Alright, this threads purpose is for you to rant on or talk about modern day's most hated corporation, the Recording Industry Association of America. Post news, your thoughts and opinions and converse with others about the RIAA's escapade about mp3 downloading. It's 3:40am and I'm super tired, so here's my incoherent version of a rant; The RIAA, while seemingly trying to be the vigilantes hoping to thwart the downloading of music nowaday, have become quite a hated corporation. They may feel that everyone are pirates and are stealing music, but that's not the case for the majority of people. For one thing, downloading mp3's from p2p sharing programs can be good for an artist. I download albums to see if they're worth spending a high amount of unrefundable money (which I'll get to in a moment). If an album has one or two good songs out of fifteen, doesn't that seem like a waste of cash? Todays consumers are smarter, they know when they're getting ripped off. Anyways, if you download an album, like it, and have the common-decency to support the artist for the entertainment they're putting out, you'd feel much better than buying the album on a gut-feeling, hating it, not being able to refund your cash, and probably using as a frisbee a week later. Wouldn't that make you sour towards buying other cd's in the future, without previews? I know when the product is good through downloading, so the whole system is based on performance of the band rather than being ripped off because they had a one-hit wonder. An artist doesn't deserve millions of dollars if he/she doesn't do a good job. Reason two would have to be the sky rocketing prices of cd's. The RIAA seems to not notice that one of the major reasons people don't buy cds is because they're way too overpriced. Jacking up the prices won't help, lowering them will. Supply and demand is a basic economic term. If you supply good-quality products at a demanded lower price, record companies and artists will make more cash in the long run. The fact that cd sales are lower (although the decline in this year was lower than 2002's) is because no one in the recording industry understands the mind's of the regular consumer and that overpricing cd's isn't the way to make back money. You know what gets more people buying albums? Bonus features. Enhanced cd's and bonus dvd's make a product more enticing if priced right. A twelve song un-enhanced cd should not be $28. That's $2.50 a song for something that, without downloading and previewing, may be a huge ripoff. If you go by the $1 a song policy shown on many websites nowadays, that's $12. Obviously, more people will buy the album for that price. Suing everyone you can is useless. They're gradually blocking the court systems of America. If in a couple of years no one will be downloading music from someone outlawing it, do they really expect the consumer to go back to their old ways of blindly buying cd's to see if they're good? And if the RIAA is suing everyone, how will they expect the people to have any cash left to buy albums in the future? It's purely hypocritical. I just don't know what these corporations are thinking anymore. Greedy, money wanting executives, that's all they are. And they're picking on 70 year-old-widowed-grandmothers and 9-year-old fourth graders, which makes it even worse. It's really a shame, in my opinion. Maybe they're bored, I don't know, but they must take a look and see that music downloading will never go away and they need to find ways to cope with it.
I usually download songs to sample CD's, then I like the song so much I find myself going back to download more off of the same CD that that song came from. It's addicting. I'm trying to hold off of downloading A Crow Left Of The Murder by Incubus and Trust No One by Dave Navarro until I get some money..
I agree with both of you... Seriously, online is where I find out about 99% of any bands out there. It's not like Iowa is known for having great shows every night where I could just go and check them out, and I would be lost in terms of music at all if I didn't have the opportunity to download songs. It's the people that milk the system for all it's worth that ruin it for everybody. I have way too many songs myself, but usually just a song or two per band so I can check them out...
u wrote that 3 in the mornin'...... . anywho i dont have much against the riaa. its the mpaa thats pissing me off right now.
I would not have bought Meteora if it wasn't for WinMX and downloading music . I had just gotten into LP alot...I checked out the lyrics on the LP site for BTH...fell in love....downloaded the song...and got the whole CD for Christmas. Now heres a good example. If it wasn't for downloading, LP would have one less fan, member of the LPU, and would not have gotten 3 more tickets sold to the MWT. If the RIAA wants to stop all of this, then the artists are only going to lose money. And like Mark said, raising prices isnt going to help at all for CDs either.
