Legal Virals

[Kasreyn]

But when people have thousands of recordings on their hard drives and about 5 bought CD's, I find that excuse to be lame.

As do I, for different reasons. If the RIAA catches them, the idiots will be prosecuted with (some of) the same money they spent to buy the 5 CD's. =P

I mean, sheesh, if you're going to thieve from a company, don't waste money buying from them. We need more competent thieves in this country. ^_^

Personally, I've been boycotting the RIAA for years over their assumptions that they can get their pet senators to make any unconstitutional law they dream up. It's #$%&ing corporate welfare, is what it is: they seem to think they have a right to a certain profit margin without having to work for it like every other company. They think they're a sacred cow that deserves special protection. But I digress.

What I mean to say is, I don't think everyone should go out and start ripping off mp3's and infringing copyright protections. But, if such activities bring the RIAA down and wind up replacing it with a more democratic, more sensible, and more artist-friendly system, you won't hear me complaining about how the poor helpless RIAA took it in the chops. Serves the bastards right. =P

As for the artists: I think if the RIAA goes down (i.e., enough people boycott, which will never happen), they'll have a more powerful and personal way to contact fans and get their music to the people who are actually interested: the internet and mp3's. The "evil" technology of today will become the business model of the future. It will mean an artist's pay will depend on his productivity and creativity, not his hype, and it will cause some real motivation to produce valuable music - they'll actually WORRY about whether anyone will like their product, whereas today their contracts assure them some profit even if they suck. I think the future is still bright for musicians. I'm just hoping it's not bright for the RIAA.

-Kasreyn