The (Potential) Customer is Always Wrong.
I apologize, this is going to be a long one... though compared to some of my other stuff, I guess it isn't...
I just finished doing about 90 minutes of reading on the RIAA (Record Industry Association of America) and it's subpoenas/impending lawsuits on its target market, as well as other tidbits of information available on this wonderful thing we call the "Internet." And it seems to me the RIAA has given up, and is going to call it quits.
Currently, it seems as though the plan is to sue its customers into oblivion (chomping off the hand that feeds it, if you will) and stop producing music (because no one is going to have the money to buy it -- or want to give money to a group of people that just kept their kids from going to college and their parents from being able to retire). They are suing people who have used P2P (Peer to Peer) Networks to download various songs (both foreign and domestic). While I don't necessarily advocate downloading music to listen to for free/forever. I strongly disagree with suing (potential) customers.
I, myself, am not a customer, though I very well might have been one day.. had the RIAA decided a) to charge a fair price for it's goods, and b) not started this hub-bub of lawsuits. I also feel that for the cost, sampling techniques should be more available prior to purchase. I don't particularly like the idea of blindly buying something produced by someone who, chances are, made (if I'm lucky) two good songs out of fifteen on a recording. The cost-value ratio is severely lacking, especially if I don't know what I'm going to get. Shot in the dark, Buyer beware, and all that crap.
I can't figure the cost calculations that go into making a CD either. Is the only reason a CD costs upwards of $20 because of the retailer marking up the cost, because the RIAA wants to maintain it's outrageous-highway-robbery profit margins, or is it because it actually costs that much to make a CD? I would very much like to know -- hell, it might've even made me into a customer, before the subpoenas were filed. Further, I'd like to see a pie chart of where the money goes when a CD is purchased. How much goes to the RIAA's record labels, and how much goes to the artist that I potentially could enjoy listening to, if the industry weren't trying to steal my savings.
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In any case, now that they've begun suing people. I don't foresee myself buying any CDs any time soon.. and I'm sure I'm not the only person that feels this way. If I don't pay you for your over-priced product, you will come after me with a subpoena?
When the Hulk came out, a friend of mine joked to me about when he and a friend used to watch the cartoon. How the same thing always happened, "Don't make me angry, you wouldn't like it when I'm angry." -- Over and over, "Don't make me angry, you wouldn't like it when I'm angry." Every episode. Then he said, he and his friend came to the conclusion, "Hey buddy, maybe it's you!"
So, I say, the problem isn't the "pirates," though, in a few instances it is, the real problem is the RIAA itself. Gorging itself in profits, taking a disastrously wrong view of its market...and it has already all blown up in its face. Now, obviously, it is time to blame someone.
Who? Who will be to blame? Anybody and everyone who has done any sort of "copyright violation." Why? Because the RIAA didn't do what it should have when MP3 became a household name, when WinAMP became so readily available, before Napster snapped into it's market. They ignored the problem, it remained unaddressed, slowly creeping into their sales. Then Napster hit, and it was downhill.
Once Napster went online, and shortly before the courts shut it down. The RIAA should've launched an educational campaign, letting people know about the costs to the market, who it affects, and what it ultimately could mean for the industry. And along with that, cut their costs to make it more affordable to music fans. -- They didn't. The RIAA claims a 25% loss of its sales, and I don't think they have anyone to blame but themselves.
The lawsuits filed are going after "substantial" copyright violators in the US. Substantial is a subjective term, and as yet undefined by the industry. Interesting fact: 60 million Americans have downloaded mp3s; Please note: that's a lot. Countless foreigners have done the same, and the greatest acts of piracy, the most costly, are committed abroad. The RIAA is striking at home first, mostly because they can't take their aggression out on foreigners due to less stringent copyright laws. Lucky us!
------------------------
The MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) has started a campaign to make (American) copyright violators aware of what is going on. How much money they are costing the industry, how many people it affects, how, and what the result could be for the industry. Education, a first step.. Way to go MPAA! If I were the RIAA this is the first route I would've gone (as stated above), instead of starting to sue people, or the ISPs that give them service.
Though, I have problems with the MPAA too. I am an avid fan of the movie industry, I love going to movies with friends. Sometimes seeing the same movie 2-3 times with different friends. It's a good time. -- My issue is the decreasing quality of these movies. And the increasing ticket cost. Though, like all of my rants, this leads into another one. So we'll call it a blog, here and now.
