The sue 'em all Jihad launched by Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal and Sony BMG, and maintained by their RIAA, CRIA, ARIA and similar 'trade' units around the world, has seriously tainted corporate music 'product' in the eyes of music lovers everywhere.
The RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) used to announce almost monthly attacks on the Big Four's American customers, whom they call 'thieves' and 'criminals'.
The attacks were usually grouped around 750 innocent men, women and children at a time. Eventually, some 20,000 Americans were terrorized in this way. But it's been months ago since the last onslaught, although the RAA continues to single out individuals, more often than not mothers such as Rae Schwartz, and to insinuate themselves into teaching institutions, and even the scouting movement, with phony 'educational' programs, .
Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal and Sony BMG insist that shared files equal lost sales. But they've never been able to prove that and instead, are forced to use spurious statistics to maintain the illusion.
Meanwhile, the bizarre sue 'em all marketing campaign isn't working and every day, more and more people are turning away in disgust, continuing to use the p2p networks and independent music sites for their music downloads. And ironically, the existence of the sites is continually publicized and emphasized by the very lawsuits meant to destroy them.
Buy Big Four product or we'll sue you
Something must be done, say the Big Four, who now appear to be trying on Mr Nice Guy combined with the iron hand in a velvet glove for size.
There are all kinds of corporate music industry sites created to carry the message, Buy Big Four product or we'll sue you, but they're easily recognizable for what they are, fooling only the most naive of surfers.
Because of the impact that downloading has had on the music industry, the trade group that represents the biggest record companies, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), (very different from The Recording Academy which represents the music creator) has begun to bring lawsuits against people who illegally download and swap music files on the Internet. that downloading and swapping music illegally is just like stealing a CD from a store, and they want to encourage music lovers to aquire and enjoy their music without breaking the copyright laws.
Copyright infringement is not theft, or anywhere near it, and the courts do not, of course, agree, that "swapping music illegally is just like stealing a CD from a store". But it makes good copy and is integral to the Big Four's sue 'em all campaign.
And there's also the 'We're reasonable folks' angle fronted, in this instance, by the Recording Academy with its 69-page What's the Download Music Survival Guide which includes 7 Music Survival Tips, as ABC which, by a coincidence, features heavily in the 'guide,' emphasises.
"The list takes a decidedly softer stance on downloading than the RIAA does, aiming to educate consumers about legal downloading and give tips to retail outlets about how they can reverse the tide of plummeting profits," says ABC.
Basically, for the first time since 2003, when the Big Four introduced their sue 'em all campaign, it aims to at least partially address music lovers as the responsible people they are, rather than as potential criminals who get up each morning bent on screwing the labels out of their profits and who must, therefore, be bludgeoned into consuming properly.
Music Retail Therapy
According to the RA survival guide, retailers should:
1. Educate to Eradicate Piracy (If people know they are stealing money from musicians and laying off record industry employees by downloading illegally, they will think twice.) 2. Make Music Retail Therapy (Retail outlets can foster a better album-buying experience through live interaction with other like-minded music lovers.) 3. Declare a Music/Tech Truce (The music industry can do more to make legal downloading just as easy and accessible as piracy.) 4. Commit to Artist Development (Record labels should be more dedicated to developing artists' careers instead of tossing them aside when their hit singles no longer receive radio play.) 5. Embrace New Music Avenues (Labels and artists should spend more time interacting with fans online to ensure continued support.) 6. Offer What Piracy Doesn't (They don't seem to have this one figured out yet.) 7. Make Music a Priority (Again, there didn't seem to be a clear message here. A quote from the group's Web site: "There are tremendous challenges facing traditional music businesses, but for artists this is an incredibly exciting time.")
It also states:
While viewpoints vary, one thing is certain: the effects of illegally downloaded music on the music industry are considerable.
Impact on the Industry
One of the most tragic of these effects is the loss of jobs all across the board within the industry. According to the Third Annual BSA/IDC Piracy Study (May 2006), decreasing piracy by 10 percent over four years would add more than 2.4 million new jobs and almost $70 billion in tax revenues to local governments worldwide.
