RIAA Now Blames Journalists For Its Piracy Trouble

adeelarshad82 writes "RIAA executives have written a letter to PCMag expressing 'deep disappointment' for publishing an article on Limewire Alternatives. While the article includes a disclaimer from PCMag that it does not condone the download of copyrighted or illegal material, RIAA executives believe that 'PCMag is slyly encouraging people to steal more music.' The letter goes on to ask PCMag to retract the article from their website. PCMag's Editor in Chief has responded to the letter by stating that music industry's charges remain groundless and that it reeks of desperation. He points out that PCMag covers all aspects of technology, which includes the products, services and activities that some groups and individuals might deem objectionable. He defends publishing the article by saying 'We covered these Limewire alternatives because we knew they would be of interest to our readers. We understand that some might use them to illegally download content. We cannot encourage that action, but also cannot stop it. Reporting on the existence of these services does neither.' PCMag has also refused to retract the article."

Comments

What is limewire?

[DemonicMember]

In this day and age if your still using limewire or its alternatives for the majority of your music your doing it wrong.

Re:What is limewire?

[ScrewMaster]

I personally would prefer we just stop using grammar. If the intention is clear then does it really matter?

Yes, yes it does. Intent is not sufficient to assure good communication. The Devil is in the details.

Re:What is limewire?

[AnonymousClown]

I personally would prefer we just stop using grammar. If the intention is clear then does it really matter?

I don't know.

From your original post:

...your still using limewire ...

My still is using limewire? Dude, what are you distilling? Some sort of lime tequila?

I kid! I kid!

Re:What is limewire?

[gringer]

Obvious bad grammar is something that flags comments as potentially uninformative. If a person gets the "easy to fix" things wrong (e.g. you're, it's, could've), it negatively correlates with the care that person takes to make well-informed statements. If you want to keep using bad grammar, go ahead. Just realise that it will mean your posts are less likely to be read in depth by me.

Re:What is limewire?

[Moochman]

Actually LimeWire is great for downloading obscure individual mp3s. This is possible because of the fact that not only the file-sharing itself, but also the search, is peer-to-peer. IMHO this means it is still a better "Napster replacement" than Bittorrent, in the sense that it allows you to explore music rather than simply download it en masse.

Re:What is limewire?

[ScrewMaster]

Umm...so when you say that people should just "realise" it will mean that their posts are less likely to be read by you, does that mean that because you spelled "realize" wrong, that your posts are as badly written as theirs?

My guess? The GP writes using the Queen's English. If you're going to communicate with people using variants of English, it helps to recognize those differences.

What about CD to .mp3 converters and so on?

[VinylRecords]

Shouldn't the RIAA be going after them for reviewing CD burners that can burn copied files? Or for reviewing software that rips .mp3 files or .wav files from audio CDs? Shouldn't PC Mag and all other publications be restricted from writing about anything that could potentially assist in copying music?

Re:What about CD to .mp3 converters and so on?

[bsDaemon]

Yes. They should also be prohibited from reviewing Garage Band, CakeWalk, or any other music production software. After all, if a bunch of hippies can make "demo tapes" that rival professionally produced records in production quality, then bands might just start recording their own music, releasing it directly to fans via the internet, marking it themselves via social networks, and promoting their own concerts. Then what would all of the untalented people do to get their cut? What would the radio DJs do for money without their payola? WON'T SOMEONE THINK OF THE PARASITES?!

Re:What about CD to .mp3 converters and so on?

[JoelWink]

The Sony music division should sue the Sony computer division for putting CD/DVD burners on their Vaio laptops. Sony Music should also sue the Sony media division for selling blank CD-Rs and DVD-Rs.

Let the market decide

[Christian Marks]

PCMag is as much motivated by economic considerations as the RIAA. The difference is that PCMag is informing its readership and generating publicity for itself, while the RIAA is advertising its rent-seeking behavior and ignorance of the Internet. There is no way the article could be "unpublished" even if PCMag were to comply with these notorious intellectual monopolists.

Re:Shouldn't they be happy?

[MacWiz]

More illegal downloading = more lawsuits = more profit for the RIAA.

It cost the RIAA $16 for every dollar they collected with the lawsuits. 2009 sales were off more than 67% compared to 2000. EMI is on the edge of defaulting on its CitiGroup loan and being foreclosed upon.

Yeah, this "everyone is a pirate" angle is pulling in the big bucks, isn't it?

The RIAA is correct.

[AnonymousClown]

When I read PCMag's article, I wanted to illegally download music. Then, as I was reading the other links, I got to the RIAA's letter. Now, instead of wanting to illegally download music, I want to become a douchebag that bullies average people into paying money that they don't owe.

Speaking of which, I am hereby putting everyone on notice who has ever mod'ed me down, that they have cause me emotional distress and based upon the mathematical formulas that the RIAA uses, I will be suing you for

One hundred billion dollars for each moderation. But, we can settle now for just $50,000.

Re:Be Fair

[ScrewMaster]

To be fair, the summary doesn't claim that "RIAA Now Blames Journalists For Its Piracy Trouble".

When it comes to organizations like the RIAA, fighting fair with fair just gets you burned. In this case, PC Mag is helping matters, so far as the general public is concerned, by getting a few facts out. The simple fact that the RIAA disagrees with them is sufficient indication that PC Mag is doing the right thing here. Kinda like the old saw, "When the competition threatens a lawsuit, you must be doing something right."

Helping the RIAA, from any reasonable perspective, serves no legitimate purpose.

Countersuit:

[Burz]

RIAA artists slyly encouraging ( underage sex | adultery | drive-by shooting | etc... )

You get the idea. Interesting how a certain media group displays a shocking ignorance of their own industry and the industries immediately adjacent to it.

This says it all

[OzPeter]

From the TFA: We wanted to send a direct response to the letter writers, but they failed to include a return address.

Re:Shouldn't they be happy?

[mug funky]

the problem is the music industry continually fails to cite any context for their lost sales, other than the idiotic claim that the pirates took all their music.

when was the last time you bought a CD?

when was the last time you bought a DVD?

consumers will typically not buy both. if you're buying a movie, you'll use your "entertainment budget" on that, and skip on the CD for next time.

CD sales have dropped consistently since the late 90s. guess what happened in 1998? DVDs hit the market.

let's compare and contrast with CD player sales. see how they correlate with CD sales? now let's pop DVD and DVD player sales on the same graph. i wonder whether as CDs dip, DVDs increase?

i'm not saying piracy doesn't exist, but i think there's a much bigger culprit for lost CD sales in the mix here.