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Record Company Collusion a Defense to RIAA Case?
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "Is collusion by the record companies a defense to an RIAA case? We're about to find out, because the RIAA has made a motion to strike the affirmative defense of Marie Lindor, who alleged that "the plaintiffs, who are competitors, are a cartel acting collusively in violation of the antitrust laws and of public policy, by tying their copyrights to each other, collusively litigating and settling all cases together, and by entering into an unlawful agreement among themselves to prosecute and to dispose of all cases in accordance with a uniform agreement, and through common lawyers, thus overreaching the bounds and scope of whatever copyrights they might have" in UMG v. Lindor."
Ok, then put it another way: Why do you deserve to have the song for free? (Just to be clear on my general position - RIAA = bad, but paying people for their work = good, though I'm not getting into a row about relative revenue-pie-slice sizes)
"Knowledge, sir, should be free to all!"
~Harcourt Fenton Mudd
If you couldn't obtain it for free, you would pay for it.
Not necessarily. I would borrow CD's from friends or trading with them, or I would gather 5-10 friends and buy one record with them and so on.
Some people don't realize there are millions of people who really have other priorities in life then to buy a CD for 30 dollars when they earn 300 dollars a week or even less and the rent is 200 dollars and the various monthly fees are 60 dollars. But they would buy at least one CD a month if the CD was 9.99 dollars.
Some people don't believe in buying records when the music on those records is freely available on FM radios, they would copy it anyway from the Internet, but these people would gladly go to a concert if it was possible. For example, I would NOT pay 40 dollars for a Yanni CD but I would pay 100-150 dollars without blinking for a concert ticket if Yanni or Mike Oldfield concert in my country. These are concerts where you "feel" the music, if you're at a live concert.
Furthermore, I believe that downloading music often increases sales, because I can't remember how often I'd recommended bands and albums to other people, which later on have purchased tracks or albums from iTunes. I may not be buying, but I'm referring people.
Check out the forums of Digitally Imported for example, and see what people are saying at various tracks, you'll see lots of comments like "Wow! Where can I buy this mix?" Would you consider that by listening to that mix on DI.fm, that artist lost a sale? He won hundreds just by gaining popularity and getting his work known.