RIAA Writes Its Own News For Local TV

I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "Did your local news recently do a two-minute clip on music copyright infringement? If so, you can thank the RIAA. They sent out a video press release to local news stations as part of their 'holiday anti-piracy campaign.' In it, they warn people that the best way to avoid counterfeit music is to avoid 'compilation CDs that could only exist in the dreams of a music fan' and to trust their ears, because illegally copied music usually sounds 'atrocious.' Instead, they encourage watchers to buy ringtones for Christmas."

Comments

you mean like Mothership?

[croddy]

Hmmm... compilations... Track list encompassing exactly the finest output of Led Zeppelin... check Mastered so hot it sounds atrocious... check SOMEONE RING UP ATLANTIC. LED ZEPPELIN HAS BEEN PIRATED.

Re:you mean like Mothership?

[Anonymous Coward]

Holy crap! How'd the pirates get the grappling hooks up to the dirigible?

Gah.

[gardyloo]

The video then shows iTunes digital album gift cards and a cell phone, for which you can buy Christmas-themed ring tones. God bless us, every one.

Re:Gah.

[ArcherB]

The video then shows iTunes digital album gift cards and a cell phone, for which you can buy Christmas-themed ring tones. God bless us, every one. If someone buys me friggin ringtones for Christmas, I'm gonna be PISSED! Save your money and make me card made from macaroni!

Re:Gah.

[shark72]

"I never understood why you would *buy* a friggin ringtone. Most phones these days have usb plugs built in, or an transflash slot. A little sound editing and some technical jiggery-pokery later, and you have WHATEVER THE HELL YOU WANT as a ringtone."

I have no doubt that all of your friends are not only capable of the technical jiggery and the pokery, it's actually your hobby. You just love you some technical jiggery, particularly when it's with a side of pokery.

Next time you're at Walgreens, look at five people (your friends don't count, assuming you pulled your friends away from their jiggery and/or pokery sessions to get them to come with you to Walgreens). Any five people. The middle-aged cashier. The jailbait playing with the lipstick. The creepy guy in the photo section. These people just don't have the jiggery/pokery aptitude necessary to roll their own ringtones. Okay, maybe the creepy guy in the photo section does. But those other four people: they're the ones who are buying ringtones.

It's like that other question that boggles a lot of Slashdotters: why would anybody *buy* a friggen TiVo when with some spare computer parts, an IR blaster, a Linux distro and five troy ounces of jiggery/pokery, they could build their own? Sure, it smells like burned solder and you had to recompile the kernel a few times (the secret is "patch -pl -jiggery -pokery"), it doesn't have that cool lighting or the nice case or that bee-boop sound when you push the buttons, but you're STANDING UP to the MAN.

"Best thing in the world to get a phone call in a public area to have your phone shout, "My anus is bleeding...""

Interestingly enough, that's exactly what the creepy guy in the Walgreens photo section was shouting, too.

who needs RIAA music?

[wikinerd]

the best way to avoid counterfeit music

is to listen to music made by independents who freely share their creations on the Internet often under Creative Commons, and reject any music made by people who are associated with big labels or the RIAA.

Re:who needs RIAA music?

[RepelHistory]

I read this argument a lot on /. and it's never made a whole lot of sense to me. So I should base my choice in music based solely off of how it's distributed? I should not listen to my favorite songs to make a statement about the music industry? If people were willing to make that kind of sacrifice I doubt the major labels would be able to set music prices as high as they do and get away with it. I personally pick the bands I like based on how good they are.

Re:who needs RIAA music?

[wikinerd]

So I should base my choice in music based solely off of how it's distributed?

No, you must take a more holistic view encompassing lots of variables... you should find all that matters to you about music, such as distribution, quality, lyrics, medium (CD, mp3, ogg, stream, etc), ... then decide how important each parameter is for you, and use all parameters in your evaluation, not just one. I maintain however that some parameters are worthy of much more consideration than currently enjoy by most people.

More specifically, people nowadays would even buy or listen to music created by Hitler or bin Laden if it were good. But music is a kind of communication, and you should take into account who created each piece of music and why. You should prefer to listen to music created by ethical people who respect you (and this respect is shown with a licence such as Creative Commons).

