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Canadian Record Label Fights RIAA Lawsuits
An anonymous reader writes "Nettwerk Music Group, Canada's leading privately owned record label has
joined
the fight against the RIAA's strategy of individual lawsuits.
Nettwerk CEO Terry McBride says 'Suing music fans is not the solution,
it's the problem. Litigation is not "artist development." Litigation is
a deterrent to
creativity and passion and it is hurting the business I love. The
current actions of the RIAA are not in my artists' best
interests.'"
I have to admit, I was becoming skeptical of this country this week when the Conservative party won the federal election. But this, this is what gives me back some faith in my country.
OH CANADA!
I agree that illegally copied music is, well, illegal. Shouldn't there be a warning, though, so that the individual being sued has the opportunity to legally purchase the songs in question? 600 songs = $600US on iTunes, more or less.
$nice = $webHosting + $domainNames + $sslCerts
Create a virus that installs a P2P client/server on each machine, and then randomly downloads and shares songs on the major P2P networks. Later, when they RIAA files a suit against a user, they can claim that it wasn't them, but the evil virus that shared these songs. Not only is it not the user's fault, but it's Microsoft's, as the unintentional sharing would have never happened without the security flaws! Proverbial stone of dual avian slaying +2
Ok I admit I am not very well read up on what the RIAA actually does and maybe this is the wrong place to ask this question, but what does an individual record company gain from being a RIAA member?
All I ever hear about RIAA involves lawsuits and similar activities. Do they actually provide anything to the individual record companies besides being a common lobby organization?
"If you can't live without me, why aren't you already dead?"
The pigopolists have been loud, but the rest of us are quietly not using our wallets. Perpetual copyrights and DRM are out of bounds and no one is going to support them.
It's very simple, really, people want their freedom. If you don't want me to share the music you publish, I don't want to buy it. I won't go for technological restrictions either. I'm not giving my money to people who would make sharing a crime. Music is supposed to be shared and it's supposed to be unifying.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
...that the last CD I bought was a Nettwerk CD (Chimera by Delerium). It also seems it's one of the few labels that still pumps out interesting music. And yes, I downloaded three Delerium albums, two of which I bought eventually, and last one will probably buy very soon.
please excuse my apathy
from
http://www.riaa.com/about/members/default.asp>
Both Nettwork Records and their US/international
distributor, BMG/Arista Records (well, all divisions
of BMG, I figure), are reporting members of the RIAA.
So, what are the ramifications of a portion of the RIAA
suing itself? Maybe it's somewhat like the RIAA isn't really
polling its members to obtain their views, so that it can
accurately reflect and represent them?
Pondersome.
Any label that had room for both Sarah MacLachlan and Skinny Puppy has to be at least kind of interesting.
"We shall grapple with the ineffable, and see if we may not eff it after all." - Douglas Adams
Nettwerk has always been my favorite label, promoting the best early industrial bands including Skinny Puppy. I can understand how they 'get it' with file sharing, as opposed to the big conglomerates.
Didn't they get arrested on that tour?
The story as it was told to me was that they were mistakenly arrested. I was too young to see them then, but apparently they had some kind of Hollywood creature department-quality dog dummy that they could "vivisect" on stage, as part of their protest against that kind of practice in the real medical/scientific world. Someone thought it was real, and called the police.
"...always new atoms but always doing the same dance, remembering what the dance was yesterday." -Richard Feynman