2008 Woodie Awards
RIAA, not downloads, spoils music
Matthew Adair
Issue date: 3/26/07 Section: Opinions
What does the Bush administration and the U.S. recording industry have in common? Both seem bent on fighting a war with a losing strategy.
The Recording Industry Association of America's losing battle is, of course, the ongoing question of downloading music from file sharing programs such as Gnutella and Limewire. The latest episode in this fight hits fairly close to home - 20 Vanderbilt University students, as well as other Tennessee college students, were accused of illegally downloading material and charged hefty fines of several thousand dollars. The bill could have been even higher - one student, University of Tennessee sophomore Chelsea Conn, could have faced a fine of $1 million, if she hadn't settled out of court with the RIAA.
The RIAA's penalties cannot legitimately be thought of as a way to recoup the financial damage done by illegal downloading, especially since studies have shown that the 'damage' being done is negligible. In an analysis released in March 2004, two researchers at Harvard Business School and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill concluded that even with billions of music downloads occurring every week, the impact this has on the recording industry's profits cannot account for more than a minuscule fraction of losses suffered by the music industry.
In fact, the real criminal in all of this remains the business itself, which essentially commits grand theft against artists - especially new artists - every time a contract is signed. Labels will dig in to get a share of the money in clause, and musicians need to sacrifice goats and dance naked under the full moon at Stonehenge - or, at least, buy an incredible lawyer - to get the label to budge even a few percentage points. The result is that artists often see a tenth, if that much, of the income from record sales.
Who exactly is robbing whom, here?
I won't try to contest that downloading music off the Internet is illegal. As it stands right now, it is. Copyright law has not kept pace with technology, and most attempts to change the law have been driven by the recording industry, not the public. Thus, instead of getting rational legislation that protects artists while respecting the rights of consumers, we have instead been handed legal travesties such as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and the Copyright Term Extension Act, which drive dynamite into the foundations of the public domain, the concept of copyright and the ability to openly share information, ideas and innovations.
What is needed is real protection for artists and listeners, and not for ClearChannel and the big labels. We download music for personal use, to stick in our iPods and store in our computers. We don't profit from this music by selling it, and the only people we distribute it to is to our friends, free of charge and without expectation of earning any money. Services such as Limewire and Gnutella are as popular as they are because they provide an effortless way to share work from artists that we enjoy. These file sharing networks are often times an excellent guide to what people are listening to, and the music industry would be wise to pay attention.
The interests of the RIAA have been represented in Congress long enough, and it is time for us to be heard over their voices. We should press our legislators to clarify our copyright law to state that downloading music for personal use is not a crime, and is legally indistinguishable from copying a television program onto videotape or DVD for use at home, or - to use an even older example - taping music off of the radio to listen to in the car.
Furthermore, artists should have the right, if this is not already protected by law, to pull their entire body of work from a recording label and publish it elsewhere, even outside of the major circles of the industry, without damage or penalty. It is disgraceful to the art of music and entertainment that creators retain few of the rights to their own work, and that the ownership of some of the most profound music in recent history, as well as some of the worst garbage, is bought and sold like eggs, iron and oil.
The big businesses at the helm of the music industry have raked in their profits without question for long enough. If this country and its people believe so strongly in the power of the free market to promote the best work, then it is time that the hands playing with that market were more than those of the ultra-rich and phenomenally powerful. Let's change copyright to the way it ought to be, because good music shouldn't cost an arm, leg or lawsuit.
Matthew Adair is a senior art education major and can be reached at matt.adair@gmail.com.
The Recording Industry Association of America's losing battle is, of course, the ongoing question of downloading music from file sharing programs such as Gnutella and Limewire. The latest episode in this fight hits fairly close to home - 20 Vanderbilt University students, as well as other Tennessee college students, were accused of illegally downloading material and charged hefty fines of several thousand dollars. The bill could have been even higher - one student, University of Tennessee sophomore Chelsea Conn, could have faced a fine of $1 million, if she hadn't settled out of court with the RIAA.