If people were willing to make that kind of sacrifice

If people were willing to make that kind of intelligent choices and stick to them they would be free. Because they aren't, other people enslave them in various ways (of variable ethical acceptance).

However just because the other people aren't willing to take such choices, it doesn't mean that you should also not do so. People must be individuals, not cattle following one another.

I personally pick the bands I like based on how good they are.

How do you define good? Is music created by people who don't respect their audience good?

I once knew a band... they went to a big record company and gave them their music to listen... the manager then told them "kids, you are good, but this music won't sell as it is - if you change it in such and such way we can discuss a contract". The band disagreed and told all their friends how bad the big companies are. They don't just select the good bands, they actively force the bands to change their music. They don't let them just create anything they want the way they want it, they tell them "your music must be louder" or "your music must have more beat". This destroys the art in the music.

Music is a kind of communication... the musician communicates their inner emotions and mind states to you through the music. If someone communicates with you in order to make you pay that's not art. If they communicate what they really want to express, then this is art. Many people today think that buying an audio CD means buying something to listen to and feel happy. That's not music, that's sound... it may make people feel happy but it isn't true art. Music is an art and expression, it allows people communicate emotions and mind states, and it isn't something you can change to make it more popular.

If you listen to an audio CD produced by a person who signed a contract with a megacorp and they let them tell them how to make their music more "saleable", then you don't listen to music (expression), you listen to some sounds designed to make you feel happy. If that's what you want to listen to, then it's okay. But please call it sound, not music. If, however, you want to listen to true music in the sense that you want to be the recipient of the expression of the emotional mind state of the musician, then you should listen to music produced by people who express exactly what they feel without changing it to suit the audience. These people are the independents, either on the Internet or offline. Most of them give their music (their communication) to you for no payment, often under free licences such as Creative Commons. A few of them may not know some technical aspects of music creation, but overall their music is better and more genuine since it is produced with love.

And although most independents make their music freely available, there is nothing wrong with making money in some way as well. I don't say that all music should be gratis (no pay). I say that it is more human and more genuine to g

Re:who needs RIAA music?

[UMNbandgeek]

people nowadays would even buy or listen to music created by Hitler or bin Laden if it were good. Judging by the crap people listen to these days, they'd probably still buy it if it were bad.

Assholes

[Sciros]

I love how "compilation CDs" can "only exist in the dreams of a music fan" because like hell will they ever actually give music fans something they dream of having. Hell now, that's something only filthy PIRATES do!

Yeah, they really convinced me, I'm buying ringtones from now on, people.

Re:Assholes

[Samgilljoy]

Does this mean millions of lovesick teens will be arrested for making mix CDs for their girlfriends? "Baby, this music expresses how I feel. If you fell like I do, please write to me during the next ten years, while I'm in Music Pirate Prison (TM)."

Re:Assholes

[Bert64]

Yes, the RIAA won't provide customers with something so desirable they dream about it...
So these customers have to turn to piracy to get what they want.

Re:Assholes

[CodeBuster]

I'm buying ringtones from now on, people.

Yes, but just think of all those great-sounding legal ringtones playing over a $0.10 paper cone cell phone speaker, surely the burned "pirate" mix cd playing on my stereo system doesn't sound half as good because everyone knows that "pirated" music sounds atrocious...yeah right.

Of course!

[Wylfing]

compilation CDs that could only exist in the dreams of a music fan

Of course such things must be counterfeit. Everybody knows that the RIAA companies would never ever produce something that music fans would actually demand. 100% all good songs on an album, you've got to be kidding me!

Re:Of course!

[Beardo the Bearded]

Your sig should read:

Any sufficiently advanced malice is indistinguishable from incompetence.

Re:Of course!

[MightyMartian]

There are, in fact, very few artists who can produce a consistently good album from first track to last. It was Phil Spector that once famously observed that albums are two or three good songs and a bunch of filler. He was, of course, much more of a singles producer, much more interested in producing hit songs than hit albums.

There are a few acts out there that can make interesting albums, but when it comes to Britney Spears and that ilk, they simply don't have the talent to do it, and the album really is a few hits surrounded by a bunch of garbage. Because the single was all but killed by the end of the 1980s, this is the only music distribution they have.

