MPAA and RIAA Debate

[Hikari-chan]

The MPAA and RIAA has been totally unfair to the customers by adding DRM which servely limits how much computers you can like totally play it on and copy restrictions to stop piracy, but punishing the consumers by DRM because it's like totally block the "fair use" clause of the copyright law. The RIAA want to make CD Ripping illegal which is like totally not right and push stronger DRM like on CDs (which like totally failed because it installs a rootkit on your machine like Sony CDs did.)

RIAA is pushing lawsuits for people who like totally use filesharing programs, many lawsuits have been added to innocent and grandparents who like totally don't even own a computer.

MPAA is pushing DRM, which will make copying the next generation Blu-ray discs and HD-DVD discs impossible, which will like totally ruin the point of fair use. ;-;

 

[Girafarig_Magcargo]

Damn those companies for wanting to protect their copyrights! How dare they try to make any money!

If you don't want to get in trouble with the law, then actually buy music. CD ripping should be okay if you keep it to yourself, but there's no legitimate reason to use a filesharing program to spread ripped music around.

 

[Mozz]

I haven't purchased music in years, buying about 5 CDs in my life (20020220 and Perfect Best 1, among others). I also have 6000 songs on my ipod.

These companies don't let you rip the CDs, music purchased in most music stores aren't usable in most music players, it's ludicrous, and not even worth buying, as you don't get any flexibility.

 

[Trip]

Damn those companies for wanting to protect their copyrights! How dare they try to make any money!

If you don't want to get in trouble with the law, then actually buy music. CD ripping should be okay if you keep it to yourself, but there's no legitimate reason to use a filesharing program to spread ripped music around.

Except that CD ripping isn't safe anymore either (in Windows computers, at least), since the Sony rootkit fiasco.

Quite honestly, I think the business model that they use is on its way out, and DRM is a fantastic example of this. I think we can agree on this point, once I explain it. In a free market, a person should buy something that is the best deal for them. Which would you rather buy, a CD loaded with DRM that doesn't let you rip it to your computer or MP3 player (or will only allow it in DRMed WMA, which is incompatible with the iPod), or download the album over the peer-to-peer solutions that is totally unencumbered with DRM?

When an illegal solution is more appealing than going legit, you have a problem. I, personally, am boycotting the RIAA and refuse to buy or pirate any of their music (though I will listen on the radio). I'm not opposed to people making money from their music, however I don't want to be treated like a criminal if I give my hard-earned money up for that music.

I think that the future of music is one where music is either free or cheap (see Magnatune) and is used mainly for promotion of live events and other tangible goods. If they aren't propped up by the government, I see the RIAA slowly declining as they are replaced by independent recording studios like Tiny Telephone and even individuals with their own equipment (the price has come down).

As far as the MPAA is concerned, I've not taken any action with them. Unlike music, movies are much more expensive to produce, and I don't see that changing much. I'm hoping that in the future, they will see the RIAA decline and learn. However, I will not be getting an HD-DVD or a BluRay device, due to the insane DRM in these.

In fact, DRM is the biggest reason I'm going to avoid Windows Vista like the plague.

- Trip

 

[Otter Mii-kun]

Riaa=opec

MPAA(MPPDA) and RIAA are basically just OPECs of the motion picture and music industries that we'd be just as good off without. If they had their way, fair use would be completely abolished! (perhaps by ruling it unconstitutional)

To add to this, I read some article comparing KaZaA users to terrorists! Apparently those who download are all "al-Qaeda operatives"!

 

[Doctor Oak]

Just something to throw out there is MPAA going after people in Europe, and further afield.

Just would like to point out that MPAA stands for Motion Picture ASSociation of America.

*shrugs*

I hate DRM crap. With a passion. Honestly, I wouldn't mind that much paying 99p for a song and downloading it - so long as I can actually do with it whatever I want to do since I'm the one that paid the money to own it. If i'm A) Not allowed to place it onto another computer or system that I own or B) not even able to put it onto my MP3 player to listen to it when and where I choose, then that is a problem that shouldn't exist - let alone needs to be overcome.

As far as movie and TV downloads go, the MPAA etc just need to realise that quality = money. Not quantity. I would happily buy, say Serenity on DVD or watch it in the cinema. Not so entirely bothered about paying to watch Summer Flick [HASHTAG]#39484[/HASHTAG] starring Adam Sandler.

Same goes for TV programs.

