Re: [dvd-discuss] Mime-Version: 1.0

["Glendon M. Gross" <gross(at)xinetd.ath.cx>]

John Schulien wrote:
> 
>  > The bad PR from these lawsuits may come back to
>  > bite [the RIAA]
> 
> I wonder to what extent it already has.  In all of the
> analyses of the RIAA's woes, I've never seen even
> one which factors in the large boycott movement.
> 

I appreciate this observation.  As a musician, I have felt discouraged
from entering the commercial recording industry because of not wanting
to associate myself with the RIAA.  Now I see that actually what I am 
doing is participating in a boycott, without realizing it.

> If you do a google search on "RIAA boycott", you'll
> find nearly 8300 hits, most of which appear to be
> either discussion of a boycott, calls for a boycott, or
> pages describing organized boycotts.

I find this quite gratifying to learn.  Evidently quite a 
few other people agree with us on this issue.

> 
> Given the (almost by definition) high internet literacy
> of file-traders, it certainly seems plausable to me that
> a significant portion of the RIAA's sales woes may be
> due to deliberate boycott activities on the part of their
> (former) customers.
> 

I have to agree with you.


> I have personally found myself evaluating, when
> considering a music purchase, whether the benefits to
> me in the form of purchasing and enjoying a CD outweigh
> the harm I am causing myself by funding an organization
> that is working hard to destroy the copyright balance.  As
> a result, I certainly have noticed myself purchasing less
> music in the last few years.  Although I haven't signed
> onto any particular formal boycott, I would count this as
> part of a broad range of "boycott activities", and I wonder
> if my line of thinking is the exception or the rule among
> internet-aware and P2P-issue aware music purchasers.
> 

Perhaps you are also boycotting the RIAA then, for ideological reasons, 
in much the same way as I have been, without realizing it.


> If this is the case, then the truth is obviously not reaching
> the press and legislature, both of which appear to be
> accepting the explanation of the recording industry that
> the sales dropoffs are due to widespread piracy. But if
> the sales dropoffs are actually due to a combination of
> formal and informal boycotts, then the recording
> industry certainly doesn't need new copyright laws to
> protect them, as the reasons for their woes lie elsewhere.


The only organization that I am aware of that has been fighting them
in the courts has been the EFF.  Ever since the Jon Johansen case,
I have felt that the MPAA, the DVDCA, and the RIAA have outlived their
usefulness, as they are hopelessly out of touch with the future of new
media.  My feeling is that they have already "cut of their nose to spite
their face."  My feeling is that there will be no healing for these
organizations, but other more relevant and significant organizations
that are more senstitive to customers' privacy and wants will fill the
void
left after these organizations destroy their constituent base.  Their
era
has passed, just as the era of vinyl records seems to have ended. (IMO)