That is until the Internet, but because the record companies so thoroughly have fucked that up, they're now stuck with an overpriced format that's largely unlistenable junk, and have declared such a tremendous war on consumers that the obvious route of again going back in time to selling singles is a door they simply refuse to open.

They are unimaginative dinosaurs, a pack of accountants and lawyers (whatever happened to the old A&R guys and producers who actually had some independence). These guys don't understand music, to them an album should function like any economic widget, and they have so muddied the water with people who have no business even being in a studio that now people are increasingly unwilling to pay their artificially high CD prices and want the few actually good songs the industry really produces.

I think the most telling thing isn't the complaints of younger artists, but of older artists who have been in the business for decades now. Paul McCartney, who has probably made more money for EMI through the Beatles and his solo work, than most of these crap bands they have now, thinks that the company is old and staid.

Unfortunately governments, rather than recognizing that no amount of legislation can ever keep an out-moded business model alive, have been bought by RIAA and its various international act-alikes, and thus rather than politicians saying "Look, solve your own problem." are allowing the record industry to drive further down the road of absolute extinction.

Re:Of course!

[CodeBuster]

The RIAA is just about the only business entity that I can think of that is dead set against giving consumers what they want and sues their customers when they try and satisfy that want on their own.

So, stop bitching

[ByOhTek]

and start fighting.

Why doesn't the EFF release a press release occasionally, like this, mentioning the things being done by the [MP|RI]AA to inform the consumers about fair use, laws going into effect and how they will affect us, asking people to contact their reps, etc.?

Lets stop blocking and start punching a bit. Face it, we're geeks, are faces weren't exactly pretty to begin with, it's not like we have much to loose if we get hit there once or twice...

Re:So, stop bitching

[wikinerd]

Lets stop blocking and start punching a bit.

There is of course another solution: Stop listening to music RIAA is associated with and instead only listen to music made by independents who freely share their work under Creative Commons and other licences on the net.

Why fight to listen to something that is of low quality anyway? Independents make better music because they love what they do! And if you want to thank them you can always offer them a donation.

Re:So, stop bitching

[Jaysyn]

What's wrong with groups that aren't part of the RIAA?

Re:So, stop bitching

[ByOhTek]

Why fight to listen to something that is of low quality anyway? Independents make better music because they love what they do!

Hmm, you have flawed logic in there.

Why fight to listen to something that is of low quality anyway
Actually, there's some good groups in RIAA associated groups. Granted it's not as easy to find as it once was, but it exists.

Independents make better music because they love what they do!
Heh, I like to sing. I can guarantee you don't want to hear me sing. Liking, even loving to do something, doesn't mean you are good at it. So far, most of the independent music I've hear around here sucks horribly, and most even comes out worse than the bottom of the barrel in the RIAA crowd. The last set I went to was horrible. Only one group had potential, then the lead singer opened his mouth and started spewing the most retarded lyrics I have ever heard, with one of the worst singing (shouting?) voices I had ever heard.

Re:So, stop bitching

[djasbestos]

Heh, I like to sing. I can guarantee you don't want to hear me sing. Liking, even loving to do something, doesn't mean you are good at it. So far, most of the independent music I've hear around here sucks horribly, and most even comes out worse than the bottom of the barrel in the RIAA crowd. The last set I went to was horrible. Only one group had potential, then the lead singer opened his mouth and started spewing the most retarded lyrics I have ever heard, with one of the worst singing (shouting?) voices I had ever heard.

Depends where you're coming from...there were quite a few righteously bodacious bands in my locale (til they broke up due to graduating college, infighting, etc). I think a lot of indie bands suffer from a low budget and lack of production skills like mixing and mastering. I'm fairly good at DIY, but I'm in electronic music, which is WAY easier to produce than your old school four/five piece rock band.

Another point to consider is that a LOT of music out there is dreck (RIAA sponsored or otherwise). I've seen/played with some very shitty bands (even my own has been crap on occasion...hard to find good AND dedicated musicians, and I can't do everything by myself on stage). I mean, you make affordable digital cameras with decent onboard editing software (or Photoshop on the computer) and everyone thinks they're Ansel Adams...but there are indeed a few unknown wonders out there. Same goes for music and music production software. Diamond in the rough, etc.

