Anyone else feel like the RIAA/MPAA are full of it?

[Evadman]

In other news, water is wet, and bears sh!t in the woods.

 

[frostedflakes]

Originally posted by: Ronstang

Originally posted by: frostedflakes
I'd be interested to see an unbiased (i.e. not done or funded by the music and movie industries) study on the effects of piracy. Those numbers seem high, although if you include losses for distributors and retailers, I wouldn't be surprised if the losses are pretty significant.

And the ironic thing is that, the RIAA tries to earn sympathy by pleading for fans to "stop hurting the artists," but this affects record labels and retailers much more than artists. IIRC retailers and the record labels account for like 3/4 or more of the cost of a CD. Artists get such a small chunk. It pisses me off that more don't embrace digital distribution and just sell music directly to the fans with no middle men to profit off their hard work. If I was a musician, I'd never sell my music off to some fatcat record label exec, that's just stupid. But I guess for a lot of "artists," it's about cocaine and whores, not the music..

/rant

And then it would be likely no one would know who you were or care enough to download your music and pay you. Unfortunately for most artists the record labels are a necessary evil. It is only the well established bands whose contracts with the labels have expired that can truly benefit from controlling their own digital distribution.

The biggest problem with the record labels is they are stuck in the old business model of how things are done and have not adapted to the digital age. It is funny how they loved the CD when it came out because it was cheaper to manufacture and distribute and allowed them to charge almost double for "perceived" value. Kind of ironic that when the CD burner hit the scene they got bit right in their fat asses. Karma is a bitch.

Don't forget that most of the artists who get signed to a label don't hit it big either. But I'll agree that it definitely increases your chances.

 

[Brainonska511]

Originally posted by: CorCentral

Originally posted by: jdoggg12

Originally posted by: CorCentral
You mean ....... "IS FULL OF IT"?


WTF are Full of it?

Well, MPAA and RIAA are two entities. The plural of "is" is "are". Do you need me to draw a diagram too?

You're right, but I hate hearing it like what's below.......

For Example.....
Microsoft are a bad company.
Apple are a bad company.



But what you wrote is wrong. Microsoft is a singular word, so it should be Microsoft is a bad company.

Additionally, CorCentral's use of "are" only applies when the MPAA and the RIAA are being acted on by the same predicate (in this case 'are full of shit'). If they were in separate sentences, you'd have to use "is."

 

[CorCentral]

Originally posted by: Brainonska511

Originally posted by: CorCentral

Originally posted by: jdoggg12

Originally posted by: CorCentral
You mean ....... "IS FULL OF IT"?


WTF are Full of it?

Well, MPAA and RIAA are two entities. The plural of "is" is "are". Do you need me to draw a diagram too?

You're right, but I hate hearing it like what's below.......

For Example.....
Microsoft are a bad company.
Apple are a bad company.


But what you wrote is wrong. Microsoft is a singular word, so it should be Microsoft is a bad company.

Additionally, CorCentral's use of "are" only applies when the MPAA and the RIAA are being acted on by the same predicate (in this case 'are full of shit'). If they were in separate sentences, you'd have to use "is."

That's what I were trying to point out. I guess my thoughts eluded I.

 

[BoomerD]

Originally posted by: adairusmc
I am not a thief, I buy my movies and music.

u-rah!
Stealing is stealing, no matter what excuse you come up with...

 

[Brainonska511]

Originally posted by: BoomerD

Originally posted by: adairusmc
I am not a thief, I buy my movies and music.

u-rah!
Stealing is stealing, no matter what excuse you come up with...

Copyright infringement != stealing.

For the record, I buy my music, movies, and video games.

Stealing is more like, I take something from you and you no longer have that object. Downloading CDs is like: I copy your car so now there are 2 cars. You still have your own car and now I have a car. Also, one is a civil matter (and should remain that way) while one is a criminal manner that the State can prosecute you for.

 

[TallBill]

There is no music that I want to buy. I use netflix for movies.

 

[IEC]

Originally posted by: BoomerD

Originally posted by: adairusmc
I am not a thief, I buy my movies and music.

u-rah!
Stealing is stealing, no matter what excuse you come up with...

