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RIAA About to Transform?
It has been reported for a while that the RIAA was suffering some cutbacks and dwindling support, but techdirt is reporting that the cuts may be even deeper than most originally suspected. Who knew suing potential customers would ruin your business? "I'm sure some will somehow 'blame piracy' for this turn of events, but it's hard to see how that's even remotely the issue. The real issue is that the RIAA has basically managed to run one of the dumbest, most self-defeating strategies over the last decade. Rather than helping major record labels adjust to the changing market, it continually, repeatedly and publicly destroyed its own reputation and the reputation of the labels — each time shrinking their potential market by blaming the very people they should have been working to turn into customers."
Well I would imagine the excess employees will be much in demand as witnesses.
Ray Beckerman +5 Insightful
TERRORIZE!!!
take this infantile whining to torrent freak or the playground where such anti-corporate whining isnt seen as the transparent bullshit it is.
or get a job and pay for music for a change.
...a Z Transform, a Laplace Transform or a Fast Fourier Transform?
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
This is terrible news! Who now is brave enough to fight the evil ones! Piracy funds Terrorism!!! Remember how every time you download a torrent you get an email from Al Qaeda saying "Thank you for your kind support"?! What will stop them now?!
This post was made in complete sincere seriousity; as such any attempts to derive humour are doomed to instant failure.
Chasing down the links leads to this:
http://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2009/02/is-the-.html
But one seemingly knowledgeable but unconfirmed source tells Hypebot that the cuts run much deeper than previously reported.
And not much else. One can hope, but so far this is nothing but a rumor.
There is no -1 Disagree mod. Slashdot.org/faq defines mod options. USE IT.
If the book publishers are about to make the same mistakes as RIAA, then at least we know where they are heading now.
While it is no doubt that the people who run the RIAA and IFPI have no idea what they are doing I also wonder how much of a contributing factor that people are putting 2 + 2 together and recognizing who supports the RIAA. Companies are very protective of their brands and sony, emi, warner bros, and universal do not like the negative image this is bringing them directly.
Is something wrong with the site preferences? I disabled YRO but I see several of its stories on the front page.
Visit the
I do, however, once RIAA is dead and buried, intend to dig them up once a year on the anniversary of their death just to make sure they're still dead.
Understanding the scope of the problem is the first step on the path to true panic.
each time shrinking their potential market by blaming the very people they should have been working to turn into customers.
Worse than that, they were shrinking their market by blaming the very people who already were their customers. Contrary to the way we sometimes talk about it, "people who download music in violation of copyrights" and "people who buy music" are not mutually exclusive groups.
Often enough, the same people who will spend money on high-quality convenient products that they feel are worth the price will also look for alternate channels in cases where they don't think the product they are being offered is high-quality enough, convenient enough, or worth the price.
Now I'm not trying to excuse people who download music illegally. It's illegal. I don't do it. I don't advocate that others do it. I don't approve of it. I'm just pointing out that all those nasty/evil group of "pirates" and "thieves" that the music industry keeps blaming, vilifying, and suing-- that group has a fair amount of overlap with that industry's legitimate customers.
Same as the old boss. Heh, Just because the RIAA transforms, does not imply that the copyright laws they try to enforce or fight for have changed. Slam them all you want and call'em a failure, as far as I'm concerned this means nothing. When the laws change toward cultural liberation, (like they used to be) only then will I celebrate. Only then.
Heck, with the way they have been suing everybody I'm surprised anyone still even wants music any more. Why even possess music when it is apparently such a dangerous thing? :P
Maybe it will involve skinning puppies or pulling the horns off unicorns? Perhaps ripping the wings from butterflies? There must be and endless supply of ideas for the RIAA, given all their experience.
I am not gonna make remarks that are uber pro-piracy, but I will say this about the RIAA, they should have seen this many years ago, they were just stubborn.
The market for blank media was not going to go away, and it was going to be filled with downloaded music, now regardless that it is illegal to download copyrighted material did not slow anyone down. And just like the article mentioned, it only soiled the name of those who tried to stop it, yeah I am talking about how people like Metallica a whole lot less.
Being Pro or Anti piracy aside I do not feel for the RIAA losing money (if in fact they did lose any money, and if that money was a substantial amount) because they blatantly starred the changing times in the face ignored all possible opportunities it could have afforded them, and now, just like the banks and the auto industry they will cry about how the oldschool ways don't work anymore.
I am glad that hard drives and blank CD's and DVD's are so cheap now a days!
To see a few of my Android apps goto: www.hartwired.com
Sure, piracy funds terrorism, but if you actually give money to the record companies, most of it winds up in the hands of Columbian drug cartels! You don't think they get DJs to play the latest pop stars they are pushing by appealing to their musical tastes, do you? Nope, it's mostly nose candy under the table.
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
RIAA: Form of a Tyrannosaurus Rex!
MPAA: Shape of a rotting ham!
Did you pay a commission for that lyric?
With RIAA Lawyers running the DOJ, the RIAA is transforming into a US government agency.
Now their antics re. DoS'ing suspected torrent sites will not only be legal but an act of the gov't.
