Piracy: ISPs must pay up (Reuters) [LWN.net]

Reuters covers a change in strategy in the RIAA's fight against online music piracy: "The music industry is in a tailspin with global sales of CDs expected to fall six percent in 2003, its fourth consecutive annual decline. A major culprit, industry watchers say, is online piracy. Now, the industry wants to hit the problem at its source - internet service providers. "We will hold ISPs more accountable," said Hillary Rosen, chairman and CEO the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), in her keynote speech at the Midem music conference on the French Riviera."

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Piracy: ISPs must pay up (Reuters)

Posted Jan 23, 2003 10:20 UTC (Thu) by beejaybee (guest, #1581) [Link]

" "We will hold ISPs more accountable," said Hillary Rosen, chairman and CEO the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), in her keynote speech at the Midem music conference on the French Riviera."

OK. So I take it they'll also be "making accountable" the record shops that sell CDs to people who might copy them; the postal service who deliver CDs bought using the phone system or over the 'Net to the homes of customers that might copy them; the freighting companies that might be involved in the shipment; ...

'Bout time the RIAA recognised once and for all that the reason their sales are falling is threefold: (1) customers don't want to buy music in any copy-protected format, (2) the vast majority of their current output is crap, (3) almost everyone who was going to buy CDs to replace vinyl recordings of treasured "oldies" has now done so, so that market is naturally dying.

But no. Just blame anyone else. Especially whilst you can still afford to buy enough Congressmen to influence government policy. Does the word "witchhunt" spring to mind?

Piracy: ISPs must pay up (Reuters)

Posted Jan 23, 2003 19:07 UTC (Thu) by virtex (subscriber, #3019) [Link]

the reason their sales are falling is threefold:

Add one more to that list: (4) People have grown to very much dislike the RIAA due to their invasive tactics, and are rebelling by buying fewer CDs. In other words, the RIAA's dominating attitude has actually driven people to download music rather than support an organization they hate.