Now, in an unusual case in which an Arizona recipient of an RIAA letter has fought back in court rather than write a check to avoid hefty legal fees, the industry is taking its argument against music sharing one step further: In legal documents in its federal case against Jeffrey Howell, a Scottsdale, Ariz., man who kept a collection of about 2,000 music recordings on his personal computer, the industry maintains that it is illegal for someone who has legally purchased a CD to transfer that music into his computer.
The industry's lawyer in the case, Ira Schwartz, argues in a brief filed earlier this month that the MP3 files Howell made on his computer from legally bought CDs are "unauthorized copies" of copyrighted recordings.
The RIAA is desperate to hang on to its antiquated business model because it was so easy for the big record companies to make a shitload of money. However, that old model no longer works. In fact, it is dead and the RIAA is just trying to use its muscle to garner as much money as it possibly can through lawsuits instead of trying to devise a business model for the 21st century.
Seems all those years people were making mixed tapes just never happened because no lawsuits were filed during those days and mixed tapes were everywhere. They even made movies where mixed tapes played important roles in the story. Yet, today, if you transfer your legally purchased compact discs onto your computer you have cheated the record companies out of some money?
Um, no. I don't think so.
I feel cheated for having to purchase, for example, Pink Foyd's The Dark Side of the Moon and The Eagle's Greatest Hits 1971-1975 multiple times. Not only because I wore the LP's out, but because I also had to buy the cassette tape, then I had to buy the CD. I mean how many times should we have to buy the same freakin' album?
And that's the issue, isn't?
With today's technology, we only have to buy an album/song once. Then we'll have multiple backups in case a hard drive dies or whatnot. And if one does, we'll still have the album/songs we legally purchased and will not have to purchase them again.
That has to disturb the powers that be at the RIAA. They can't make their easy money any more.
Compound that with today's youth who believe music should be free, and the RIAA is in a world of hurt.
The RIAA's legal crusade against its customers is a classic example of an old media company clinging to a business model that has collapsed. Four years of a failed strategy has only "created a whole market of people who specifically look to buy independent goods so as not to deal with the big record companies," Beckerman says. "Every problem they're trying to solve is worse now than when they started."
And they are too stupid to see that.
Hey big record companies, keep treating your good customers like this and soon you won't matter.
Read the rest.
The industry's lawyer in the case, Ira Schwartz, argues in a brief filed earlier this month that the MP3 files Howell made on his computer from legally bought CDs are "unauthorized copies" of copyrighted recordings.
The RIAA is desperate to hang on to its antiquated business model because it was so easy for the big record companies to make a shitload of money. However, that old model no longer works. In fact, it is dead and the RIAA is just trying to use its muscle to garner as much money as it possibly can through lawsuits instead of trying to devise a business model for the 21st century.
Seems all those years people were making mixed tapes just never happened because no lawsuits were filed during those days and mixed tapes were everywhere. They even made movies where mixed tapes played important roles in the story. Yet, today, if you transfer your legally purchased compact discs onto your computer you have cheated the record companies out of some money?
Um, no. I don't think so.
I feel cheated for having to purchase, for example, Pink Foyd's The Dark Side of the Moon and The Eagle's Greatest Hits 1971-1975 multiple times. Not only because I wore the LP's out, but because I also had to buy the cassette tape, then I had to buy the CD. I mean how many times should we have to buy the same freakin' album?
And that's the issue, isn't?
With today's technology, we only have to buy an album/song once. Then we'll have multiple backups in case a hard drive dies or whatnot. And if one does, we'll still have the album/songs we legally purchased and will not have to purchase them again.
That has to disturb the powers that be at the RIAA. They can't make their easy money any more.
Compound that with today's youth who believe music should be free, and the RIAA is in a world of hurt.
The RIAA's legal crusade against its customers is a classic example of an old media company clinging to a business model that has collapsed. Four years of a failed strategy has only "created a whole market of people who specifically look to buy independent goods so as not to deal with the big record companies," Beckerman says. "Every problem they're trying to solve is worse now than when they started."
And they are too stupid to see that.
Hey big record companies, keep treating your good customers like this and soon you won't matter.
Read the rest.
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