RIAA, Listen Up

An Open Letter to The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) (Who are by the way too cowardly to post an online form of contact and so will be receiving this message by snail mail in the near future):

We all won today, or at least that is what you would have us believe. In a court case over pirated music RIAA emerged victorious over a single mom who decided to fight back against a system that she felt had unfairly and, quite possibly, unjustifiably picked on her to make an example of to the unwashed masses of their criminal ways.

How exactly is sentencing a working class woman to unending menial servitude good for everyone? Well, you would say you are saving music from extinction, that you are protecting musicians' rights and ensuring fair prices and products of excellent quality for everyone.

At least, I think that is what you would say, but until recently I also thought it was perfectly legal to backup my music digitally so as to transform my computer into a gigantic jukebox of epic proportions, or to place such music on my phone so I can listen to it while out and about, not to mention the convenience of making my own mixes of my fav tunes for those long road trips.

But heck, if AT&T can claim filters limiting your internet access broadens and enhances the content you can view, then I really should just shut up, get on board and start talking the doublespeak. I have a problem though, see I can disappoint myself, be my own worst enemy and place my foot in my mouth with ease, but one thing I can't do is stand by and watch multiple people with vast resources commit stupidity without comment.

For when that happens you hurt far more than yourself, you hurt everyone in love with media, and in this specific case music. You see RIAA, I don't pirate music, I buy it through various legitimate retailers (amazon.com, amazon mp3 store, itunes, emusic, various big box stores) and I frequent concerts as much as I can, but your actions this week and over the last few years have infuriated me so much that if I could prove the artists represented by record companies were slaves without pay I would stop buying music today in protest of your draconian, heartless, ignorant ways and not look back.

For it is you who have missed the boat, failed to realize that if you want to fight piracy you have to offer legitimate buyers an incentive for spending their hard earned money on your products and you know what, it is so god damn easy even I can figure out some ways to get you started.

It goes something like this: when someone buys an album they get the following no matter what: standard music CD, album artwork, band photos, full lyrics, rights to have a digital content control free copy of the music with full ID tags, including lyrics for each song. Possibilities for value added extra incentive content: music videos (that you can also download to your personal media players and computers), discounts to concerts, t-shirts, etc. Oh, and yeah, the prices mostly suck, but they are finally getting a bit better, keep working on that and you'll see some real results fast.

Here's another hint, don't go after your customers in ridiculous lawsuits, unless you can prove to the world that poor woman never bought a record in her whole life she IS a customer of yours and no self respecting business treats their customers like that.

I guess now you can see that I disagree with you on many fronts and that instead of a victory, I see a tragic defeat for every Jane and Joe Doe in the world as a result of this case. I hope you can sleep easy, knowing how much you have completely failed music today.

Remember, whatever you think at the end of this day, no one owns my memories of the first time I heard Nirvana as a growing adolescent, or The Clash as I began to learn to love life or the first time The Pixies' Where is My Mind sent chills down my spine of pure blissful understanding. And I shouldn't even mention Fugazi, but I will, Waiting Room, it still blows my mind. But even though those thoughts and feelings can't be bought or sold, you do have a right to charge a fee for the privilege and convenience of listening to a great tune whenever we want, but be smart about it, make it as easy and as reasonable as possible or say goodbye to ever being able to sell music again.

Below you'll find a little message from a great band called Wilco who have had their own troubles with the recording industry and if you are wondering what I really think, well, until you clean up your act, just shut the hell up and take care of music like you are supposed to, it can't take much more of your abuse.

"I'd like to thank you all for nothing at all"
-Misunderstood from Kicking Television: Live in Chicago

For some more information on the case (including some very well researched specifics) click here.