I think that the RIAA has issues dealing with change. Their economics have dropped since p2p. Deal with it, people are still going to do it. You know why - because as Mark said, the cd's are too damn expensive. Why buy something when you can get it for free? Point being, leave sharers alone, go ahead and corrupt files on p2p, we'll get around it. Just don't steal our money to pay for the margin that cd sales have not met...
What do I think of The RIAA? To be honest, I think it is pointless what they are doing. People download music for various reasons. Reasons like, they are too cheap or want to see if a certain album is worth buying, or to check out new bands. Music being downloaded is the reason for why a lot of bands are making it big out there. If it weren't for the constant sharing of mp3s, than a lot of bands would of never been heard. Perhaps only heard from their location but that doesn't give the same result as having people in Europe listening to your music when you're in the United States. If The RIAA succeed in completely stopping people from sharing files (Which I highly doubt they every will be able to), than a lot of bands will never be heard of. A lot of albums won't be bought. For why would people waste money on a an album they are not sure they will like anyways? When people download music, it is because they want to listen to it, to see if it's worth buying. You can't just go to a place and buy an album without hearing some tunes first. I doubt anyone does that. What's funny is, while the RIAA is sending kids who just download music and share it, (Who, I'm sure, at least half or more are really good people with no past records) there are lots of murderers and rapist out there. People whom we really should worry about. Sending a bunch of kids, adults, and seniors to jail isn't going to solve the problem. It's really going to higher it. For the more people you sue, the more money that belongs to the state you are wasting. Why waste the money on something as silly as sharing music? Music is supposed to be something that lets you express yourself. Hell, I'm sure music is the reason a lot of people are alive today. And also, one thing: No matter how hard The RIAA tries. Even if they went to a point were millions of people are stopped from downloading music. There will still be millions others doing it. It's like hacking. It is illegal, but you know it's still done. Murders are still done. Rapes are still done. It will never be stopped. But here's the true question. Do you feel safer when the RIAA arrests some 12 year old kid from sharing music or do you feel safer when a murderer who is in your town is convicted? I want The RIAA to answer me that question. For I really wonder what goes through the minds of the people in that corporation.
Very, very good point. Very true. Also, don't just ask the RIAA, ask the artists too who are making a big deal out of it. I'm pretty sure theres more than just the RIAA to this.
I agree with everyone. If it weren't for downloading, I would never have bought most of the albums I own today. Another point I'd like to make is: what about out of stock CDs? If it weren't for downloading, most of us will never be able to hear Hybrid Theory EP or any other EP out there that's not released in stores. For such a big corporation, the RIAA people have brains too puny to realise that. Suing grannies and 12-year-old kids is not going to deter anyone - people will always find a way to download music. While it's true that some people won't part with their money, most of us here probably have the decency to support the artists we like and buy their albums once we've heard some audio samples. Even if record sales have dropped, I doubt the companies are going to go bankrupt overnight, or if the artists will suddenly lose their big LA mansion. The RIAA are just a bunch of crybabies over this whole issue. So much for flaunting their mansions, cars, king-size beds and jacuzzis on MTV Cribs. If I were them, I'd keep my mouth shut.
The government needs to stop wasting time and money arresting teens for downloading the newest Metallica stuff and spend more time and money arresting murderers, rapists, terrorists, ect. The real criminals are the people that should be in jail, not music downloaders. While little Billy is in jail for downloading some MP3s off Kazaa, murderers are being set free because prisons are becoming overcrowded. And what's worse is that money to feed Billy some crappy prison food isn't coming from the large fine he had to pay the RIAA, it's coming from our tax dollars. All this while Bubba, who was given life without parole for brutally murdering some girl after raping her and throwing her cut-up body in the river gets out because the prison's over crowded. The RIAA and government need to get their priorities straight and go after people who need to be locked up
I strongly agree. I know that it is wrong to download music, but I do it anyway. But the RIAA gets too far when they are arresting "little John Smith" who is 8 years old and doesn't know better. Suing his family when he doesn't know that it is wrong. F*CK THE RIAA!