Of a similar 2005 BSA/IDC piracy study, "It sounds too bad to be true; but, then, it might not be true," said Britain's prestigious The Economist.
This 'study' claimed losses down to piracy had risen from $29 billion to $33 billion. But, "while the losses due to software copyright violations are large and serious, the crime is certainly not as costly as the BSA portrays," The Economist stated, going on:
The association's figures rely on sample data that may not be representative, assumptions about the average amount of software on PCs and, for some countries, guesses rather than hard data. Moreover, the figures are presented in an exaggerated way by the BSA and International Data Corporation (IDC), a research firm that conducts the study. They dubiously presume that each piece of software pirated equals a direct loss of revenue to software firms.
To derive its piracy rate, IDC estimates the average amount of software that is installed on a PC per country, using data from surveys, interviews and other studies. That figure is then reduced by the known quantity of software sold per country-a calculation in which IDC specialises. The result: a (supposed) amount of piracy per country. Multiplying that figure by the revenue from legitimate sales thus yields the retail value of the unpaid-for software. This, IDC and BSA claim, equals the amount of lost revenue.
Do the same conclusions apply to the 2006 study?
'Quite a racket, and completely legal'
"For high-volume artists, online piracy can be the cause of thousands and even millions of lost sales," says the RA guide. "For smaller artists on independent labels, it can cut into an already small royalty check, making it difficult to make ends meet."
It doesn't mention the scandal involving former RIAA collection agency SoundExchange.
"The Internet is an endless smorgasbord," said Nashville entertainment lawyer Fred Wilhelms in a p2pnet post, going on:
"And the RIAA ignored the party until it was too late. And because the smorgasbord was already up and running, they graciously 'volunteered,' through SoundExchange, to be the guys sitting at the front door, selling tickets. They also sit at the back door, selling tickets in the form of license fees to the people bringing the musical food in.
"Quite a racket, and completely legal."
But somehow, SoundExcange lost 9,000 artists to whom it owed money.
The disclosure came, "at an inconvenient time for SoundExchange, which is arguing before the Library of Congress that it should remain the exclusive distributor of digital performance royalties that amount to millions of dollars a year," observed The Los Angeles Times.
Meanwhile, "Two big labels are starting on the right path of confronting piracy by partnering with an ad-supported online music company called Spiral Frog in a bid to regain market share from illegal download networks that are still popular," says the 'treatise', continuing:
In September, UMG, the largest of the four major labels, announced that it would offer free music downloads from an extensive catalogue. EMI is another label that will make its music catalogue—the largest in the world with more than 1 million copyrights—available once Spiral Frog launches in December. The new service is great in that it is free, and tracks can be played on any digital music player. The downside is that tracks will not play on the iPod, and every song, regardless of length or file size, takes 90 seconds to download, maximizing exposure to the ads on the site. Despite iTunes’ top spot as far as legal options, piracy on the Web still far outweighs that of digital music sales. Regardless of the “cons,” the gesture being made to “make nice” is a start.
“It is a very exciting concept which fuses advertising with music downloads and other services to recapture consumer demand, which has been hijacked by online piracy,” says Roger Faxon, co-chief executive of EMI Music Publishing.
If there is enough buzz ahead of the launch and more labels sign on, perhaps music fans will dump LimeWire and eDonkey in favor of legal services that will give them what they want for free. All this comes on the heels of another deal insiders are waiting for from Kazaa, a popular music-sharing network, which also plans to announce an ad-supported music downloading service.
Stay tuned.
Also See: Rae Schwartz - RIAA sues wheelchair mother, November 1, 2006 even the scouting movement - New MPAA copyright enforcers, October 28, 2006 spurious statistics - Tainted cartel 'pirate' stats, October 24, 2006 ABC - Music Academy Unveils Treatise to Downoaders, November 1, 2006 The Economist - Dodgy software piracy data, May 19, 2005 endless smorgasbord - Big Music Owes You Money !!!, September 29, 2006 The Los Angeles Times - Music Royalty Checks Languish for Unreachable Stars, September 29, 2006 Spiral Frog - SpiralFrog 'free' downloads, August 30, 2006