Not only will gov't money will be budgeted for catching the file traders, and probably some money from the economic stimulus packages to help bail out the recording industry and encourage innovation, it will be a gov't initiative.
Along with a new and improved patent enforcement department to help make it more cost-effective for companies having difficulty collecting license fees from people infringing on patents like one-click (due to millions of small infringers, and formerly expensive legal processes required to enforce a patent)
Does this mean the RIAA is more than meets the eye?
The musings of just another geek and his junk.
Its not over yet.. Transforming isn't always a good thing.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
What, are they going to go from 'suck' to 'blow'?
Sig? What sig? Do I have to have a sig!?!?
-- RIAA, cease to be evil and admit you lost. Let's stop this senseless fight!
-- Cough! Cough! Eh, it seems your last attack made me bleed internally... I'm sorry, this is something I wanted to avoid...
-- What?
-- B A N K A I !!
I'll remember that as I micturate on their grave.
"Who knew suing potential customers would ruin your business?"
SCO did. Worked for them as well.
-Charlie
SSJ RIAA!
That seem like a lot of work. Instead just put it through the meat grinder and feed it to MPAA. There's hope they're toxic enough to kill MPAA.
1) RIAA
2) SCO
3) Microsoft
4) Banks?
Left arm: MPAA
Right arm: IFPI
Left leg: SPA
Right leg: BSA
Torso: RIAA
Head: DMCA
Combined: WTMGDL! (Way too many god damned lawyers)
Hmm, any other suggestions for the copyright megacronym? :)
I was really pulling for them to win all those cases.
/sarcasm
...damn economy...
it's hurtin' everyone.
"You can kill the revolutionary, but you can't kill the revolution."-- Fred Hampton
"Decepticons, transform and rise up!" - Megatron
It's one of my favorite lines of his because it's so blatantly stolen from Prime.
this was a bad move by the RIAA because they didn't anyone would pay attention.
well someone did.
and it appears that enough help is being focused on particular cases that some unfortunate for the RIAA precedents have been or are going to be shortly set.
lets not stop now. but score one for the internet.
The RIAA will never really transform itself as long as the same eggheads are in charge of its member companies.
Lookee here gang.
Ray nailed a +5 on the FP slot, so no one bothered with the usual 6 leadoff trolls.
Yo, Mr. Taco! Can members get a special perk for high-grade FP's? The whole board topic improves in quality!
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
Oh, Ms. Executive! Than you for providing me the opportunity to buy Rush's Presto again! You see, it was the fourth piece of music I ever owned, and I got lucky - I really liked it.
I had a tape. It melted in the sun on the car seat.
So I bought another one. But I lose things, so I bought another one. But that time the tape player was bad, so it got wrapped around the player.
So I bought it again. In February oh, about 1990 by this point. In February. It snapped.
The next one got me through high school finals. Then fell into a river prospecting colleges.
One died in the school Cafeteria.
I got brave and bought a CD. But it somehow got onto the floor, and the chair leg wrecked it. So I went back to tapes.
Tape got swiped by someone in the dorm.
Tape got lost in St. Martin.
Tape still exists, in the imitation-walkman from the flea market, that I lost again.
Another tape. I left it when I moved.
Back to CDs. Lasted a while, then scratched.
Lost another one.
Traded for a Blind Guardian CD.
Needed one for a road trip. Nothing survives road trips. Least of all sanity.
Moved again.
One's at work.
One's at home.
Spare is also at home.
Paid for a download from New Napster.
Paid again for the work machine.
Bought 38 CD's from Columbia subscription, so I have 135 free CD's on credit not counting shipping. I think that entitles me to rip one for free.
Does it?
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
Did you ... Did you?
Did you pay pay pay for that Lyric?
Don't Swipe That Song, Just move that cash right along!
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
Is it the ...
RIAA or the Tiger, that will eat you tonight? That will crush the spirited fighter...
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
It is, but only with the second pair of cheeks.
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
If they are being "transformed", I hope my work had something to do with it.
Ray Beckerman +5 Insightful
Ray nailed a +5 on the FP slot, so no one bothered with the usual 6 leadoff trolls. Yo, Mr. Taco! Can members get a special perk for high-grade FP's? The whole board topic improves in quality!
Why, thank you, Mr. Phoenix. Actually I was feeling kind of guilty afterwards. I realized there was a chance mine would be the 'first post', but I knew it wasn't being written in the traditional 'first post' style. I felt that I was a spoilsport.
I didn't plan it by the way, I just happened to see the story immediately after it turned from "red" to "green".
Ray Beckerman +5 Insightful
And I hope as much as the next guy that this means what it says in the summary. The RIAA is finally getting the results it has worked so hard for.
But it might just be the crappy economy.
Music is a luxury item, and they're usually the first thing to go when things get tough. This might be nothing more than a consequence of the current economic picture. I've seen massive layoffs pretty much everywhere lately.
Sorry if this dampens the mood in here. But it's worth considering. The last thing we need to do is to start bullshitting ourselves. Seeing things as they are best prepares you to deal with them.
But that being said, this is still a good thing. The less of these goons working the better. It would be nice if it was simply their just desserts for their failed plan, but if they go out as collateral damage to our ailing economy, well...at least some good has come from that.
