Digital music and the internet age - The people vs. the recording industry association of America.

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Digital Music and the Internet Age:

The People vs. the Recording Industry Association of America

Introduction:

Just as the Internet is fast becoming a way of life for many in the United States, music has had its roots embedded in people’s lives, careers, and hobbies throughout history.  What do you get when you merge music and the Internet in the year 2002?  Chaos, it seems.

In this heated debate, there are two sides that are prevalent.  The first is brought by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), which represents the major record labels, musicians, and artists in the United States.  The RIAA claims that the Internet is responsible for rampant music piracy that has the power to destroy the music industry as we know it.  The RIAA been in the center of countless lawsuits and trials, and is in the forefront of the digital music debate through its use of legal tactics.

The other side of this debate is represented by you and me – the common people.  We do not argue that music piracy is illegal and unethical.  However, we have much at stake in this argument, as the RIAA has tried to gain approval for strict laws that could affect each and every one of us.  The RIAA has tried to invade our privacy, sue the common people, prevent us from playing CDs in our computers, hack into our computers, stop the sale of personal music players, and change key pieces of legislature for their benefit.  Rather than approach this issue with public support and regard for the consumers who make their industry possible, the RIAA has continually neglected public opinion and has put us on the back burner in order to protect their profit margins.

The History

So what exactly is this big mess about?  In a nutshell, it boils down to digital music piracy.  The music industry is hurting from a 9.2 percent global music sales slump in 2001.  According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, world CD sales fell seven percent last year, while singles and cassettes continued to decline (Wang 147).  They claim that music piracy on the Internet is largely to blame for this trend.

By merging the Internet and compact disc technologies, it became possible for people to convert the digital music stored on CDs into a very small computer file format called MP3.  A music file converted to MP3 could then be sent to other people on the Internet quickly and easily.

These technological advances eventually led to rampant music piracy on the Internet.  While I do not condone nor support digital music piracy, I believe that the battle the RIAA is waging has been unfair, one-sided, and based on greed.  In trying to protect their interests, this trade group has bitten the hands of the people who feed it – us.

The Past

        In 1980, a case came upon the United States Supreme Court docket involving Universal City Studios, a Hollywood movie studio, and a new Sony technology called Betamax, or what we now refer to as the common VCR.  Universal City Studios asked the courts to block Betamax sales, which were poised to enter the consumer market.  The movie studio argued that consumers would use VCRs to copy and distribute copyrighted films (Wright 16).

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        In 1984 the U.S. Supreme Court told the movie industry to back off, ruling that most people would use VCRs to record soap operas they missed while at work, rather than making illegal copies of films (Wright 18).

        One would think that a lesson was learned from this scenario.  Sadly, that was not the case.  Fast-forward fifteen years and we see a very similar situation unfold.

RIAA vs. MP3 players

In 1998, Diamond Multimedia introduced the Rio portable MP3 player to the consumer market.  MP3 files were starting to become very popular.  Using the Rio portable MP3 player, people would ...

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