But I agree with GP, as I find that bands who are really into the music and performing it are a lot more entertaining. I've also seen bands that don't seem to give a shit. But when you do it because you want to, I think you tend to produce fewer "filler"/crap tracks. The same might be true for some contracted bands, but then again, they have contracts to fulfill and truly awesome music can't always be created under a deadline.

Re:So, stop bitching

[CodeBuster]

The problem is that most people just do what they want with their DVDs and CDs until somebody knocks on their door with a service for a lawsuit. It then shocks people to find out that what they have being doing all along is technically not lawful (i.e. using the burning software that came with the Dell PC for Christmas last year to burn mix CDs for their friends and family). It doesn't occur to them that there is even a problem until it smacks them upside the head like a big wet fish. Remember, it took a campaign of ridiculous lawsuits against grandmothers and children to even make file-sharing a blip on their consumer radar and people continue to do it anyway. People are working hard enough just to make ends meet these days without worrying about an esoteric, to them anyway, issue like copyright. You might as well discuss the relative merits of method delegates vs inner classes with your garbage men for all of the interest you will generate by pushing this issue in public. Their eyes just glaze over when you mention DRM, DMCA, and other technical jargon in response to why they cannot make a copy of that Disney DVD on VHS so that their kids can destroy it without damaging the source DVD.

Re:So, stop bitching

[IdeaMan]

Yes we are geeks. Let's do what we're good at. We can create an entirely new media system to publish music not offered by the RIAA. Online music ratings systems to popularize music to people with common interests, wireless access points streaming user chosen programming, valuable and anonymous IP traffic, USB key exchange programs.
Let them squeeze.
The more you tighten your grip, RIAA, the more customers will slip through your fingers.

Disparity

[Anonymous Coward]

"compilation CDs that could only exist in the dreams of a music fan"

So what are they saying here? They know exactly what their fans "dream" about and they aren't selling that? Why not? What possible sense could it make to refrain from selling their target audience the products for which there is maximal demand?

Pirated music sounds atrocious? If so why is it so popular?

Re:Disparity

[Psmylie]

So, 'compilation CDs that could only exist in the dreams of a music fan' also sound atrocious. So, according to the RIAA, music fans must desire atrocious music. This explains everything!

Obviously, I must not be a music fan, then. Everything I listen to voluntarily sounds pretty darned good :)

Re:Disparity

[Arramol]

So by their logic, if the audio quality is good, it's probably legal, right? Boy, have I got some holiday downloading to do!

Re:Disparity

[TubeSteak]

So what are they saying here? They know exactly what their fans "dream" about and they aren't selling that? Why not? What possible sense could it make to refrain from selling their target audience the products for which there is maximal demand? Because ownership of music is often complicated, the record label may not have (or be granted) the necessary rights to publish a kick-ass compilation.

And sometimes they just want to sell box sets.

Re:Disparity

[shop S Mart]

No, they meant pirate music. "Pirate music sounds atrocious." Have you ever heard pirates sing? It's not good.

Re:Disparity

[hkmarks]

If you can tell pirated music by the sound quality alone, I guess I should delete all the garage band stuff I got from MP3.com.

"You get what you pay for"
"Watch for compilation CDs that could only exist in the dreams of a music fan"

So... um... a wicked compilation that's cheap... or a sucky CD that's expensive... You know, I thought "You get what you pay for" meant something different, but I'm glad to know I can stop overpaying for stuff now.

Re:Disparity

[noidentity]

"compilation CDs that could only exist in the dreams of a music fan"

So what are they saying here? They know exactly what their fans "dream" about and they aren't selling that? Why not?

Because the part that makes this a dream only is the reasonable price.

Re:Disparity

[Walkingshark]

Hey, keep your Ninja Propaganda to yourself.

Atrocious??

[neuro.slug]

So they're saying we should avoid the allegedly "atrocious" quality of pirated CDs and buy ringtones? I don't know about you, but there are few things more hellish and foul than a 30-second clip of a song encoded at 64kbps playing through a mobile phone speaker.

Re:Atrocious??

[Foobar of Borg]

I don't know about you, but there are few things more hellish and foul than a 30-second clip of a song encoded at 64kbps playing through a mobile phone speaker.

Yeah, that was my first thought. But there is something more hellish. Having an officemate who thinks ringtones are cool and has people calling him all the time. A promotion which gave me my own office is the only thing that staved off death for that abomination.

