RIAA Backlash

The RIAA has been implementing totalitarian tactics to ensure the survival of its cartel [see links on Digg.com], and both artists and fans have begun to rebel against it. The biggest blow, I think, aside from the illegal spying on users who happen to have digital music on their hard drives, is that the RIAA did not even pay the artists after the lawsuits. What [Trent] Reznor (NIN) did with Ghost was evidence that even the artists themselves recognize that the recording industry machine is harmful to musicianship, and the fans.

All of this comes at a time when American music is worth next to nothing, when skillful musicianship is not at all necessary to make a sellable album (case in point: Britney Spears, boy bands and their aftermath, rap "music" in the 21st century). I know that modern American music isn't worth $15-20, and musicians know that also. The RIAA and the artists who continue to cooperate with them only want money, and will devise their albums to be simple and catchy, like a simple marketing gimmick to get their hands in your pocket.

However, I understand that artists need money, and Reznor, according to a report (also on Digg.com) raked in $1.6 mill the first week - even with the option of getting the album for free. It is highly possible that there will always be music that just needs to be paid for - not legally or consumeristly, but genuinely, as recognition that the material is good and we would like more. Case in point: I paid $20 for Ayreon's The Human Equation, and it remains to this very minute the best $20 I ever spent. I admit that smaller artists need record companies, but no one needs the RIAA. The RIAA, much like every other institution, has exceeded its purpose and exists for only its own sake, at the expense of not only possible fans, but also the artists themselves.

What is completely absurd, and shows how self-righteous and ambitious the RIAA is, is a few minutes of an RIAA conference video with the DHS. In the video, an RIAA 'expert' linked pirated music to drugs and terrorism. I downloaded some music, and I have never tried pot, and I have absolutely no intention of committing any acts of violence whatsoever, least of all politically-motivated violence. What do I think about the 'expert,' really? It's bait. They want the government's aid in their mafia-esque tactics and no other two words can get the government aroused and frothing at the mouth more than 'terrorism' and 'drugs.'