Comments on: Record labels' man in Washington

RIAA lobbyist Mitch Glazier says the music industry's antipiracy lawsuits are working--and that they won't affect the iPod.

[bernhug]

the music industry

it is obvious that the music industry is probably more corrupt that the Porn industry, at least we all know about the porn industry.
i am in the music industry and have been for the last 35 yrs. it might be nice if this industry cleaned up it own house. whilst piracy is theft the music industry as been doing it for decades.
we use P2P for moving files around the world and not music but large data files, and we be totally screwed with out it. long live P2P

[bobby_brady]

Mitch Glazier is a worthless human being

may he get sick.

[Steve Bryan]

Weasel alert

Mitch Glazier is the weasel who tried to carry out the largest
theft from recording artists in history. While he was working for
Congress he was responsible for slipping language into a bill
nearing passage after all discussion was finished. That language
changed the rules of copyright so that all recording would
become "work for hire" so that copyright would always be the
property of the recording company unlike the current situation
that varies according to details of contracts.

After the bill passed and it was noticed what the ethically
challenged Mr Glazier had enabled, the RIAA was busy back
pedaling and eventually that outrageous provision was rescinded
in a later bill. But Mr Glazier had demonstrated his bona fides to
the RIAA so he left his job in Congress and took a million dollars
a year job with the RIAA.

It is weasels like Glazier who renew authentic meaning to the
lyrics of Gilbert and Sullivan (from Pirates of Penzance):

"Oh, better far to live and die
Under the brave black flag I fly,
Than play a sanctimonious part
With a pirate head and a pirate heart.
Away to the cheating world go you,
Where pirates all are well-to-do;"

[Fray9]

That sound you heard

That sound you heard in the background while you were reading this article was the sound of me reading it and grinding my teeth.

Strangely enough it sounded much like the rubber-stamp "music" the RIAA is "producing" these days.

I could write a book on the dire straits the american public is in at the insistance of the RIAA for the sole purpose of protecting their empire from disruptive change. But I wont because I know it wont make one iota of difference.

The RIAA doesnt care about its customers.

Theyd rather sue every person in america than give in to change.

The RIAA is desperate. Desperate men and desperate companies do desperate things. With the power, money and influence they have though the desperate things they are doing are extremely destructive to the american way of life.

[stephenmeyer]

A Complete Waste of Time

Mitch Glaser is delusional.

The facts:

a)Downloading is NOT on the decrease and for the past four years, global music sales have declined.

b)The RIAA and labels can NEVER stop downloading because ANYTHING THAT CAN BE DONE DIGITALLY TO PREVENT IT, CAN BE UNDONE DIGITALLY.

c)The lawsuits the RIAA files each month against several hundred people who download only alienates consumers more. to see how well the opposition is organized, just go to www.boycott-riaa.com )

d) If the RIAA and labels REALLY care about expanding their market and keeping consumers who buy music, LOWER THE PRICE OF CDs. In a world where best selling DVD's are often cheaper than CDs, the $16.98-$18.98 list price is ludicrous.

e) Sales of the iPod and songs on iTunes evidence the consumers don't care about buying a CD...they only want selective music and songs.

[Not Bugged]

Who says you can't buy Justice?

If this isn't the most blatant case of big corporations spending money to keep thier hides rather than let market forces and common law act, I don't know what would be. How can Congress justify the fact that copying a song from tape to tape is a civil case while doing the same copy via a computer is a criminal case?
The music industry had a chance to cut this off in the beginning by offering services such as iTunes long before anyone else but failed to do so because they saw more profit by controlling the distribution and forcing people to pay for an entire album to listen to one song (notice how singles vanished as CDs came about and the cost steadily increased despite lowered distribution and manufacturing costs?).
All the "data" so far to support the "loss" in the industry has to do with economic downturns and people no longer replacing their old tape collections. But don't let facts get in the way of "good" legislation.

Invest in musicians - not lawyers - to fix the music biz

Perhaps the reason for the economic slide in music is caused by the absolute garbage the big labels peddle (aimed directly at young kids with little or no money) and the fact that many parents refuse to buy such crap for their kids anymore. i doubt mr glazier knows anything about music business other than the legal side. The music industry is totally mis-managed and 15 years behind the times. No amount of legislation or lawsuits will correct this. Mr Glazier is a self-serving idiot if he thinks he can.

You have now entered the twilight zone

Unfortunately, this little expose reinforces the attitudes most Americans express about attorneys. Anyone who takes a little time to gain a balanced understanding of the current state of the copyright and patent processes will generally agree that the processes are seriously broken. Protecting IP is not what the laws are about anymore. Much more often than not, the laws protect broken business models, weak products, and monopolistic behavior. The recorded music industry is NOT a $100B a year global business, no matter how much the B-school grads and lawyers want it to be. Look at the fundamentals. It does about $20B a year because thats what it does. Period.

[liveagua]

Morpheus...Invincible???

I used to work for Morpheus before we were sabotaged
by Kazaa. We were told over and over again that
digital music downloads wouldn't work and people
would continue to "steal" music in record numbers. 100
million downloads later we are all talking about how
great ITunes is. The bottom line has been restated over
and over, we have unscrupulous people running
companies that literally bully people into acting a
certain way. This is the same elitist attitude that most
liberals have, "we are smarter than these common
people and we have more money,...so we are the ones
who knows what is best." Mitch in the end, you are a
weasel. Sorry but that is the truth. At the end of the day
you are a hired gun who's opinion is influenced by who
signs your paycheck. You are as bad as John Kerry,
but at least i know where to get some waffles if I am
ever hungry.

MonopoLIES

It's amazing how much trouble someone can get into when their market is controlled by such few organizations (a handful of recording firms derive 90% of the market).

I'm absolutely pro-business; however, there are some monopolies, dupolies, and oligopolies in the US that need some trimmin'. The saying about power corrupting absolutely is absolutely true.

I am all for musicians making their fair share, but targeting peer-to-peer networks based on "contributory liability" is absurd. The logic seems flawed that VCRs can copy from a network (let's call it broadband -- as in broadband from the radiowaves) yet you can not copy MP3s from a network. The network a VCR obtains its copy from is also copyright protected.

The problem seems tied to a definition of digital audio device? The problem is unfortunately really tied to a 9th Circuit that is out of whack with reality.

Of course, the real issues have yet to come and that's unfortunate. It's unfortunate our telco monopolies in the US have given us substandard service (just look at South Korea -- how do they have better broadband than we do?). Now, its also unfortunate our recording companies are going to give us substandard peer-to-peer services (due to litigation) and even less music choices.

It's why I have yet to buy even one music CD in more than two years.