The RIAA's penalties cannot legitimately be thought of as a way to recoup the financial damage done by illegal downloading, especially since studies have shown that the 'damage' being done is negligible. In an analysis released in March 2004, two researchers at Harvard Business School and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill concluded that even with billions of music downloads occurring every week, the impact this has on the recording industry's profits cannot account for more than a minuscule fraction of losses suffered by the music industry.
In fact, the real criminal in all of this remains the business itself, which essentially commits grand theft against artists - especially new artists - every time a contract is signed. Labels will dig in to get a share of the money in clause, and musicians need to sacrifice goats and dance naked under the full moon at Stonehenge - or, at least, buy an incredible lawyer - to get the label to budge even a few percentage points. The result is that artists often see a tenth, if that much, of the income from record sales.
Who exactly is robbing whom, here?
I won't try to contest that downloading music off the Internet is illegal. As it stands right now, it is. Copyright law has not kept pace with technology, and most attempts to change the law have been driven by the recording industry, not the public. Thus, instead of getting rational legislation that protects artists while respecting the rights of consumers, we have instead been handed legal travesties such as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and the Copyright Term Extension Act, which drive dynamite into the foundations of the public domain, the concept of copyright and the ability to openly share information, ideas and innovations.
What is needed is real protection for artists and listeners, and not for ClearChannel and the big labels. We download music for personal use, to stick in our iPods and store in our computers. We don't profit from this music by selling it, and the only people we distribute it to is to our friends, free of charge and without expectation of earning any money. Services such as Limewire and Gnutella are as popular as they are because they provide an effortless way to share work from artists that we enjoy. These file sharing networks are often times an excellent guide to what people are listening to, and the music industry would be wise to pay attention.
The interests of the RIAA have been represented in Congress long enough, and it is time for us to be heard over their voices. We should press our legislators to clarify our copyright law to state that downloading music for personal use is not a crime, and is legally indistinguishable from copying a television program onto videotape or DVD for use at home, or - to use an even older example - taping music off of the radio to listen to in the car.
Furthermore, artists should have the right, if this is not already protected by law, to pull their entire body of work from a recording label and publish it elsewhere, even outside of the major circles of the industry, without damage or penalty. It is disgraceful to the art of music and entertainment that creators retain few of the rights to their own work, and that the ownership of some of the most profound music in recent history, as well as some of the worst garbage, is bought and sold like eggs, iron and oil.
The big businesses at the helm of the music industry have raked in their profits without question for long enough. If this country and its people believe so strongly in the power of the free market to promote the best work, then it is time that the hands playing with that market were more than those of the ultra-rich and phenomenally powerful. Let's change copyright to the way it ought to be, because good music shouldn't cost an arm, leg or lawsuit.
Matthew Adair is a senior art education major and can be reached at matt.adair@gmail.com.
Viewing Comments 1 - 5 of 5
Bruce Beckley
posted 3/26/07 @ 1:05 AM CST
Im glad that someone else has joined the battle, care for a helmet?
Amanda
posted 3/27/07 @ 5:13 PM CST
"The result is that artists often see a tenth, if that much, of the income from record sales."
Not even. Your being way too generous. The big music labels routinely screw artists on royalty payments. (Continued…)
Tim
posted 3/27/07 @ 9:52 PM CST
The Artists themselves receive most of thier money while touring. The record labels know this and still insist that the artists make a sizeable sum on thier album sales. (Continued…)
T (Sweden)
posted 3/28/07 @ 8:43 AM CST
The four Golden Rules in music today:
1) Never ever sign a contract with a label. Especially not with one in the Big Four group (Warner, EMI, Vivendi, Sone-BGM or any of their many offsprings). (Continued…)
T-bone
posted 3/28/07 @ 1:22 PM CST
Good start Matt, But we've all heard this before,,,
This is all very basic info,,,,
Any issue that involves music and money has been a long hard road for all that take part. (Continued…)
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