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Boy, but it sure took the RIAA •years• to figure out that suing fans (aka “customers”) wasn’t the greatest idea… <shaking my head sadly>

kmeisthax 1y ago
Yeah, now they use Spotify to rip off their artists and their customers even harder.
- dirtyhippiefree 1y ago
  Weird Al wrote an open letter to this effect more than a decade ago, but he broke through again to be Spoticific… Fairly certain that letter is older than Spotify, but this is 2023… https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2023/11/30/weird-al-spotify-twelve-dollar-check-comments/ https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2023/11/30/weird-al-spotify...
- immibis 1y ago
  Embrace, extend, extinguish!
Henchman21 1y ago
To be fair it is incredibly hard to think clearly with the haze of booze and cocaine that fuels the music industry.
mmooss 1y ago
How was it not a great idea for the RIAA? I understand how many fans / customers didn't like it, but I think people kept buying the music and the RIAA's terms and definitions like 'piracy' became mainstream (I think that was from the RIAA?).
- dirtyhippiefree 1y ago
  https://www.theregister.com/2005/05/13/otto_rosen/ https://www.theregister.com/2005/05/13/otto_rosen/ (Hillary Rosen) presented the notion of lawsuits against consumers that her successor Mitch Bainwol would turn into a course of action. Who among us hasn't wanted to slit the tendons of thieves and watch as they hemorrhage justice back to The Man? Rosen, however, led a fruitless crusade that in the long-term was more of an attack against capitalism's progress than the defense of intellectual property rights.
pessimizer 1y ago
It was an absolutely successful strategy for them. It was traditional terrorism: they went after a few extremely sympathetic, small-time victims to show that they definitely wouldn't have any problem going after you. It worked, and was reasonably cheap.
- dirtyhippiefree 1y ago
  Billboard had to recalculate its charts because so many of us stopped paying for what is essentially extortion (Jammie Thomas, statutory damages of $1.92 million ($80,000 per song, within the allowed range of $750 to $150,000). Streaming didn’t kill sales, and yes it was cheap…and not in dollars…

kmeisthax 1y ago

Yeah, now they use Spotify to rip off their artists and their customers even harder.

dirtyhippiefree 1y ago
Weird Al wrote an open letter to this effect more than a decade ago, but he broke through again to be Spoticific… Fairly certain that letter is older than Spotify, but this is 2023… https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2023/11/30/weird-al-spotify-twelve-dollar-check-comments/ https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2023/11/30/weird-al-spotify...
immibis 1y ago
Embrace, extend, extinguish!

Henchman21 1y ago

To be fair it is incredibly hard to think clearly with the haze of booze and cocaine that fuels the music industry.

mmooss 1y ago

How was it not a great idea for the RIAA? I understand how many fans / customers didn't like it, but I think people kept buying the music and the RIAA's terms and definitions like 'piracy' became mainstream (I think that was from the RIAA?).

dirtyhippiefree 1y ago
https://www.theregister.com/2005/05/13/otto_rosen/ https://www.theregister.com/2005/05/13/otto_rosen/ (Hillary Rosen) presented the notion of lawsuits against consumers that her successor Mitch Bainwol would turn into a course of action. Who among us hasn't wanted to slit the tendons of thieves and watch as they hemorrhage justice back to The Man? Rosen, however, led a fruitless crusade that in the long-term was more of an attack against capitalism's progress than the defense of intellectual property rights.

pessimizer 1y ago

It was an absolutely successful strategy for them. It was traditional terrorism: they went after a few extremely sympathetic, small-time victims to show that they definitely wouldn't have any problem going after you. It worked, and was reasonably cheap.

dirtyhippiefree 1y ago
Billboard had to recalculate its charts because so many of us stopped paying for what is essentially extortion (Jammie Thomas, statutory damages of $1.92 million ($80,000 per song, within the allowed range of $750 to $150,000). Streaming didn’t kill sales, and yes it was cheap…and not in dollars…