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Phoenix
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The RIAA is basically dooming itself with its own incompetence. This is the problem that surfaces whenever you have some government bureaucracy given free reign to just go after whoever they want. The mass file traders won't get caught because they know the system far too well. It's the same with the "professional" hackers. Who gets caught? Script kiddies, the occasional file swapper, etc, while the real crooks that are doing the damage get away. Instead, you get a lot of innocent people being caught up like so many dolphins in the tuna nets.
This pattern is fairly consistant with any "regulatory" action that is directed at private citizens. You know how harshly you get prosecuted for a weapons violation if you act in self defense? 10 years, $10,000 and you can't ever own a firearm again if they catch you carrying concealed without a license, even if you fear you are in mortal danger, yet the gun-toting career crack dealer gets his wrist slapped in a plea bargain for some community service and drug rehab. You screw up one tiny bit and they go after you with more zeal than Puritans on a witch hunt, but the real nasty characters get away with everything.
For a stark contrast of people's views on the RIAA and what they're up to, here's Metallica's take. I don't really disagree with their standpoint regarding illegal downloads, they are right about their property, but read what Bruce has to say after you read Lars's thoughts. Begin long quotes:
"Let's get the obvious out of the way: This is not just about money (as some of the more cynical people will think). This is as close as you get to what's right and what's wrong. Metallica have always been in favor of giving the fans as much access as possible to our music. This includes taping sections at our concerts, and streaming our music via our website. And while we certainly revere our fans for their continued support and desire for our music, we must stress that the open trading of any copyrighted material is, in effect, the looting of our art. And that is something that no artist can, in their right mind, condone. We are in the business of art. This is a walking contradiction if ever there was one. However, there is no denying it. On the artistic side, Metallica create music for ourselves first and our audience second. With each project, we go through a grueling creative process to achieve music that we feel is representative of Metallica at that very moment in our lives. We take our craft -whether it be the music, the lyrics, or the photos and artwork- very seriously, as do most artists. It is therefore sickening to know that our art is being traded, sometimes with an audio quality that has been severely compromised, like a commodity rather than the art that it is. From a business standpoint, this is about piracy- a/k/a taking something that doesn't belong to you; and that is morally and legally wrong. The trading of such information -whether it's music, videos, photos, or whatever- is, in effect, trafficking in stolen goods. Back to the obvious: Very successful recording artists are compensated extremely well for what they do. For every Metallica, however, there are an endless number of bands who rely on what ever they can get in royalties to survive. And while we all like to take shots at the big, bad record companies, they have always reinvested profits towards exposing new bands to the public (although sometimes not the RIGHT bands). Without this exposure, many fans would never have the opportunity to learn about tomorrow's bands today. Napster and other such sites were obviously not conceived to lose money. They, like the labels, must make money or they're out of business. And whatever money they are generating from their site is dirty money. It's being taken out of the hands of the artist and the record labels and put into the hands of another corporation."
-- Lars Ulrich of Metallica
Thats Metallica's statement...now lets see what Bruce Dickinson has to say about music piracy:
"You people sporking download music because bands today have 1 1/2 good songs and they are already being played on the sporking radio. So why are the music executives bitching when you pay their sporking salaries. Maybe if they put of more than 1 1/2 sporking good songs then you guys would buy the sporking CD! Now we're gonna play a song off our upcoming album so if any of you have any recorders or any type of bootlegging equipment you go the spork ahead and record our shit and put it on the internet because we know in the end you will still be sporking supporting us"
-- Bruce Dickinson Irvine California, 08/24/03
This was all quoted from this thread on the Iron Maiden Bulletin Board:
http://www.ironmaiden.org/bb/showthread.ph...?threadid=35137
Not knocking Metallica, nor taking sides in the ongoing Metallica vs Maiden arguments on that board either. I lurk and read updates, but I don't post there, it moves far too fast to keep track of anyway. I just find it nice to see this contrasting of two very different attitudes on this subject. Both have some very good points to think on.
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  I fly into the night, on wings of fire burning bright...
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Dicion
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This makes me love Bruce & IM even more  /me DEFINATELY is going to their concert here in 3 months now |
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games keeper
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pho , zip that text up and I might read that maybe  |
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l4mby
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Lazy bum. Just read it already. It only took me a couple minutes. =P
I agree pho. Nicely stated. Rock on.