Weaselmancer
rediculous.
What if the RIAA was there to harrass customers until enough customers had transitioned over to Vista and Win7 where the DRM is more substantial and more songs are getting sold on iTunes and cellphones -- again and again and again -- .... its easier to download from the net to your phone that load up songs from your computer -- the purchase price is low enough that the songs purchases are have become what the music industry wants -- they want you to purchase the song each time for each device and form...2.99$ for a distorted ringtone version?
The RIAA maybe was never meant to stop song downloading/trading -- just run harassment and make online trading a bit more of a hassle than downloading a song directly onto your phone or your iTune player... Between the virii /malware, fake software and media data streams... just run harassment until the online pay-per-download-per-device is in place.
They played a part at a moment in time -- they may have been successful at their real mission -- now the economic downturn is bringing a swifter end to their mission, perhaps, but people are no longer buying new computers at the same rate...small devices are becoming more popular/prevalent. Perfect for the shrinking economy...
I dunno if I'd call their mission a complete failure...
just thinking...
This reminds of that scene in Return of the Jedi where the small star fighter takes out the super star destroyer after they attempt to "intensify forward batteries"....too late...arghhh! boom! The RIAA is going down to a fiery end all right and not a moment too soon.
How much you want to bet that said "transformation" is going to include a name change under the hope (hopefully misguided, but you never know) that a fresh DBA will give them something akin to a clean slate now that the tides of public perception have turned against them a bit.
It didn't work for Diebold (or whatever the hell they're called now. See? Fail.) and it probably won't work here, but it doesn't mean they won't try.
Association for the Ethical Treatment of Harmonists, Entertainers and Recordings has a nice, scarily plausible ring to it.
> It is, but only with the second pair of cheeks.
Yes Brain, but where will I get someone to pull my finger every time I want to say their name?
*narf*
Good man!
In the middle of the stadium...
(crowd cheering) New York Country Lawyer! New York Country Lawyer!
(NYCL smiles, thinking that a group of cheerleaders will soon appear and hose him high in the air...)
Cowboy Neal runs out and lifts NYCL in the air.
ZOMG! Even for /., this is self-congratulatory beyond the pale..
Also, fuck you. ;}
What was once true, is no longer so
Finally, a post on the member companies being responsible for RIAA's actions. You Sir, are a good independent, objective thinker.
I'd say RIAA, being a trade group, is nothing more than a tool controlled by the member companies.
Therefore, our emotions should not be directed at RIAA itself, but instead, should be at the individual companies.
Skimming through Mr Beckerman's blog, I don't see "RIAA vs Joe", but rather "Company vs Joe".
What do you think?
P/S: I suspect some Web trolls can't even remember the names of the big 4. They simply like to pick a single entity - RIAA - to cast the blame on.
in the US such an act would be considered space-shifting.
And then you are outside your home, unable to get your latest CD and you fancy on a whim to listen to it, you get your copy you left visible for you on your upload area.
But you still have a license. And you've just said that downloading is not illegal
No breech of copyright.
If someone else downloads it, again, you say that the RIAA don't think this illegal. No copy is made by the uploader either, so no breech of copyright.
So the only problem is the US legally available action not covered by copyright of space shifting the music onto the upload site.
And it's legally available.
So, where is the illegality?
If there's one thing I've learned from Dragon Ball and Castlevania, it's that bosses always fight in three forms. First there's the standard form (which was the We Are Right and Everybody loves Us), then the xenomorphic horror form (the currently dying form where everybody hates them for suing little girls and dead grandmothers) and finally, the last upcoming ultimate effeminate pretty boy form. Fear this last one the most - it's always that one that consumes planets whole.
That's when I find that I'm gaming Unreal Tournament too much.
At least where I live you have to pay to have radio. It is ~10$/month for radio. And the listener will be subject to advertisement, which does not make a service free - it just gets paid "round the corner"...
1) Read summary on /.
2) ????
3) Profit!
4) Also, Fuck you!
Don't copy that floppy?
of uploading
Were those words necessary? ;-)
We're at a turning point in our civilized world. As appointed liberal courts have usurped the powers we granted our elected leaders by overturning our written statutes, issuing edicts and fiats, the very rule of law is in peril. Simultaneously, our laws are being determined (re-determined) by executive order and shaped by special interest lobbyists. At what point does such malformed law become meaningless? That would leave us with just our moral compasses, and therein is the question of copying bits and bytes...
It may be helpful to give subscribers the ability to post a minute or so before normal users. But I am biased.
What about preventing anonymous posts for a minute or two?
You're on to something, and in a broader web context.
FP are 80% Troll/Flamebait. Those types of posts are 90% ACs, the worst AC has to offer and the prime bait that the ThinkOfThe___ crowd plays their game around.
I'd pay the subscription fee to get early post rights. Presuming others do the same, troll posts are nowhere as much fun way buried in 4 layers of "getmore".
Everyone wants to know how to get "real hard cash" above the ad game ... that's one way.
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
http://xkcd.com/546/
After logging in slashdot still does not take you back to the page you were on. It's been that way for 20 years.