I know I should care more about the issue of downloading music off torrent and other websites, but I'm kind of beyond it at this point. And yes, I know there are arguments to be made on both sides of the issue. But it's one of those things where I've heard the debate so much that it's practically background noise to me. It takes a lot to get my attention and to make me care.
And then lo and behold, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) manages to magically find a way to make me go "are you fucking kidding me?"
Such as when a court fines a single mother of four $1.92 million for illegal file sharing of 24 songs. That works out to about $80,000 per song. I can't imagine paying 80 cents for a Richard Marx song, but this woman is going to pay $80,000.
It's insane. The RIAA wants to send a "firm message to downloaders." Given some of the reaction to the story - and granted, Rolling Stone has a pretty immature message board - I don't think so, kids. If anything, this managed to accomplish the rare feat of making people hate record labels more. Impressive, really.
God, it's just vile, it really is.
I went looking for something to wash the bad taste out of my mouth after reading this story. And I found one. Just in case you need one more reason to love Pixar, here you go. They sent someone with a copy of a DVD of Up to house of a girl dying of cancer. She had been holding on just to see that movie, but when she became too sick to see it in the the theatres, they sent someone with the DVD, toys, posters and talked to her about the movie. Then they showed it to her. She died a few hours after seeing it. If that doesn't tug on your heartstrings just a little bit, well...
See, that's how a company can be nice to people, as opposed to being complete assholes and suing single moms for millions.
Last Five
1. Full of grace - Sarah McLachlan
2. Working on a dream - Bruce Springsteen
3. Future reflections - MGMT
4. Everything had changed - Barenaked Ladies
5. Come on Eileen - Dexy's Midnight Runners*
2 comments:
I'm surprised the RIAA is trying this bullshit on again. Viv just did a paper on itunes and one of the subjects covered in it was the backlash against RIAA & the companies...everyone just *hated* them for what they were pulling.
I do all my downloading from itunes, I like it. But the whole industry argument is a but retarded, I don't believe for a moment they're losing out on the scale they say they are. When everything was on tape (cassette, VHS) we all recorded stuff we weren't supposed to in addition to legally buying music/moves. That didn't destroy the industry back then and it won't now. Well, when they pull stuff like this shit, I just want to buy only indie music.
Let's hope the woman appeals and gets a judge that doesn't have his head up his ass. These rulings have been ammended for amount of $ before.
Hiya TB. Just wanted to let you know that your blog is this weeks selection for 'Blog of the Week' on the Newfoundland and Labrador BlogRoll. Hope it helps get you some more traffic!
Have a great day!
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