That's off-topic. No one cares about anyone here pirating or not.

The question is: are the RIAA & MPAA "full of it"?

My answer is yes, yes they are. Grossly overstating losses, invading privacy, bribing politicians, racketeering, passing the DMCA, suing children/dead people/everyone in-between are just a few of the crimes against Americans these organizations are guilty of.

I personally buy albums from artists directly if possible, whether at a concert or through the web. The RIAA's days are numbered.

 

[Eos]

I think they lie the same as major ISPs lie about 5% of users DESTROYING the internet experience for everyone else. It just doesn't compute.

Fuck em. I buy used CDs.

 

[BoomerD]

Originally posted by: Spartan Niner

Originally posted by: BoomerD

Originally posted by: adairusmc
I am not a thief, I buy my movies and music.

u-rah!
Stealing is stealing, no matter what excuse you come up with...

That's off-topic. No one cares about anyone here pirating or not.

The question is: are the RIAA & MPAA "full of it"?

My answer is yes, yes they are. Grossly overstating losses, invading privacy, bribing politicians, racketeering, passing the DMCA, suing children/dead people/everyone in-between are just a few of the crimes against Americans these organizations are guilty of.

I personally buy albums from artists directly if possible, whether at a concert or through the web. The RIAA's days are numbered.

But it IS the core of the topic. The RIAA and MPAA wouldn't have anything to bitch about if people weren't stealing. Copoyright infringement IS stealing, just as patent infringement is stealing...

 

[AlienCraft]

Where's that dead horse smiley?
When will you get that they are TRADE ASSOCIATIONs aka LOBBYISTS and as such are prone to hyperbole and propaganda in their "communications"?
Especially when it comes to "losses".

 

[Eeezee]

The RIAA apparently doesn't employ anyone who has ever taken an economics class.

 

[Eeezee]

Originally posted by: BoomerD

Originally posted by: Spartan Niner

Originally posted by: BoomerD

Originally posted by: adairusmc
I am not a thief, I buy my movies and music.

u-rah!
Stealing is stealing, no matter what excuse you come up with...

That's off-topic. No one cares about anyone here pirating or not.

The question is: are the RIAA & MPAA "full of it"?

My answer is yes, yes they are. Grossly overstating losses, invading privacy, bribing politicians, racketeering, passing the DMCA, suing children/dead people/everyone in-between are just a few of the crimes against Americans these organizations are guilty of.

I personally buy albums from artists directly if possible, whether at a concert or through the web. The RIAA's days are numbered.

But it IS the core of the topic. The RIAA and MPAA wouldn't have anything to bitch about if people weren't stealing. Copoyright infringement IS stealing, just as patent infringement is stealing...

No, it is not the core of the topic. The core of the topic is whether or not their figures are even remotely accurate. Bitching about pirating in this thread is no different than trolling

 

[DeRusto]

I think I can safely say that 100% of the music purchases I have made in.. oh.. the last 5 years or so were specifically because I could get the music for free off the internet in the first place. Hell, a lot of it I wouldn't have known existed otherwise. I even bought Radiohead's In Rainbows album because it was free. I ended up getting the vinyl boxset!

As for movies. I usually see movies I am looking forward to in the theater. Otherwise, wait for netflix!

 

[lykaon78]

For the record, I just listen to the radio and use Blockbuster for my movies. I'm just not a music fan and watching a movie on a computer is stupid when I have a nice flat screen in my basement.

With that being said I think it is naive to think that the music industry hasn't suffered from the abundance of pirated music. I don't know the real number but there are certainly plenty of people that don't pay for music now that may have in the past.

The real problem for the industry that they don't like to admit is 15 years ago when a song was popular people paid $12.99 for a CD and got 11 songs they didn't care about. Now they pay only .99 for the 1 song you want. Thats a 93% drop in revenue and so the RIAA has ramped up the piracy drum beat to give record exec an "excuse" for why their profits are down.

