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Apple and Pepsi Ad Sports RIAA Targets

Posted by michael on from the not-anti-establishment dept.

eefsee writes "USA Today is running a story about Pepsi's Superbowl ad for their iTunes promotion. The ad will apparently feature teens sued by the RIAA, including one young woman who holds out a Pepsi and says, 'We are still going to download music for free off the Internet.' The RIAA response? 'This ad shows how everything has changed.'"

9 of 683 comments (clear)

  1. Good. by Cleon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Corporate forces taking aim at the RIAA shows that the RIAA's business model is failing, and no amount of lawsuits, subpoenas, and para-military crap is going to stop it.

    Either the RIAA can join in and make money, or they can sit back and hopelessly try to defend an oppressive business model that has been rendered technologically obsolete.

    --
    Gifts for Geeks - Stuff that really matters!
    1. Re:Good. by Chibi · · Score: 5, Insightful
      Either the RIAA can join in and make money, or they can sit back and hopelessly try to defend an oppressive business model that has been rendered technologically obsolete.


      Um, isn't the RIAA already involved? From what I remember, they get a pretty large chunk out of that $.99 paid to the iTunes music store. Looks like they are doing both at the moment...

      --
      If all you have are silver bullets, everything looks like a werewolf.
    2. Re:Good. by somethinghollow · · Score: 5, Insightful

      a quick search says that on a sale of a CD, the artist gets about 8 cents.

      from the 99 cent iTunes download they get about 11 cents per song.

      Apple gets about 35 cents per song.

      In both cases, the RIAA/Record companies get the rest.

      So, if I buy 10 tracks from an album, the artist gets about $1.10, as oppsed to 8 cents.

      Support iTunes because it gives back to the artists. Don't not support it because it puts money in the RIAA's pocket. Even CD-Rs (so called music cd-r) get "Taxed" by the RIAA. You have to pay the RIAA to do anything with RIAA music. The best we can do is pay less for the music and give the artists a bigger cut. iTunes seems to be doing this, so it is a Good Thing in my book. At the very least, it is a step in the right direction.

    3. Re:Good. by Kazoo+the+Clown · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Even CD-Rs (so called music cd-r) get "Taxed" by the RIAA.

      If this is true, then haven't I already paid for the right to copy RIAA music?

  2. How come... by Beolach · · Score: 5, Insightful
    The RIAA response? 'This ad shows how everything has changed.'
    If they actually see how everything has changed, how come don't, I dunno, adapt?
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  3. Of course... by richlb · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...the RIAA is all in favor of the spot. They still get their royalty money for the 100 million "free" downloads.

  4. That's nothing... by Powercntrl · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The radio stations in my town (Orlando, FL) call pretty much all their promotional CD giveaways "Win it before you can burn it" or a similar reference to downloading music online. One of the rock stations even played a promo for awhile that basically poked fun at "little Billy" for downloading music off the internet and while they didn't say it directly, prison rape was implied with a soap dropping reference. If this promo was run as a Slashdot post, it would have been modded down as troll.

    Let's face it, while an ad during the Superbowl seems like a big deal to us geeks, people ALREADY know about teens being busted by the RIAA. While the buzz has definitly gotten around to non-techie people, people just aren't getting worked up over this enough to actually do anything about it.

    As much as it's considered taboo to say "downloading music is stealing" on Slashdot, that's what many people who do not download music see it as - teens getting sued by the RIAA for stealing music. It really doesn't tug on your heartstrings when that's what you see it as. You gotta remember, the average person who doesn't use P2P services probably does not understand the chances for the wrong people getting accused by the RIAA. They don't realize the RIAA is basically extorting people for absurd amounts of money to settle or face civil prosecution and all the costs associated with it. They don't realize the RIAA is abusing its monopoly and rips off its artists. All people see are teens stealing music.

    I see something much more sinister in the Pepsi commercial. I see the RIAA getting its way for $1 a track. I see once insubordinate teens that have been "shown the light" by becoming corporate whores and bowing to the RIAA's will. It only took Apple 20 years to be associated with a superbowl commercial totally opposite of their 1984 vision. This time, big brother wins.

    It's a good thing I drink coke.

    --

    ---
    DRM is like antifreeze, to the MPAA/RIAA it's sweet, to the consumers it's poison.
  5. Arggh! It's not downloading. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Downloading is not what got any of these people in trouble. Sharing -- making the songs available for download -- got them in trouble. They cannot tell what individuals downloaded. They can tell what individuals made available for download and confirm it by downloading it!

    If you want to know why the RIAA is hip to this, just think a moment. It blurs the activity. Illegal downloading is now the problem in the public's mind. By saying they litigated on the demand side rather than the supply side, they make people worry about whether the downloads can be tracked.

    I respect that the RIAA needs to enforce the publishing rights of its members. Given how creepy most people think the RIAA is, I don't see why the reinforce the perception by perpetuating a lie.

  6. RIAA != Bank by Baby+Duck · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If I get a loan from a bank to buy a house or a car, and I pay the loan back on time and in good faith, the bank doesn't keep my house or car. Not during the payback period and not after.

    Now if I'm PAID to make a house or car, I don't get to keep the house or car I made.

    If I don't like my employer, there are plenty of other cats to go to. The RIAA is a monopoly of the available employers for a particular industry. Smaller employers (indie labels) have a hard time breaking in.

    --

    "Love heals scars love left." -- Henry Rollins