Rolling Stone Fails History Exam by George Ziemann -- June 26, 2007 On June 19, Rolling Stone gave a brief historical review on how the music industry went to hell. As the group at Boycott-RIAA pointed out, it is a little one sided and fails to actually produce anyone wise enough to recognize the real reason for the industry's vortex o' death, despite the many clues provided. For instance: "'The record business is over,' says music attorney Peter Paterno, who represents Metallica and Dr. Dre." Rolling Stone fails to point out that Metallica and Dr. Dre were the first "artists" that turned on their fans and began to treat them like criminals. Here's another really interesting quote: "The RIAA maintains that the lawsuits are meant to spread the word that unauthorized downloading can have consequences." Though not a direct quote, it seems as these remarks are attributed to Mitch Bainwol, head comedian at the RIAA, who followed up with the one-liner, "It isn't being done on a punitive basis." "...unauthorized downloading can have consequences..." This has yet to be proven, by the way, despite 20,000 lawsuits. And it's the exact opposite of what the RIAA told people in 2000. Emphasis added. "We never target the individuals downloading the files, even though they may be causing the reproduction and distribution and violating the law. It doesn't mean we're not concerned about it. But we're focusing on people that are posting the material." -- Frank Creighton, senior vice president director of anti-piracy, RIAA (Source:Wired -- Feb. 2000) Of course, things have changed. Now they sue children and dead people. But it isn't being done on a punitive basis. It's just for sport. Bainwol continues to exude wisdom but maybe not until page 3. "A great American sector has been damaged enormously," says the RIAA's Bainwol, who blames piracy, "from songwriters to backup musicians to people who work at labels. The number of bands signed to labels has been compromised in a pretty severe fashion, roughly a third." So, "roughly a third" of the signed acts have been dumped or walked away and sales are down about 40 percent. One might call that "roughly a third." Hmmm... If only there were some sort of direct correlation between sales and some other significant factor... Yep, it's the pirates all right. No other possible explanation. The follow-up at Rolling Stone attempts to answer the question: What Next?