Re:Atrocious??

[DRAGONWEEZEL]

if you pirated from me they would all be 198-320 bit VBR based on when they were encoded. Sounds damn good if ya ask me but I also use a mystacal "crystalizor" to enhance my auditory satisfaction, and then I plumb that satisfaction into ...

Sorry I really like my mp3s!

Re:Atrocious??

[Stanislav_J]

I don't know about you, but there are few things more hellish and foul than a 30-second clip of a song encoded at 64kbps playing through a mobile phone speaker.

Maybe the loud, obnoxious, personal conversation that follows?

Re:Atrocious??

[Atario]

"I love my cell phone. I love it. It's my friend. My cell phone was Bach, Beethoven, Wagner on it. Little snippets of classical genius being heard the way they were meant to be heard: on a small, handheld communications device, hundreds of years after the death of the composer. Have we no respect for genius? What the fuck! Beethoven wrote symphonies to be heard in symphony halls! What do we do with it? Beep beep beep buh [to the tune of Beethoven's Symphony No. 5]! Do you think Beethoven had any inkling in even the darkest recesses of his unconscious when he was deaf and sweating over his fifth symphony that one day it would emit from some idiot's pocket, and the response would be 'fuck, it's my mom'?"

-- Marc Maron, in a bit from 2001

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Ringtones?

[eno2001]

Who the fuck with a brain buys ringtones? Just drop a needle, take a sample and shuttle it off to your phone via USB... Jesus the RIAA are a bunch of fuckin' morons.

Re:Ringtones?

[Valiss]

What gets me are the people that pay $1.99 for a 30 second sound clip when the entire song is on iTunes for $.99!

Re:Ringtones?

[glindsey]

Who the fuck with a brain buys ringtones? Just drop a needle, take a sample and shuttle it off to your phone via USB... Jesus the RIAA are a bunch of fuckin' morons. Depends on the phone. A lot of newer phones only allow you to choose ringtones from a special section of memory which can't be accessed over USB mass-storage, or require DRM-encrypted files to play. Goddamned phone is designed to work as a music player, and yet you can't use the MP3s stored on it as ringtones, because there's profit to be made, dammit!

It is the kids accepting this shit that are the bunch of fuckin' morons.

Re:Ringtones?

[Maestro485]

For what its worth, there are ways to make your own ringtones that are simply not advertised or explained by a given cell provider simply because they are also selling ringtones. I have a verizon phone and a quick google search of "make verizon ringtones" turned this up. Its obviously windows-centric but the information is generally accurate for linux too. I'd never used audacity personally before and I was able to make a quick ringtone with minimal fuss. No cost except the normal charge of sending a text/pix/whatever message to your phone.

What?

[neochubbz]

[I]llegally copied music usually sounds 'atrocious.' Instead, they encourage watchers to buy ringtones for Christmas. What kind of double speak is this?

That explains

[oahazmatt]

In it, they warn people that the best way to avoid counterfeit music is to avoid 'compilation CDs that could only exist in the dreams of a music fan' and to trust their ears, because illegally copied music usually sounds 'atrocious.'

So it sounds atrocious due to piracy, not the content itself. Interesting. That explains that burnt compliation: The Best of Yoko Ono.

Re:That explains

[MonoSynth]

The Best of Yoko Ono I usually buy that album in sets of 25 or 50, on a spindle.

Gvie the people what they want

[sbillard]

From TFS:

avoid 'compilation CDs that could only exist in the dreams of a music fan'

Why aren't these compilations legally available?
If they recognize it is in the "dreams" of their customers, why not give the people what they want?

I used to DJ as a hobby and am proud to say my mixtapes were a big hit among friends. These compilations were fun to make, fun to listen to, and got people exposed to some music they otherwise would've missed or ignored.

The recording industry, the labels, the RIAA, even many of today's "artists" are completely out of touch with their fans and customers. It is stunning and sad.

Wow, I suggest watching the movie. . .