I just finished doing about 90 minutes of reading on the RIAA (Record Industry Association of America) and it's subpoenas/impending lawsuits on its target market, as well as other tidbits of information available on this wonderful thing we call the "Internet." And it seems to me the RIAA has given up, and is going to call it quits.
Currently, it seems as though the plan is to sue its customers into oblivion (chomping off the hand that feeds it, if you will) and stop producing music (because no one is going to have the money to buy it -- or want to give money to a group of people that just kept their kids from going to college and their parents from being able to retire). They are suing people who have used P2P (Peer to Peer) Networks to download various songs (both foreign and domestic). While I don't necessarily advocate downloading music to listen to for free/forever. I strongly disagree with suing (potential) customers.
I, myself, am not a customer, though I very well might have been one day.. had the RIAA decided a) to charge a fair price for it's goods, and b) not started this hub-bub of lawsuits. I also feel that for the cost, sampling techniques should be more available prior to purchase. I don't particularly like the idea of blindly buying something produced by someone who, chances are, made (if I'm lucky) two good songs out of fifteen on a recording. The cost-value ratio is severely lacking, especially if I don't know what I'm going to get. Shot in the dark, Buyer beware, and all that crap.
I can't figure the cost calculations that go into making a CD either. Is the only reason a CD costs upwards of $20 because of the retailer marking up the cost, because the RIAA wants to maintain it's outrageous-highway-robbery profit margins, or is it because it actually costs that much to make a CD? I would very much like to know -- hell, it might've even made me into a customer, before the subpoenas were filed. Further, I'd like to see a pie chart of where the money goes when a CD is purchased. How much goes to the RIAA's record labels, and how much goes to the artist that I potentially could enjoy listening to, if the industry weren't trying to steal my savings.
--------------
In any case, now that they've begun suing people. I don't foresee myself buying any CDs any time soon.. and I'm sure I'm not the only person that feels this way. If I don't pay you for your over-priced product, you will come after me with a subpoena?
When the Hulk came out, a friend of mine joked to me about when he and a friend used to watch the cartoon. How the same thing always happened, "Don't make me angry, you wouldn't like it when I'm angry." -- Over and over, "Don't make me angry, you wouldn't like it when I'm angry." Every episode. Then he said, he and his friend came to the conclusion, "Hey buddy, maybe it's you!"
So, I say, the problem isn't the "pirates," though, in a few instances it is, the real problem is the RIAA itself. Gorging itself in profits, taking a disastrously wrong view of its market...and it has already all blown up in its face. Now, obviously, it is time to blame someone.
Who? Who will be to blame? Anybody and everyone who has done any sort of "copyright violation." Why? Because the RIAA didn't do what it should have when MP3 became a household name, when WinAMP became so readily available, before Napster snapped into it's market. They ignored the problem, it remained unaddressed, slowly creeping into their sales. Then Napster hit, and it was downhill.
Once Napster went online, and shortly before the courts shut it down. The RIAA should've launched an educational campaign, letting people know about the costs to the market, who it affects, and what it ultimately could mean for the industry. And along with that, cut their costs to make it more affordable to music fans. -- They didn't. The RIAA claims a 25% loss of its sales, and I don't think they have anyone to blame but themselves.
The lawsuits filed are going after "substantial" copyright violators in the US. Substantial is a subjective term, and as yet undefined by the industry. Interesting fact: 60 million Americans have downloaded mp3s; Please note: that's a lot. Countless foreigners have done the same, and the greatest acts of piracy, the most costly, are committed abroad. The RIAA is striking at home first, mostly because they can't take their aggression out on foreigners due to less stringent copyright laws. Lucky us!
------------------------
The MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) has started a campaign to make (American) copyright violators aware of what is going on. How much money they are costing the industry, how many people it affects, how, and what the result could be for the industry. Education, a first step.. Way to go MPAA! If I were the RIAA this is the first route I would've gone (as stated above), instead of starting to sue people, or the ISPs that give them service.
Though, I have problems with the MPAA too. I am an avid fan of the movie industry, I love going to movies with friends. Sometimes seeing the same movie 2-3 times with different friends. It's a good time. -- My issue is the decreasing quality of these movies. And the increasing ticket cost. Though, like all of my rants, this leads into another one. So we'll call it a blog, here and now.
posted by The @ 9:05 AM
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