Today is an important day for file sharers: the RIAA has abandoned its mass lawsuit policy. In fact, the organization claims it will stop suing individuals who pirate music (except for the most egregious offenders) and instead, lean on ISPs to battle piracy.
The Recording Industry Association of America will alert an Internet service provider whenever it believes a user is sharing music files illegally. That ISP will then notify the person that he or she has been caught file sharing and warn that if further activity is witnessed, it may throttle back the customer's service. There's currently no word on how many e-mails must be sent by the ISP before the throttling begins, but a similar idea was nixed by the EU recently over a parliamentary contention that the proposed "three strikes" policy violated civil and privacy rights of the affected individuals. So far, none of that backlash has hit the U.S.
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Will it? I certainly hope so.
See, while I'm pleased to hear that the RIAA has decided to abandon its ludicrous idea of suing individuals to get the millions across the globe that engage in file sharing to stop, I'm struck by how deep the RIAA's distaste for file sharing really goes.
I'm even more shocked by how little the music industry really understands about us.
... Read moreA new report suggests that Apple and three of the "Big Four" record labels are in talks to bring DRM-free tracks to iTunes, and once and for all do away with copy protection on the world's largest music store.
I applaud the companies for finally coming together and trying to remove draconian policies while adapting to our changing times, but this news even surprises me a bit.
To me, the bigger news here is not that Apple is trying to bring DRM-free tracks to iTunes--it needs to, thanks to Amazon.com's DRM-free store--but rather that iTunes is an unbridled success, even though DRM abounds on the service.
Any tech lover will tell you that buying songs from Amazon is preferred. After all, why would anyone want to support DRM? And although demographic data isn't readily available, I don't think it's much of a stretch to say Amazon's customers have a heavy population of individuals that are knowledgeable about tech and realize that buying copy-protected tracks only hurts us over the long term.
iTunes customers are entirely different, though. Unlike Amazon customers, I think the majority of iTunes customers are mainstream consumers that don't possess strong tech knowledge, and they're more concerned about convenience and impulse than doing what's best for consumers. After all, if they really cared about what the Recording Industry Association of America is doing to us (and the artists, by the way), they wouldn't buy songs from iTunes, would they?
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Apple and the labels got their way: artist royalties will stay the same. Why don't the artists start complaining to the labels?
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Besides the fact that Apple's threat to possibly shut down the iTunes store if regulators approve a royalty hike for artists is utterly ridiculous, the news that artists are actually getting excited about making $0.15 per track instead of the $0.09 they're making now is laughable.
Of course, the musicians were quick to point out that Apple's (and the record labels' by the way, which they fail to cite) idea to change the fee structure from a set payment to a percentage isn't fair either. Apple and other retailers want to set the royalty rate to six percent or $0.048 per track, while the record labels are looking to put the rate at eight percent or $0.056 per $0.99 iTunes track.
Granted, Apple's idea is more than a little ludicrous considering the artists are already making almost twice that on each track and it's fine paying up to the record labels, but why haven't the musicians finally seen the light and spoken out against the labels too? They're trying to undercut the price as well and yet, the musicians have nothing to say to them?
What a joke.
Why do the record labels get a pass when Apple and the rest of the music services are being lambasted by musicians when the record labels are treating them just as poorly? I know, I know: it's all about who pays your bills. Fine. I can accept that. But don't you think that maybe (just maybe) some of these musicians would wise up and realize that their beloved employers are treating them like garbage and the vast majority aren't making nearly as much as they should on each sale on iTunes?
... Read moreEvery few years, a different organization makes some progress in the tech industry and for one reason or another, the vast majority of the people following the business simply don't like it.
And while some people's distaste for organizations isn't warranted, the RIAA is not one of them. In fact, I would venture to say that distaste for this organization is not only warranted, it's probably the most sound response anyone can have.
Why you ask? It's simple. Under the veil of "holding the artists' best interests in mind", the RIAA has single-handedly destroyed the music industry and created an environment where the artists are left out in the cold.
Let's examine a bit further.
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I was just reading through my daily news feeds when I came across this interesting little nugget of information from Techdirt.
According to the site, the Vancouver Sun gave away free compilations of songs from artists on the Nettwerk record label in an attempt to appeal to readers and make the newspaper a bit more popular. So, after reading this, I can't help but wonder--can free music downloads save newspapers? I think they can.
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