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games keeper
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thats old news .
and in my eyes , law is law . and evereone has to keep himself 2 it .
if graanfaher is pulled over because he drove trough a red light.
and he answers "I didnt know it was red , I didnt see it because I am seniel "
then you also dont have to say "for got sakes its an old man .
if you know how to download music and even spread it over the internet , you should also know the consequences .
But the RIAA should actually go after kazaa and such programmes , there the blame of all this .
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Lilazzkicker
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why go after the makers GK? thats like going after gun makers.
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Tekhead
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How could a 12 year old be reliable for providing any funds? The lawsuit is absurd in itself!
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OoBeY
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I dont have the patience to type out a "real" argumentative post, with an opening, body, support, blah blah blah, so I'm just going to sum up my thought real quick in nice list style.
1) I don't feel the MAKERS of Kazaa/Gnutella/etc themselves should really be held at fault. Users are the ones "abusing" *cough* a system that is designed for perfectly legit reasons (trading MP3s and other files that are *LEGALLY* freely available.) Kazaa cannot and should not be faulted for the misuse of it by its customers, just like no one sues Ford because people are smuggling things in Ford trucks.
2) Record companies are overcharging. Yes, it takes effort and money and all that to make a CD, and yes, they're a company, and thus in it for profit (you know, the driving force behind capitalism). However, they could afford to cut CD prices a bit and still pull a profit. Furthermore, as for this whole "oh the poor artist" thing, I have two thoughts:
(A) Artists deserve money for what they make, so DO NOT say "they have enough money, therefore it is ok to steal their stuff"
(B) If you look at most recording contracts, most artists get a pretty bad deal, a lot, if not the majority, of the profits go to record companies. It is the record companies more than pirates that are cheating artists out of their deserved money.
3) With that being said...IT'S ILLEGAL. Do not give me any BS or self-righteous whatever, because STEALINGS COPYRIGHTED SONGS IS ILLEGAL. While I think the RIAA is being ...overzealous... in their pursuits, they do have a legit reason for going after file traders. Do not try to argue otherwise. I know the risks when I download MP3s (which I admit I do, but only maybe once a month, and usually old songs, like Baba O'Reilly by The Who. I am not, however, saying this makes it RIGHT.), and I accept these risks. If you do the crime, prepare to face the consequences if caught. These are copyrighted songs here, you cannot argue that trading them online is anything but wrong. If you wish to voice your opposition to the record companies, then by God do a TRUE boycott... Do not listen to their music AT ALL. This does not mean STEAL IT.
But yes, the RIAA is going about it a bit too zealously...
P.S. Yes I know this isnt entirely on topic. So sue me. (Just kidding, RIAA!)
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« Last Edit: 2003-09-13, 05:05 by OoBeY »
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Tabun
Pixel Procrastinator
Team Member
Elite (3k+)
  
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All I know is I got some harddisk toasters and some huge magnets standing by, in case anyone comes for blood. I'm still saving up for the explosive charges.
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| Tabun |
?Morituri Nolumus Mori? |
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Dicion
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microwaves...
heh
all my hard drives are easily removed in <60 seconds, and it's 20 feet to the microwave
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games keeper
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im the best of you all . I have a MIG radar above my door hanging .
first guy comes checking for me doesnt last 10 seconds in that doorway before his brains are boiled out .
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Angst
Rabid Doomer
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You know, if anyone's gonna come for my mp3's, it's not gonna be the RIAA *hides from zee deutchlanders* |
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"Who says a chainsaw isn't a ranged weapon?"
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Angst
Rabid Doomer
Team Member
Elite
Posts: 1011
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Oh, you know, Funker Vogt, Wumpscut, Covenant, stuff like that |
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"Who says a chainsaw isn't a ranged weapon?"
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death_stalker
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Yall convienced me.I just deleted all of my traded files.And I may just delete my file share too.It's no big deal to me anways,I didn't even use the stuff I downloaded.Saved me almost 2 gb of space.
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dev/null
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Sadly, there are many things in America that are totally unconstitutional  |
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