About Time Things are Changing

I've written briefly about the music industry from a consumer standpoint a couple times on here, mainly about the RIAA's idiocracy here and here. There's been a lot going on, including some setbacks where one Minnesota woman lost her case and now owes $220,000 "in damages" for sharing 24 songs online. By the way, a Sony executive in that case also decided to redefine theft and piracy, and calls backing up our purchased CD's or copying our CD's to our iPods, Rios, Zunes, etc., piracy. Interesting... I really thought I owned that CD I overpaid for. Apparently not in Sony's eyes. Well, I guess I won't be buying any more of Sony artists' music (Sony, Columbia, Epic, Arista and more). I'm sure what's next is we will be called pirates (arrrr!!) for copying our purchased digital music to our media players as well.

Personally I don't want to take that chance of potentially being singled out for piracy, do you know what I mean? Sorry AC/DC, Alice In Chains, Korn, Foo Fighters, Audioslave, Aerosmith, Good Charlotte, Bob Dylan, Soul Asylum and Joe Satriani... you've all rocked. I'll really miss Pearl Jam and Live. Maire Brennan, your voice is amazing. No more Tenacious D, System of a Down or Cake on my purchase list. James Taylor, take it easy. Who I'll miss the most is Bruce, and of course the E Street Band.
I'll listen to you all, illegally in Sony's cataract-covered eyes, through my purchased music (but I don't OWN it!! Right?!)... but I won't take the chance on breaking laws. It'll be safer to just NOT buy anything more from you.

Hey, what's that out there... Nine Inch Nails is now label-free? So is Oasis, Madonna and Jamiroquai? Hmm, they're recognized artists. Others are letting people decide how much to pay for a new album? Still others have given away their latest? What the hell is going on? Wait a damn minute, one of the online music distributors is now finally standing up to the music industry? Something is wrong... no wait, I take that back. Something has been wrong, and maybe is finally starting to be corrected.

Well I hope to see more of this correction, and see more sites support the artists like the Podshow Music Network, PodSafe Audio and The Beat Suite.

You hear that record industry? It's the sound of change, the sound of frustration being released... and it's the sound of you catching up, instead of leading.

The Little Mother That Could

Can't tell you how much I'm rooting for this woman... again! She's a single Mom that was sued by the RIAA, and after fighting with them in court, was able to have the suit against her thrown out. Two years of her life lost because of these bullies. Well now she's turning the tables with her own lawyers, and they've put together quite a laundry list of accusations... awesome.
If her lawyers did their homework, then this might be a nice precedent. Can't wait to see what happens here folks!

RIAA Wunderkind

So much is written and said on both sides of the whole RIAA and DRM thing, I tend to just stay away from the conversations. My personal opinion is simple: they're a bunch of desperate, old-media, bullying, non-innovative, lawyer-driven neo-luddites that have no clue in today's technological reality. Simple.
I really believe that if they didn't have the extreme bank accounts that they have, they would already be struggling for survival. Instead of embracing the positives of the new generation of music listeners, they've repeatedly alienated them through threats and lawsuits, and treat all listeners as morons by spewing statements about how what they're doing is for the consumers.

Gizmodo wrote a great little response to some of Bainwol's latest paranoid Jesus-complex statements...

RIAA: DRM is Pro-Consumer; Gizmodo: Shut Up, Idiots.

Nice and short and funny.

So now do you know why I try to stay out of these conversations?