What goes around comes around

[ForeverAutumn]

I found this article in a lawyers' trade magazine called Law Times, the April 7, 2008 issue.

New York – The Recording Industry Association of America has waged a very public war against P2P file-sharing sites, winning settlements of over up to $400 million from the likes of Napster, Kazaa, and Bolt. However, artists, in whose name the RIAA was so righteously fighting, claim they’ve no see a dime from their record labels.

“Artist managers and lawyers have been wondering for months when their artists will see money from the copyright settlements and how it will be accounted for,” lawyer John Branca, who has represented Korn, Don Henley, and The Rolling Stones, told the New York Post.

Now Branca says the artists are considering filing their own lawsuits to get their fair share of the booty.

The reason for the lack of cash, say some: it’s all gone to pay lawyers’ fees.

Reps for the three labels told the Post they dispute the notion that they are withholding settlement money.

[Rich-n-Texas]

I wonder if anyone's asked Lars Ulrich to comment on this latest action by artists who, just like him, seem to be getting ripped off by the greedy recording companies.

How sad this all is.

[3-LockBox]

Its just as I said before...this isn't about money. The RIAA wants to kill the internet because it blows away their old business model, where by any and all music that we ever listened to came from the braintrusts in the RIAA. In big business, the ability to forcast is just as important as moving product. With the advent of the internet, people started going out on their own musical quests, independant of the RIAA machine. We simply weren't relying on the machine for musical inspiration any longer, and our tastes in music became very diverse, so much so that the RIAA machine could no longer anticipate trends and prefab clones the way they used to. That's why you see so much focus on tweeny boppers now; the last market you can easily and reliably manipulate. This is about control, pure and simple.

[Rich-n-Texas]

I'm not seeing where greed and power don't go hand-in-hand here 3LB. What is the goal of having the ultimate power? Satisfying your ego? I don't think that was Lars' motivation. It's to get rich. This is a Capitalist country, based on greed.

An economics teacher in high school asked me: "What is Capital? It's money"

Truthfully, if I want MP3's, I'll purchase from a source that will sell quality content, which the above weren't providing. But in most cases I'll buy the CD anyway. And even though I realize I'm becoming more and more of a minority shopper, sound quality is still the most important aspect of the listening experience for me personally.

[Jim Clark]

Well one thing is certain, it has absolutely nothing to do with the music or the people who created it. I think a lot of us more cynical types already suspected as much but apparently there are at least a few musicians who are a bit more naive.

Regards,
jc

[3-LockBox]

What is the goal of having the ultimate power?

The ability bank on how much money you can expect to make off of an artist, given trends that you've been able to forcast and manipulate. Being in control of the market is profit security. The fact that they've poured so much money into legal fees, seeking favorable verdicts at any cost, in lieu of profits tells me that they aren't looking to just recoup loses due to downloading.