[ookabooka]

I have so many things I'd like to say but I hate ranters so I'll keep it brief. I'm not supporting piracy but I don't think two wrongs make a right, only three lefts. I sure hope the RIAA paid local news stations to air this thing, because if they used some sort of professional courtesy agreement I would truly loath their propaganda strategies (even more). I love how they attacked the quality of the CD's, "atrocious" sounding? What a load of bull, I guess these guys aren't really into the way in which digital information theory works (Perfect copies) so they blatantly lie. Oh sure some yahoo could transcode to mp3, real audio, vorbis, then CD and have something that sounds like crap, but I'd think any mildly professional pirate would know this.

Most of all I'm just sick of all the time the RIAA is wasting on this, I think it's quite inevitable that this propaganda won't do anything, I hope they know it too. VHS, cassette tapes. . .all these new technologies gets the industry to wig out over. Imagine if the RIAA spent time on investigating new ways of utilizing the internet and digital information instead of fighting this. If it starts to rain in the desert you shouldn't try to spend every penny you have on keeping your bottled water business afloat.

Sinatra?

[eck011219]

I love how the guy bemoaning the evils of pirating and its association with organized crime is standing in front of a huge portrait of Frank Sinatra, one of the most "connected" artists in American history. That ranks up there with when the (Bill) Clinton reelection campaign chose Mambo #5 ("a little bit of Monica in my life") as its theme song for the convention. It doesn't take a downtown PR firm to figure this crap out.

cts's holiday guide to ripping off the riaaholes

[circletimessquare]

1. download emule

2. load the shared folder with gigs of porn. small files (the point is: lots of files to mask your download)

3. start sharing the porn. wait for awhile, a few hours. this will stuff your upload queue

4. pick an album you want. for example for my gf, it was alisha keys "as i am". find the copy with the most sources. pay attention to the comments (denotes a good source or a bad source)

5. suck that sucker down by itself, your only download, high priority, as fast as possible. when done, immediately remove the album from your incoming file directory

the point here is that you are not being a "bad" file sharer (only taking, not giving). you are just segregating what you give/ take by your legal exposure

the point of all the porn is that it masks any requests for the file the riaa will go after you for. even when the file is half downloaded, people can start taking it from you, so you don't want an empty upload queu. you must mask and flood out any requests for the riaa loaded file while it is being downloaded with tons of harmless porn uploads that no one will go after you for sharing

that's about as safe as you can get sharing pop music files in the usa (if you are not technically astute)

happy holidays!

Huh

[Quiet_Desperation]

because illegally copied music usually sounds 'atrocious.'

Well, all *my* illegally copied music sounds just fine.

And I'd sooner go back to wax cylinders and magnetic wires than give them another fucking penny, so find a different tree to bark up, RIAA.

Hey, I just noticed you can't spell "a pirate" without RIAA! Yeah, I'm kinda slow.

Pirated News Clip!

[lilomar]

"...pirated products often appear amateurish..."
Um, I don't think this clip is legal guys... ;-)

Unbiased News Sources

[andrewd18]

It's stunts like this one that make me happy I get all my news from unbiased sources like Slashdot.

Re:Unbiased News Sources

[Bryansix]

It's not that News posted to Slashdot is not biased. It is that people can comment on that bias and point it out that makes Slashdot great.

They're saying "if it's good it must be pirate!"

[Joce640k]

At least that's the way I understood it it.

Buyers should be looking for the bad, expensive CDs with only one good track on them. That's the only way to ensure an officially sanctioned product.

This is normal

[wonkavader]

Video Press Releases are a way for your local news station to fill a minute or two without spending any money to create content. As such, these for-profit "news" channels love them. They're done by any number of industries. The key is that they have to be very polished. If they don't have the usual TV news production values, the stations won't run them. This means that you need to have at least the same sort of equipment that the local stations have, putting such VPRs out of reach for most organizations that we'd actually WANT to send out such a thing.

But Proctor and Gamble can afford it, as can Conagra, etc.

You want them all the time, if you bother watching local news, and don't even know it. Look for the atractive reporter that you've never seen before, or the reporter who reports on the same subject EVERY SINGLE TIME he or she is on a segment. That's a giveaway that it's outside material.

Instead of Ring-tones this year

[nurb432]

I say pirate every piece of music you possibly can, that is under their control. Oh, and send them a copy too.

Then go out and support your local independent band.

There's a new trend which is even worse...

[Joce640k]

The new trend around here is to play the hellish clip at people when they call so they have something to listen to instead of the normal dialtone (or whatever you call the sound that lets you know it's ringing at the other end).