Incidentally, on a topical note - this being a Pokemon forum and all - if Pokemon was actually released here or was shown on TV at a watchable time on an actually available channel - places like #PM wouldn't be so vital to me in watching the show I get tagged as a criminal for watching through methods deemed not legal.

(Not that I really give a damn anyway *pets cracked [way more expensive than they're worth] programs, p2p'd mp3s and movies* - or that #PM has actually released any Dub eps since the VA change - what a sur*cough*SOVA*cough*prise.).

 

[eX.A.K.R.]

My personal opinion:

Very seriously now, I would like to actually say that I support their cause, but in principle only. I do agree that music artists has the right to protect their works from being distributed everywhere while depriving them of the money needed to create more and better works.

But, are they using it to make better works, or to make themselves richer?

While I leave you to ponder that question, another thing that concerns me more is the availability and the cost of the work. The one thing that really bothers me is availability - you just can't find this song anywhere else or it's so difficult to look for a legitimate copy that one sometimes resort to downloading. Seriously, I would have bought much of my music if they were more widely available. Sadly, I can say about 75 to 90 percent of my music collection is just not readily available here in Singapore.

Another thing is cost - I don't want to spend the price of an album just to get one song I like on that album. I know there's services out there that allows you to purchase just one song at the price of exactly that - but do they have what I want? Do they accept payment methods other than credit cards/PayPal? Are they even available in the place I live in? (FYI: Apple's iTunes Music Store is not available over here)

I think that the future of music is one where music is either free or cheap (see Magnatune)...

- Trip

Let me add on to that. Instead of releasing music by the albums, in the future, artists will release music by the track (the only exception could be concept albums, which are designed to be listened as a complete album), and they will either offer them for free (likely "short" versions of better songs, or songs they think they will be less well-known for), or at a tiny price, a fraction of what we pay today (I would like to see US$0.50 or even less per song). They release the music direct on their own web site, or some music directory-like web site will host their music for a small fee or for free (ad-sponsored web sites will more likely do it for free), and they get the amount they earn (or likely a fraction of it if they host it on those free directories) if they put a price on their songs. These web sites should also ideally accept any currency from any bank account or from any credit/debit card anywhere in the world, or accept payment by depositing the amount they have to pay into a "localised" bank account. So-called music companies will cease to exists, and artists will only earn what they deserve, and not the sometimes-staggering amount of money they get just by selling music - I want to contribute to good music, and not the pockets of some greedy person using us as their wallets!

 

[Birdyspot]

From Rolling Stone on October 12, 2004: (prices in $US)

This breakdown of the cost of a typical major-label release by the independent market-research firm Almighty Institute of Music Retail shows where the money goes for a new album with a list price of $15.99.

$0.17 Musicians' unions
$0.80 Packaging/manufacturing
$0.82 Publishing royalties
$0.80 Retail profit
$0.90 Distribution
$1.60 Artists' royalties
$1.70 Label profit
$2.40 Marketing/promotion
$2.91 Label overhead
$3.89 Retail overhead

I'm all for making sure the artists get their due. But the RIAA is protecting far more than the private interests of our creative and beloved recording artists. They're protecting the corporate interests of manufacturers, distributors, retailers, record labels, and of course themselves, the RIAA. (I might add that the share for "Artists' royalties" is LOWER for new artists!) If CDs (physical goods) were eliminated from the equation and e.X.A.K.R.'s digital music/web-based scenario became the norm, the RIAA wouldn't have a leg to stand on, and so all but cease to exist--and being one of the richest and most powerful lobby groups around, they sure as hell don't want THAT to happen. The only reason for SonyBMG's rootkits and the shitty quality of MP3s from iTunes Music Store and other online retailers is that "they" still want you buying CDs--i.e. moving physical goods.

It's basically the same situation for the MPAA. We all know about DVD region encoding, and that it's supposed to protect revenues from international first-run theater distribution. But not everything comes to be distributed on DVD in every region for every region-encoded player, because archaic country/region licensing practices have not yet caught up with the globalization of the market. I wouldn't mind DRM so much if I could watch any DVD I damn well wanted to buy on any player I damn well felt like buying. But this would apparently make me a criminal? In a legal-market economy?!

But I'm not trying to be a criminal. It's not like I duplicate movies for sale on the street. But, for example, I WOULD like to own the original, widescreen, Japanese-language versions of the Pokemon films...and WATCH them WITHOUT having to hack any of my DVD players/drives, OR shell out $$ to import a new, redundant, R2 player. The right people would still be getting money from me! Even if I still had to import the DVDs, it would be better than the situation now. I'm guilty of supporting the Chinese bootleg market only because of region encoding.