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: lykaon78

The real problem for the industry that they don't like to admit is 15 years ago when a song was popular people paid $12.99 for a CD and got 11 songs they didn't care about. Now they pay only .99 for the 1 song you want. Thats a 93% drop in revenue and so the RIAA has ramped up the piracy drum beat to give record exec an "excuse" for why their profits are down.

this is the main reason profits are down. alont with consumers that wised up and realized that most music is total shit and not worth stealing let alone worth paying for.

im also curious as to the numbers from before during and after napster was huge, because during the height of napsters popularity we had more pop bands selling millions of albums then we ever did, BSB, Nsync, britney Christina........

 

[SirStev0]

Believe me, I very much doubt that people still buy most of their malarkey .

 

[Gunslinger08]

Originally posted by: Baked
They don't know who the fuck the pirate distributors are, so they go after the p2p kiddies. How typical. War on drugs? Yup, arrest the 12 year old runners and 16 year old dealers, but don't wanna go after the king pins.

They're all breaking the law. Should we only arrest major offenders for every crime? These mafia guys whacked 20 people, but they aren't the ring leaders, so let them go.

 

[frostedflakes]

Originally posted by: lykaon78
For the record, I just listen to the radio and use Blockbuster for my movies. I'm just not a music fan and watching a movie on a computer is stupid when I have a nice flat screen in my basement.

With that being said I think it is naive to think that the music industry hasn't suffered from the abundance of pirated music. I don't know the real number but there are certainly plenty of people that don't pay for music now that may have in the past.

The real problem for the industry that they don't like to admit is 15 years ago when a song was popular people paid $12.99 for a CD and got 11 songs they didn't care about. Now they pay only .99 for the 1 song you want. Thats a 93% drop in revenue and so the RIAA has ramped up the piracy drum beat to give record exec an "excuse" for why their profits are down.

This is exactly why I suspect album sales are down. RIAA's method of counting 10 digital track sales as an album sale is seriously flawed. If they counted one or two digital tracks downloads as an album sale, album sales would be up, not down. But if that was the case, they couldn't claim pirates are killing the industry.

And then you have to consider that the RIAA has seen success in other markets, for example, ringtones and mobile music and music videos -- this market is growing rapidly. It basically exemplifies what people have been saying about getting with the times. In this digital age, some markets (namely physical album and single sales) are going to die out, but they will be replaced by new, lucrative markets. That's just the way things work, no point in trying to fight it. Rather, they should be embracing these digital markets instead of clinging to a piece of technology that's a quarter of a century old.

 

[Darwin333]

For the first time ever I am actually purchasing music from Amazon. I will ONLY purchase DRM free music and only if I can purchase just the specific songs I want at a reasonable price (buck a song works for me).

If they would have embraced the new technology years ago instead of fighting it I would bet piracy would be much less of an issue now.

 

[HannibalX]

Originally posted by: GodlessAstronomer
I'm not a fan of the "If I didn't download it, I wouldn't have bought it" excuse. Why do you feel entitled to listen to music or watch movies without paying for them? Do you have some sort of innate right to this media?

Fine, if it's not good enough for you to buy, don't buy it. But in my opinion you don't have the right to download something just because it's substandard. Either pay for it or go without.

This.

 

[jdoggg12]

Originally posted by: Pale Rider

Originally posted by: GodlessAstronomer
I'm not a fan of the "If I didn't download it, I wouldn't have bought it" excuse. Why do you feel entitled to listen to music or watch movies without paying for them? Do you have some sort of innate right to this media?

Fine, if it's not good enough for you to buy, don't buy it. But in my opinion you don't have the right to download something just because it's substandard. Either pay for it or go without.

This.

I'm still waiting for an answer as to whether people with this viewpoint think Pandora is "stealing" music. It's perfect for me b/ c I can listen to *almost* exactly what I want w/o really stealing anything.

 

[theMan]

anyone else used ruckus before? i use it legally, and then.... just remove some of the annoyances. hehehe

 

[Vehemence]

I'm a pirate. What they gonna do, sue me?! HAHAHA!

OH SHI-

 

[DrPizza]

I don't download & I don't purchase music. Radio works just fine. NPR wtw, plus there are plenty of music stations online for while I'm at work.