I don't know what the bandwidth of a GSM phone call is but the latest RIAA offerings sound like somebody being strangled in the middle of a punk-rock nightclub. It takes you a few seconds to even figure out it's supposed to be music and not your phone dying.

But you wouldn't...

[Jess (geek-chick)]

steal a baby!

Market Failure

[chihowa]

So you are saying that, unless something is offerred for sale at some arbitrarily "fair" price, it's a market failure? These "compilation CDs that could only exist in the dreams of a music fan" are not available through legal (they claim) channels, though, at any price. The only way to obtain a product that, as the industry describes it, is a music fan's dream is through the black market. That sounds like a market failure to me.

Ignoring the whole issue of fair use here...

Why they're doing this:

[SanityInAnarchy]

I keep hearing this rumor that they make most of their money on ringtones now.

They really, badly need to get back to their core business. It's evolved a bit, but they still have a chance to figure it out before all their artists flip them the bird and go completely independent.

This is the Internet. You have one shot to become the middleman, before someone like Google or Amazon takes that role from you.

Re:cts's holiday guide to ripping off the riaahole

[Anonymous Coward]

Or, you could save yourself the hours of trouble and buy the damn thing for $10. Don't you people value your time or do you really get off on coming up with convoluted ways of getting crap music for free?

Re:They're saying "if it's good it must be pirate!

[Anonymous Coward]

They're saying "if it's good it must be pirate!"

Yes, and that's true. Once again this Christmas I'll be looking forward to the compilation CDs the kids make most of all. At least they put some personal time and thought into it instead of just going and buying some crap, and I know it won't be laden with malware.

Phew! I'm safe!

[delirium28]

'compilation CDs that could only exist in the dreams of a music fan' and to trust their ears, because illegally copied music usually sounds 'atrocious.'

Thank god! My dream compilation CD's all sound great, so they must not be illegal copies. Thank goodness for bad logic!

Nothing New or Unusual

[immcintosh]

Video News Releases have been around forever. The RIAA may be horrible leeches on society and all that, but pretty much any corporation with an agenda and a couple bucks can be counted on to do the same thing. This is one of many reasons not to ever use television news for anything meaningful. If you want real news, find a respectable paper (or internet) publication that cites sources and identifies authors of everything. May not be perfect, but television news is simply a vast wasteland in comparison. RIAA writes its own news--welcome to the status quo.

I can just imagine the headlines

[tristian_was_here]

RIAA News Network:
Tom - "Today old lady steals millions of dollars worth or records we will send you to john for the full report"

John - "Well Tim what looks to be an old lady is really a monster while she was cashing her pension she was behind a organized syndicate of file sharers stealing hundreds of songs from Snoop Dogg, Britney Spears, Slipknot and many others, back to you Tom"

Tom - "Well that's one old lady who will be spending the rest of her days in prison"

Re:They're saying "if it's good it must be pirate!

[Butisol]

Legally bought RIAA music has electrolytes. It's what ears need.

Faux news

[HangingChad]

Sadly this is getting all too common. Energy companies pay PR firms to make feature spots panning ethanol production, ethanol producers countering with feature spots of their own, the Bush administration making fake news stories in support of No Child Left Behind and the Iraq war, the military does it, pharmaceuticals, Microsoft PR is quite active in print media and tech publications, the Men's Warehouse is famously behind the yearly "suits are back" media blitz every year...it's quite the trend in PR. No surprise RIAA would want to get in on the act. But, like everything else they do, they do it badly.

Perhaps if they laid off the cocaine the world might make more sense.

Heh, heh, heh

[hondo77]

Did you notice there is no copyright notice on that clip? No copyright? Doesn't that mean someone could take that clip and re-edit it into...oh, I don't know...something the RIAA never intended and have it bite them in the ass?

Re:They're saying "if it's good it must be pirate!

[fishbowl]

They actually know to back down when somebody has an answer to "Oh yeah? You and what army?"

Re:They're saying "if it's good it must be pirate!

[Hyperspite]

Legally bought RIAA music has electrolytes. It's what ears need.

It's what ears crave.

There, fixed it for you.

Re:They're saying "if it's good it must be pirate!

[KDR_11k]

Naah, you heard them: If the recording quality is good it's definitely genuine!