracy.''
The recording industry has been struggling with declining sales, which Rosen has blamed on illegal downloading over Napster and successors like Kazaa. Album sales declined for the second straight year in 2002, down 10.7 percent from the previous year.
Within the past few weeks, top executives at Sony Music and Vivendi Universal's MCA Records also said they were leaving.
Rosen's departure comes as the organization sought to soften its image among Internet consumers, many of whom viewed the RIAA -- and Rosen personally -- with antipathy over incessant pressure for crackdowns on sharing digital music over the Internet.
On Tuesday, Rosen's group won a closely watched lawsuit seeking Internet providers' cooperation in tracking down individual computer users who illegally download music. Verizon Communications Inc. had resisted, citing privacy concerns.
The RIAA recently set aside a simmering dispute with leading technology companies by agreeing to oppose any government efforts to build locking controls into future generations of entertainment devices.
Technology companies have complained that such controls, which would hamper consumers' efforts to share movies and music, are too expensive and complex.
The recording industry also has been promoting its own, for-fee online music services, but consumers have largely rejected them because of usage restrictions and limited selections.
Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., a leading advocate of consumer rights to copyright works, said it was too early to tell whether Rosen's departure would fundamentally change the industry's stance toward the Internet.
``I do not think that she has been a spiritual champion of the industry embracing the Internet as a distribution medium,'' Boucher said. ``I think the industry clearly needs to do that. It's the only way that the industry has to compete with peer-to-peer'' file-sharing services like Kazaa.
Others praised her tenure and said she would be missed.
``Hilary has been a valiant, brave leader for the U.S. music industry,'' said Jack Valenti, president and chief executive of the Motion Picture Association of America. ``I confess that I am an ardent admirer of her skills, her tenacity and her integrity. She'll be a hard act to follow.''
Even her adversaries had praise.
``While we don't always see eye to eye, I think that she's extremely good at her job,'' said Joe Kraus of Digitalconsumer.org, which promotes greater ``fair use'' rights to songs and movies. ``Hilary's had a big influence in the way that members of Congress view the issue.''
But ultimately, he said, the recording industry is broader than any one person, so her resignation may not profoundly change attitudes.
Rosen was an independent consultant before joining the RIAA in 1987. She also is a founding board member of Rock the Vote, an organization aimed to get younger people more politically involved.
You know what I compare her resignation to?
End of LOTR: The Two Towers.
The scene where Saruman watches his factory get flooded. Hillary Rosen is Saruman.
(and CmdrTaco is Frodo)
Unfortunately, it's not up to a single person to determine what a producer charges for its goods, it's up to the entire market. But a boycott is a good way to start, and it's about all one person can do.
So if you don't think that the music you're getting for $15 or $20, don't buy it. No one's forcing anyone to listen to big RIAA bands. Buying a $20 CD is just admitting that the artist's music and his producer's marketing have been good enough that you decided you'd rather have the CD than a $20 bill.
Don't try to give any monopoly arguments, or arguments that "the entire music industry" is causing this, because there's plenty of free and low cost, high quality music out there.
The cost structure of CD's is now and has always been ridiculous.
How is it any different than any other industry? If a large group of dairy farmers could sell milk for $100 a bottle, then they would. And they could, if they could somehow market their milk as being so far superior to other producers' milk; make their milk sexier, more glamorous, and full of fame and celebrity; just as the Recording Industry has done for those they decide to make into Superstar artists.
And the public is willing to pay to own an album made by a Corporate Superstar. Maybe you're not (and I'm not either:-)), so if you still want music than buy albums from cheaper, lesser known artists. If you like Rock music (or blues or jazz or anything popular in your part of the country), you can go to a bar or club and hear great live rock music for under $10. And you can buy their CD for about $10 as well. So for the cost of a $20 corporate CD + $50 corporate concert ticket = $70 corporate experience, you could go to a different bar/club and buy a new CD for three straight weekends, meet a lot more people, and, in your own way, stick it to the recording industry.
Or, you could make friends with that guy you know who plays guitar, and get to see his band's concerts and get his CD's for free!
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