Ultimately, while the RIAA is indeed following through with its promise to its artists to protect their property--intellectual or no--from outside offenders and thieves, it is clear they are lashing out in an uncharacteristic 'emotional fury' by pursuing those they catch with reckless abandon. The 12-year-old girl as an example.
The reason for this, is that the recording labels see their horizon, and they are scared. They are scared because the reasons for _HAVING_ a record label is becoming less and less necessary, due to the onset of networking, data transfer, and the technical magic of the web.
Now, it is entirely possible for an artist to completely circumvent the record labels, and advertise, produce, and sell their talent virtually over the 'net. I'm sure there are some who already do this.
Tools are available, these days, for relatively little cost, to do your own recording, dispersment and advertising all over the world with the web. What's to stop an artist from producing songs directly to MP3, and selling them from their own website? I can see it happening soon. And so do the record labels.
Slashdot Mirror
Ultimately, while the RIAA is indeed following through with its promise to its artists to protect their property--intellectual or no--from outside offenders and thieves, it is clear they are lashing out in an uncharacteristic 'emotional fury' by pursuing those they catch with reckless abandon. The 12-year-old girl as an example. The reason for this, is that the recording labels see their horizon, and they are scared. They are scared because the reasons for _HAVING_ a record label is becoming less and less necessary, due to the onset of networking, data transfer, and the technical magic of the web. Now, it is entirely possible for an artist to completely circumvent the record labels, and advertise, produce, and sell their talent virtually over the 'net. I'm sure there are some who already do this. Tools are available, these days, for relatively little cost, to do your own recording, dispersment and advertising all over the world with the web. What's to stop an artist from producing songs directly to MP3, and selling them from their own website? I can see it happening soon. And so do the record labels.