EMI May Cut Funding To RIAA, IFPI 158
Teen Bainwolf notes a report that Big Four record label EMI, which is under new ownership, is considering a big cut in its funding for the IFPI and RIAA. Each of the labels reportedly contributed over $132 million per year to fund industry trade groups, and EMI apparently believes that money could be better spent elsewhere. "One of the chief activities of the RIAA is coordinating the Big Four labels' legal campaign, and those thousands of lawsuits have done nothing but generate ill will from record fans, while costing the labels millions of dollars and doing little (if anything) to actually reduce the amount of file-sharing going on."
Don't start patting ourselves on the back yet. (Score:3, Interesting)
Never underestimate the tenacity of unemployed lawyers.
Re:Tag this (Score:5, Interesting)
RIAA's power will decrease after this.
How about radio play, talk shows? I think it will be business as usual - if the other big music corporations will ignore this. If they will lobby the radio stations, it might be possible that EMI loses some air time.
Re:one down, three to go! (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:"reportedly considering" (Score:5, Interesting)
"Considering" cutting RIAA funding is nothing more than a slick PR move. Until they actually reduce their contributions, they're just as guilty as any of the other big players in the music biz.
Re:Tag this (Score:3, Interesting)
Try to think of one person you know that isn't aware of the RIAA's lawsuit campaign. Then ask them, and you'll probably be surprised.
Re:one down, three to go! (Score:2, Interesting)
Maybe if these substances were free of their black market status they'd lose their allure.
I know there were a few lawsuits but this? (Score:5, Interesting)
including the close to 30,000 file-sharing lawsuits filed by the record labels in the US alone.
I mean, this is way worse than what I thought it was. I thought it was a handful, you know the ones you hear about in the news. But 30,000 means a lot and a whole lot of work for the legal system (this means that 1 in every 500 lawsuits in the US or 0,2% comes directly from the RIAA). This could be used for other cases we are already overloaded with like drugs, robberies, fraud (identity theft for example), money laundering and other crimes that affect more people than a few copied cd's.
Re:Tag this (Score:3, Interesting)
It has had an effect (Score:2, Interesting)
The new stuff the RIAA is worried about still gets pirated like mad. The older stuff just is not shared any more.
Re:Tag this (Score:4, Interesting)
Advertising isn't altruistic. Giving out free samples isn't altruistic. These dumbasses need to realise that they are RECORD companies and start selling RECORDS again - physical media with full fidelity music on them. Give away the MP3s.
Of course, this will be the death knell of losers who put out a CD's worth of crap that has one decent single they play on the radio. But with some bands it's the opposite. By the time Aerosmith came out, I'd given up buying an album on the strength of a song on the radio, and I REALLY was unimpressed with the minor key whiney Aerosmith song they played on the radio, Dream On. It turned out that that was the only sucky song on the album! But if you had liked that song, you likely wouldn't have liked the rest of the album. I bought it after I heard the LP at a friend's house.
It it was today, and the songs were posted in the internet, I'd have bought it right away.
I always liked Santanna, and when Supernatural came out they weren't playing any of it on the radio here. So I went to CD NOW and listened to the 30 second clips of its songs, and was incredibly unimpressed. "When did they start sucking?" I asked.
Well, my daughter didn't know this but knew I liked Santanna, and bought tha CD for me for Christmas. It was a great CD! Had she not bought it, they would have lost a sale. But had she not bought it and they had posted full MP3s on the internet, I would have bought it.
Advertisers will tell you "sell the sizzle, not the steak". If brains were dynamite, record company execs wouldn't have enough to blow their noses. If they had any brains they would post MP3s and make sure everyone believed in MP3's inferiority to CDs.
That said, the RIAA labels have pissed me off to the point where I only buy indie; the last dozen CDs I've bought have been from bar bands.
-mcgrew [kuro5hin.org]
Agree:Talk is cheap, EMI! (Score:3, Interesting)
REQUEST: Left tire on landing gear almost needs replacement.
ACTION TAKEN: Left tire on landing gear almost replaced.
Wake me up when EMI actually does something.