Music Industry Cracks Down

[Maestr0]

Yes, but you cannot reprint thousands of copies of the book and give them away.

-Maestr0

[m3x1c4nm0nk3y]

You would think that they would give up by now. What they are doing is just wasting other peoples time by them crying of things that can't be controlled. They don't even need that money they are already rich I bet. They just want more.

[Fred Brown]

I don't share my files on line, because of this RIAA bot or bug. But I think that file sharing should be free. The internet needs to stay free. But, for people who sell, you are theives and you should recieve the full out come of the law. You are no better than a drug pusher on the street selling dope to little kids. Well, that may be to hard, but we do need to keep our way of life free. The history of file sharing has told us that people are feed up with spending thier hard earned cash on crapy music. Well, that my $.59 worth.

Freddy

[tonybradley]

The history of file sharing has told us that people are feed up with spending thier hard earned cash on crapy music. Well, that my $.59 worth.

You're digressing from the point again.

History may show that people are fed up with spending their "hard-earned cash on crappy music"- maybe that has something to do with the decline in CD sales. But, if you think its crappy then there is no point in downloading it for free either.

These arguments that the companies backing the RIAA have billions of dollars already, or the artists are making millions of dollars anyway are ridiculous. The fact that U2 or Britney Spears has millions of dollars does not suddenly make it OK to steal from them. The fact that Sony or Warner Bros. has billions of dollars doesn't suddenly make it OK to steal from them.

You, or we, don't get to choose how much is enough money or how much is too much- the market does that. If you think their music is crappy then you can choose to be someone who does not contribute to their millions, but as long as millions of people do buy their CD's then they deserve every penny they get. If I was a shareholder of one of the recording companies you can damn well bet I would want my share price to increase (and increase and increase).

The general population gets to decide how much the market will bear and in effect does get to determine the worth of a product or service. However, an individual or group of people don't get to just decide on their own that something costs too much or that a person or company makes "enough" money so its OK to break the law now. When it truly gets to be too much or "enough" the market will stop supporting it and they will cease to make a profit- that is capitalism. If you like being told how much you're worth up front or that you've made enough find yourself a nice socialist or communist country and feel free to pack your bags.

If people get fed up with spending their hard-earned cash to die a slow painful death from cancer will that suddenly make it OK for them to just walk into any store and steal cigarettes? I mean - Phillip Morris is worth billions. They certainly have "enough" and don't need to make any more money off of murdering people slowly. I mean, this is America- their "way of life" must be kept free.

The fact that Bill Gates is the wealthiest man in the world doesn't make it OK to pirate software from Microsoft- we don't need any modern day Robinhood's who take from the rich and give to themselves. There are developers and marketers who work for Microsoft. There are people who work the lines producing and packaging the CD's. There are people that make their living selling the software in the store. All of these people rely on the sales of these products, or conversely suffer when sales decline- whether because the market quits buying or because the market starts stealing instead of buying.

That same argument has already been put forth regarding the songs and movies. When you steal a movie from a file sharing network that means that Best Boy #3, Key Grip #1 and Assistant Supervisor of Set Direction don't get paid as much. You can't pick and choose and claim that you are only stealing from Microsoft or Disney or Sony or Warner Bros..

Each theft affects the entire economy with a small ripple effect. When there are enough thefts those ripples combine into a large wave that ends up washing some of those little guys aside to the unemployment line.

Its arguments like that and others throughout this thread that get Congress to buy into supporting the RIAA, MPAA and others. If you don't want to support a company or an artist- don't. Keep your money. But don't claim you don't want to support them and then turn around and steal their work from a file-sharing service.

[mohaughn]

"
Whoops, sorry I don't practice your concept of purism, but hey there are probly a lot of Americans who don't either. AND I greatly resent any sarcasm with the use of it, after all, I mean, there are so many Americans that have died for YOU and ME and everybody else... You should know how many though, as far as the war in Iraq is concerned. I can't tell you how many times CNN has reported the number killed, they where it like an emblem, it's sick...

You try and push me an inch left, I'll throw you a mile right...

*** This is all in the spirit of good debating, I really don't have bad blood or anything toward you mohaughn, I hope you understand that.

--Peace
"

The Radical- You really confused me with that post. Are you trying to use one example of a job add to try and say that sound engineers are ok in the industry? Sorry, but that type of logic doesn't fly with me. You seem to want to disagree with what I am saying, but you have not made any points yourself. I really don't see what people killed in war has to do with this either.

[Fred Brown]

The fact is people are deciding the market in a non-violent way, by file sharing. There are no guns or any form of violents.

The general population gets to decide how much the market will bear and in effect does get to determine the worth of a product or service.

The internet has become the new power of the people. It is apparent that it will take new laws to try and stop this,so the old laws are of no effect. This is a perfect picture of the people being empowered to voice thier desires. It seem those on top of the world wish to keep thier heavy boots on the peoples necks.

Freddy

[danseur35]

does anyone besides me remember the case in federal court,?
you know, the one where riaa,mia,sony and philips are getting sued
for over charging consumers for the price of cd's. wasn't it about $200,000,000
or so? the debate over cost, copyrights or morality is pointless,
this is just another spin job,do you realy think riaa would risk going after a
consumer? imagine the press,when the mega industry lawyers go to court
and try to slam some 12 year old.

justice is a matter of income

[tonybradley]

The fact is people are deciding the market in a non-violent way, by file sharing. There are no guns or any form of violents.

Pardon my French - but that's a crock of ****!

The people decide the market conditions in a non-violent way by supporting or not supporting something. If you don't want to support an artist you do it by not listening to their music. If you actually LIKE their music and choose to steal it from P2P rather than paying for it- that is criminal, not voicing your opinion and affecting market conditions.

Don't get me wrong- I hate the RIAA and I think P2P can be a great marketing tool to let consumers make informed choices about what to spend their money on. But these pathetic arguments that they make too much money anyway, or that stealing is a form of affecting market conditions don't hold water.

does anyone besides me remember the case in federal court,?
you know, the one where riaa,mia,sony and philips are getting sued
for over charging consumers for the price of cd's. wasn't it about $200,000,000
or so?

The record industry lost that one. You can go to some web site and sign up for your share of the settlement. It was like $1 per CD or $4 per CD or something- but it has some ridiculously low cap- like the most you could get was like $20. I have bought well over 600 CD's so I didn't feel the $20 was worth my time to fill in the information.

The recording industry also gets paid a percentage from ALL blank CD sales so they are, in effect, already being compensated for all of the copyright theft to some degree.

[volcomgnu]

Another encrypted p2p file sharing program is Earthstation 5.

Also the RIAA stated that for now, they are going after people who are sharing "significantly" large amounts of music. Use good judgement

[r8devil]

Is the RIAA getting paid a percentage of each blank CD sold? I didnt know that. I think its a whole load of ****. Why should I pay the RIAA when I buy blank Cds. Buying blank Cds doesnt mean I pirate music. I could be backing up data in the office, making backups of software, music, movies that I already own, playing frisbee, building a mirror.......

I guess this is why people are pissed about all this. Things are not getting cheaper bcos theyare getting ripped off thru this kinds of means. I dont condone p2p music sharing but the RIAA and MPAA has to find a better solution out of this than trying to rip people off for all they can. p2p will be around for a long time. It might just go undergroun if they really start sueing too many people but it will still be there. They just fear what they cannot control.