I Fought The RIAA...and the RIAA Won?
By Whitney Weiss
Blame it on Metallica.
Were it not for their relentless and fruitful pursuit of Napster's
mastermind (a shy-looking college student), the Recording Industry
Association of America would not have the confidence it needs for its
latest venture.
Forget that the liner notes for one recent Metallica CD have drummer
Lars Ulrich waxing nostalgic about the days he used to hang out at
guitarist James Hatfield's house, making tapes of Hatfield's record
collection. Instead, focus on the new face of evil, which apparently is
that of a geek with a monitor tan.
These "listen before you buy" people, regardless of whether or not they
end up spending money on the music they first download, are going to be
sought out individually, and then sued, by the RIAA. The predecessor to
this idea was a lawsuit recently documented by everyone from Rolling
Stone to PBS. It involved a handful of college students who ran their
own file-trading network. The RIAA initially slapped them with a lawsuit
to the tune of $98 billion (it later relented, taking as much as they
could from the four students, which varied between 12 and 17 thousand
dollars).
The RIAA's next venture, however, is cracking down even more. Instead of
going for the heads of large file-swapping services, which can sometimes
be difficult due to location and other information, they are going
straight for the source, which could very well be you, the reader. But
what will slapping handcuffs on a bunch of 16 year-olds really
accomplish for the RIAA? In recent decades, music has been shared with
friends. If not in free concert format or radio (which technically isn't
free because of advertising, but I know no teenagers advertising on
radio, thus making that point null and void), then through the timeless
art of mix tapes, which has now progressed into mix CDs. The only
difference now is technology.
Since the RIAA are only techno-savvy when it suits them, it makes sense
that they would be afraid of the new abilities given to common citizens
now that certain software has been invented. But just as there were
scares when records, tapes, and CDs came out, this is just a phobia of
progressing technology. A great example of half-omitted facts is
Soundscan itself, a technological advance that major labels and the RIAA
heralded as a great idea, despite the fact that Soundscan did not count
CDs sold at shows or via independent outlets. Yes, according to the RIAA
according to Soundscan, CD sales may be down significantly.
However, their numbers are hardly accurate figures. They're not taking
into account the number of independent bands that are quickly rising to
the top, nor are they considering the fact that major labels are
becoming more and more dependent on the formula of releasing a bunch of
bands who make the same sort of sound when it is popular, then replacing
them with a new herd that plays the new hip sound. There's no more
nurturing, no more three records to prove yourself. Artists like Tom
Petty and The Rolling Stones couldn't survive in major label music
business now if they were up-and-comers; why expect the technology to
stay stagnant if the entire industry is changing?
Additionally, the decline in Soundscan-recorded sales may not signal the
end of music sales as we know it, but rather an Indie Renaissance. A
majority of the victors of this year's critic's favorites lists are from
independent labels, and sell a great deal of their albums while touring,
or directly off their website. Dashboard Confessional just made it big
this year and even managed to get their own MTV2 Unplugged performance.
Yet Dashboard is on an indie. Same can be said of critic's darling Conor
Oberst, whose music project Bright Eyes was highly celebrated and also
released on an independent label. Oberst opts to stay on Saddle Creek,
along with many other potential piggybank bands, simply because he knows
he will have artistic control and be better taken care of. Perhaps more
than just the RIAA's approach to technology needs an overhaul.
The RIAA has no need to sue individuals trading music simply because it
won't make the problem disappear and it will only serve to reinforce the
image of the RIAA as haggard old white men who drool at the sight of any
gain in profit. Instead, they need to re-think their attacks on all new
technology and focus on revamping the major label music industry so that
artists and fans alike can be satisfied. One of the main arguments
downloaders who don't buy music give is that they know not much is going
to the band and most is going to the label. Maybe if fans knew their
artists were getting as much money off of albums as they were off of
concert tickets, they would rethink things.
