Music Terrorists: "We Don't Care" About Public By George Ziemann -- October 17, 2003 While this was no surprise to us, it was nice to see a little honesty for a change, as the music industry points out that a) they know they missed the boat; b) they'll do anything to get control again; and c) they really don't give a flying fork what their customers think. Forget "the customer is always right." Such an outdated concept. "Sue 'em all, and sue 'em often" has apparently become the new business model. The part of this which we find simultaneously frightening and amusing is the fact that these people (Recording Industry Association of America, aka RIAA) have escalated their terror tactics in hopes of prosecuting everyone that has helped their business be an industry. Terrorist Tactics Explained Before the average person can begin to understand what a record label does, you must realize -- and never forget -- that the sole purpose for the existence of the record labels is to connect the artists and the consumers. Without either of those two groups, the labels simply have no purpose. To maintain their barely legal monopoly of the market for recorded music, and total control of what material the public is "allowed" to hear, they have lobbied COngress heavily, tossing around cash like iceberg lettuce. As each and every true music fan knows, our musical heroes and legends who were not business-savvy enough to pack money away in a suitcase or a legitimate business are going to die as paupers. If they don't fit the mold of the "next big thing," they are tossed aside. I'm seeing a lot of historical gear and possessions being sold on eBay by starving artists trying to keep alive. So they've cut the artists so deeply that many are walking away from the labels and independents are staying away from label contracts in droves, which is why the independents outnumber the major label acts by more than 10 to 1. Of course, this ha been going on for decades, but now the Indies have the Internet and, truth be told, a lot of the drop in sales reported by the RIAA can be seen in a rise in sales of music on non-RIAA labels. Biting the Hand That Feeds Them A most illuminating report comes from the July 1 edition of musicbiz.com's "Fax Blast," which just found its way to me today. Looking at it a month later, however, we can see that MusicBiz was fed a line of bull, just like every other statement that has come from the music terrorists for years. Let's examine a few quotes and compare them with reality. "The R.I.A.A. has gone on record to promise thousands of lawsuits against those guilty of 'excessive' downloading... About half those involved favor 100 downloads as the benchmark (of 'excessive'), the other half dipping to 50." As it turns out, "excessive" downloading is five songs, which is the low end we've heard as justification for a subpoena. So this was an obvious lie, as is the next section: "Second, the person being singled out must live in a jurisdiction sympathetic with the prosecution of the suit. (Legal teams consulting the major labels and the R.I.A.A. have already identified the geographically desirable areas as well as the judges that would be sympathetic to the labels. The record industry couldn't afford an offender getting off with a warning or a slap on the wrist. The punishment must be punitive.) "Third, the people singled out must be in the middle or upper economic range. " From the list of subpoenas issued so far, it is obvious that the initial round of terror targets cannot possibly be screened in any such manner, for the simple fact that they are almost exclusively Kazaa users and since the subpoenas are the first step in obtaining the names of the victims, there is simply no way that they can target specific demographics. But wait, it gets even more illogical. "The record industry would love nothing better than to nab the son or daughter of a prominent member of Congress to press this case. It would garner huge headlines and give weight to a bigger threat: If the record industry would bring a suit against the family of a member of Congress, they would go after anyone." Reality check -- If the record company starts suing the children of the members of Congress, they will finally piss off the last group of people willing to be bought out by terrorist funds (i.e., campaign contributions from the RIAA, MPAA, ASCAP, et. al.). All it will take is one or two subpoenas to the families of a few key Senators before the lobbying funds simply are no longer enough to guarantee votes. But the best one is the response after the Los Angeles Times slammed the industry for their tactics, warning that lawsuits could turn the tide of public opinion. "Record executives who spoke with MusicBiz say they don't believe the public will turn against them and, if that happens, they don't care." Terror Tactics as a Marketing Approach Bad for Artists As someone who was previously foolish enough to believe that a recording contract was the pinnacle of success, I'm looking at this from the up-and-coming artist's point of view and all my business intuition says this is one of the stupidest things anyone has ever tried. When an artist seeks a record label to represent them, what are they looking for? Marketing, promotion, and publicity come to mind. Artists traditionally need labels to get them out in front of the public, on the radio and into the consumers' hearts and minds. With each move designed to strike terror into the heart of the common man (not to mention women, children, grandma and grandpa), the music industry has moved one step further away of having any real place in commerce. Their actions are misguided at best and extortion would be a polite way to phrase how they have attacked the consumers. This is not the kind of marketing team/ad agency I want working for me. And I'll bet a lot of artists would agree if their contracts did not prevent them from telling the truth.

The intellectual property on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons License.	AzOz Gear Join the Team Hats, Tees and More...	This site made with a Mac.