Now we have Regional Code Enhancement (RCE), which I'm glad to know about before I go buying a "region free" DVD player/drive. Very soon we'll be witnessing the outcome of the unholy marriage of Intel's Viiv and Microsoft's Vista in the church of Digital Rights Management. This is all about controlling borders and territories--think of the U.S. and Mexico, India and Pakistan, Israel and Palestine. Everyone wants a piece of the pie. But in the digital/Internet age, there IS NO pie--at least, not in the way the small minds of corporate business understand it:

On the Internet, EVERYONE has access to THE WHOLE pie, ALL the time, ALL at once. At least, ideally. (China, I'm glaring at you, for one.)

As far as I see it (and to emphasize Doctor Oak's statement), this is what I'm paying for when I purchase a CD, DVD, VHS, audio cassette, Beta tape, 8-track, or vinyl: the license to make personal, on-demand use of it. What business is it of the MPAA and RIAA to tell me HOW to listen to my music, or WHEN I can and can't watch a movie, if I've already FORKED OVER for my personal usage, and if I'm not making money off of that personal copy?! Shades of fascism, anyone?

Additionally: If I make an MP3 copy of a CD, the data's form and quality is NOT the same as that CD. The MP3 sounds similar to the CD, but I would argue that the two are NOT the "same" thing, and that the RIAA as such has no jurisdiction over MY created MP3 (remember Danger Mouse's The Grey Album?). The same thing goes for making personal backup copies of movies, saving them in different sizes/aspects/colors/formats,, transferring them to iPods (per recent scandal), or sampling them in personal/fan music videos. Do you see how arbitrary and tenuous the MPAA and RIAA's control over digital media is? Not only are they controlling the song and the movie in their official physical distribution made up of a stream of 0's and 1's, they're controlling the mere abstraction, the mere IDEA of the song and the movie. Kind of a scary thought.

Note that I am not necessarily supporting Internet piracy--Internet piracy is just a by-product of the MPAA/RIAA/film industry/recording industry's bullshit. People have simply found something more appealing in such piracy (i.e. easier on the pocketbook), and the MPAA and RIAA are having fits over such competition (hello? it's called "capitalism," at its very essence!). Once the film and recording industries see the light and dump the defunct business model of moving physical goods in favor of the myriad of (cheaper and more far-reaching!) business avenues possible with digital media and the Internet, the MPAA and RIAA will (likely bitterly ^_^) just return to slapping ratings and Parental Advisory stickers on things and get their self-serving hands out of the economics end. And thank goodness for that--I just hope it happens sooner than later.

 

[Nekusagi]

The RIAA's a bunch of bakas anyway. There's no way they'll ever be able to stop "illegal" downloading- It's like a Hydra. Kill one head, seven more pop up. And as for P2P, there's one form they'll never stop (constitutionally, at least) and it's one I use quite commonly. Here's how I do it (hopes RIAA's not reading this)

1. Borrow CD from friend or library.
2. Boot up Windows Media Player
3. Rip CD to WMP.
4. Burn CD to a blank disc.
5. Return CD to friend/library
6. Repeat steps 2-4 as necessary for any others who may want said music.

or

Ask friend to burn a CD for me.

(Honestly, I haven't "legally" attained any music since I got an Evanescence CD for Christmas about 3 years ago. Almost all the stuff I listen to now is on burnt CDs.)

Unless they start taking a Big Brother approach, I doubt they'll ever stop that. Music was made to be shared, IMO, and the RIAA's just destroying this essential fact. Back in the day (as in, the Middle Ages) I doubt the various bards worried about whether or not they were violating copyright laws (mainly because said laws really didn't exist) by singing the various ballads. I honestly think music is being destroyed by groups like the RIAA.

 

[The Dude]

Then how do the artists make any money?

 

[Nekusagi]

Well, people will always buy the CDs (not to mention go to concerts), because some people are collectors. I mean, I could technically download anime or find some site to watch it on, but some titles I love so much I have to have it sitting on my shelf to show friends.

I'm not saying people shouldn't BUY music; I'm saying the industry shouldn't be such Nazis about it. Sorry if you misinterpreted that.

 

[___]

Personally, I think that if someone bought the music, they have a right to copy it onto their iPods, MP3 players, ect. It's not fair that we can only play it in one place.