[sdiy] The RIAA Blows.... (fwd)

[Joshua Stephen Landau]

> (For example, there needs to be a standard and easily recognizable way
> that independent bands and labels can declare their material freely
> available for broadcast with no fees.)

True.  But it may not make a difference.

> >          Certainly I have no love of the RIAA or any of the other REAL
> > thieves of the music industry but I'm wondering how 'n' hell this relates
> > to independents? Sure the bill as it stands is retroactive and could cause
> > problems for any Internet broadcaster who has previously been so short
> > sighted as to have been playing major record label noise in the past but
> > the RIAA can't touch anyone who hasn't been sucking it's teet.

Not everything on a major label is bad.  Not everything on an indie is
good.  However, the assumption that the RIAA can't touch anyone who
hasn't been playing their music is a false one.  How about the fees they
chrage on DATs and blank audio CDRs?  Even if you're using the DAT/aCDR
for your own music, they're sitll jacking you for some cash.  They can and
will do the same thing to net broadcasters.  You say "I haven't played any
of your music!"  They say "Prove it."

Can you?  Doubt it.  And they've got a lot more lawyers and a lot more
money than you do to try to prove that you did.

> > And it's a moot point anyway. If I wanna start an internet broadcaster and
> > blast out my own music and perhaps that of my record label's, who 'n fuck
> > is going to stop me? The RIAA? I don't fucking think so. They can kiss my
> > ass. It's my music. I wrote it. I own it, and I'll jolly well do what I

See above.

> > like with it. More to the point. The Recording Industry Ass. of America is
> > exactly that. They may be a mouth-piece for all the billion dollar record
> > labels but they can only influence American law. There's a whole world out
> > there and you're all connected to it. So just get a damn server in Belgium
> > or somewhere and carry on as if nothing happened. Ironically, My server is
> > in the States because of some idiot laws in Australia. But the RIAA's new
> > CRAP law (Sorry CARP law) still doesn't affect me.

Tell that to the Norwegian kid who got nailed on deCSS.  Tell that to
the Ukrainian parliament, forced to pass an anti-piracy bill by U.S.
politics.  Tell that to the p2p networks that operated overseas servers (I
believe KaZaa was Aussie, ironically) and got shut down anyways.  Like it or
not, and I don't, the U.S. has a lot of influence overseas.

> > Don't worry about it. If you're truly independent then it's not going to
> > hurt you one bit.

It's going to hurt the freeform station I work at.  We stream radio.  Do
we stream RIAA music?  Yeah, sometimes.  There are some damn fine artists
who's music has been put out by major labels, especially in the world of
jazz and folk.  Do we only play major labels?  No.  Will we continue as an
over-the-air station?  Sure.  But our stream, which has been on for about
4-5 years now, will probably have to go down.  We can't afford the money,
and more than that, we can't afford the record keeping requirments.

> > But having said that, if you ever come across an RIAA member drowning,
> > throw them a rope. With an anvil attached.

Only if you manage to hit them with the anvil.  I understand your point,
but assuming that being overseas is going to protect you in this world of
increasing multi-nationalism and globalization is like assuming... well,
like assuming that the RIAA mostly puts out good music.

Josh Landau
WCBN-FM Ann Arbor
Still streaming, for now, at http://wcbn.org