Love and hate in the industry

[Lincoln]

Short-Media has published an editorial titled "Why we love Google and hate the RIAA".

This love and hate is not irrational. Though it may not be clearly articulated on message boards and forums across the 'net, there is a very simple equation between the business models of these two companies and the public's perception of them. Google trades you innocuous ads for free stuff. The RIAA must vigilantly protect the property it sells from thieves, and sometimes grandma gets caught in the fray.
Please comment on the article over in its thread (http://www.short-media.com/forum/showthread.php?t=48008).

Source: Editorial on Short-Media (http://www.short-media.com/review.php?r=327)

[RADA]

While the RIAA has made some dumb moves against Gramma and such, I don't have a thing against them.

Downloading music/movies/games/software/etc is STEALING! It's no different than someone breaking into your house and taking your workstation or laptop, or stealing something you worked hours/days/months/or years to create. If you didn't buy it, it's not yours...


*Rada jumps down of his soapbox.....

[entropy]

It's not so much their tactics that irritate me (honestly 90% of the music associated with them is trash anyway [excluding many bands of the classic rock-era]).

It's the fact that they have such a deathgrip on the industry. They work with ClearChannel to control almost all of the radio we listen to - WE hear what THEY want us to. If a band somehow manages to cut out of their contract with one of the RIAA's members, they can be blackballed for life at tons of places. When a band finally does make it big, THEY DON'T MAKE ANY DAMN MONEY. The RIAA takes almost all of it for itself. Don't get me wrong - I'm all for recouping losses and gaining some profit. But they don't stop there - they're a whole conglomeration of greedy, unsensitive people who don't care about the music or the artists involved. They want their money, and f*ck all if they don't get.

Edit: A good site to get info from is www.downhillbattle.org. Sure, it'll be a little biased obviously, but what isn't these days? Especially read this article by Steve Albini, a producer who used to work with the RIAA, so he knows what he's talking about: http://www.negativland.com/albini.html