RIAA won yet another court battle yesterday, and Verizon was ordered to identify a Kazaa user. As ugly as this decision makes things, you can't blame the courts. Most likely, we should blame the ugly law that makes this possible. In this case, it would be the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, signed into law by President Clinton in 1998, sponsored by some very liberal democrats, AND also some moderate to conservative Republicans, and passed by voice vote.
Instead of embracing an emerging and promising technology, [the RIAA] have chosen to fight it the most cynical way possible, by throwing tons of money and lawyers at the technology and those who use it. While they win victory after victory, record sales continue to plummet.
They blame users of technology, while ignoring the fact that music gets more and more bland.
Perhaps it's the crap that the record companies keep throwing at us, the homogenized, focus group tested, seen one you've seen 'em all, music that's to blame for poor record sales. Not to mention I'm paying $17 for a CD that's been out for 35 years, and was actually CHEAPER 10 years ago.
excerpted from My Catharsis.com
"Maybe someone who buys lots of CDs and records
should
set up a site whereby the record companies
can deposit money
[to] ease their guilty for ripping us off."
– Krusty the Klown
Thing that makes you go Hmmm....
Martha Stewart's company has seen a 40% drop in revenue this quarter because
of the insider trading scandal... [They've got the same products at the same price.]
All that has changed is the image of their spokesperson.
Mentioning their strategy:
Rather than listen to CD buyers, they went on the attack.
They released PC disabled CDs in a world where many people's computer systems sub for their stereo.
They raised prices three times in three years.
Much of the actions of the industry have shown a complete disregard for the fans who spend their
hard earned dollars on their wares. But according to industry logic, their patrons are stealing from them.
