RIAA -- Those crazy pirating kids......

Once again, the RIAA misses the point.

As a person who has acquired 99% of his music legally (and the other 1% is files of 45s that I own but couldn't find in digital format), I don't necessarily side with the piraters here, but I certainly don't side with the RIAA.

I grew up in the 70s and 80s, and went to college in the early 90s. At that time, most of us college kids were spending $15 a shot for CDs to acquire new music, pick up stuff we had on cassette on CD, and if you were like me, sometimes repaying to get new remastered CDs of the stuff you bought on CD a few years earlier.

The CD pricing was originally based on the cost of manufacturing a CD. The digital process was expensive because there were few pressing plants, they required clean rooms, and the process created about as many defective discs as good ones. And they shoved them in those ecologically friendly long boxes that probably added a few cents to the process. But once prices of manufacturing went down, the price charged for them never did.

So, when CD burners began to reach a decent price point and broadband Internet became a necessity, there became no real economic reason to purchase a CD for most people. Why pay $15 for a CD with one song when you could copy someone else's or pay $1 for the song on I-tunes?

Yes, the RIAA is legally in the right. But suing college students for $3,000 a pop isn't going to bring back the revenue they had when they were gouging consumers for CDs.

So how do they fix it?

The first step would be to reduce the price of CDs to $5 or less apiece. Yes, this sounds backwards, and dangerous, but it works. Just ask the MPAA. At most big box retailers you can buy movies from major studios for $5 or less. If a movie that cost $100 million to make can be sold for $5, surely a CD from the latest American Idol reject can come in for those costs.

Second step is to rethink marketing. Embrace file sharing. Dump the new single for everyone to download for free, but tack on a commercial to the file (or put the commercial before you download it). Advertise the album it comes from.

Third step is to go after people in the 30+ range. While many of us will buy the occasional CD, it seems as record companies have abandoned this audience for the most part. New CDs from artists we used to love are now coming out from independent labels, and those that are still on major labels are being given little promotion.

Fourth step is to stop the stupid lawsuits. These lawsuits are still seen as something that happens to other people, and no kid is going to stop sharing music in some form or fashion if the risk of getting caught is perceived as low. You're only alienating the future audience, who won't suddently go buy the new Sanjaya CD because they're afraid of being sued (although having to admit to that in court might scare ME straight).

So RIAA, shape up, or watch your profits continue to decline.


-- Music piracy crackdown nets college kids
05/13/2007 1:50 PM, APLINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — At first, Sarah Barg thought the e-mail was a scam.
Some group called the Recording Industry Association of America was accusing the University of Nebraska-Lincoln sophomore of illegally downloading 381 songs using the school's computer network and a program called Ares.
The letter said she might be sued but offered her the chance to settle out of court.
Barg couldn't imagine anyone expected her to pay $3,000 — $7.87 per song — for some 1980s ballads and Spice Girls tunes she downloaded for laughs in her dorm room. Besides, the 20-year-old had friends who had downloaded thousands of songs without repercussion.
"Obviously I knew it was illegal, but no one got in trouble for it," Barg said.
But Barg's perspective changed quickly that Thursday in March, when she called student legal services and found out the e-mail was no joke and that she had a pricey decision to make.
Barg is one of 61 students at UNL and hundreds at more than 60 college campuses across the country who have received letters from the recording industry group, threatening a lawsuit if they don't settle out of court.
"Any student on any campus in the country who is illegally downloading music may receive one of these letters in the coming months," said Jenni Engebretsen, an RIAA spokeswoman.
Barg's parents paid the $3,000 settlement. Without their help, "I don't know what I would have done. I'm only 20 years old," she said.
At least 500 university students nationwide have paid settlements to avoid being sued, Engebretsen said. Students who don't take the offer face lawsuits — and minimum damages of $750 for each copyrighted recording shared if they lose.
UNL officials have been told 32 more letters are on the way. At least 17 UNL students who did not take the settlement offer have been sued, according to the RIAA, although the university has been asked to forward only five subpoenas.
But the students coughing up the cash question why they're the ones getting in trouble.
"They're targeting the worst people," UNL freshman Andrew Johnson, who also settled for $3,000. "Legally, it probably makes sense, because we don't have the money to fight."
Johnson got his e-mail in February, with the recording industry group's first wave of letters targeting college students. He had downloaded 100 songs on a program called LimeWire using the university network.
The money to settle came from the 18-year-old's college fund. He'll work three jobs this summer to pay back the money.
Johnson compares what he did to people driving 5 miles per hour over the speed limit.
"It's not like I downloaded millions of songs and sold them to people," Johnson said.
But just one song can bring a lawsuit, Engebretsen said.
"It is important to send the message that this is illegal, you can be caught, and there are consequences," she said.
The industry realizes attitudes need changing, and money from the settlements is reinvested in educational programs schools and other groups can use to spread the word that song sharing can have severe consequences.
Some of the programs are tailored to start with third-graders.
"We do recognize that by the time students reach college, many of their music habits are already formed," Engebretsen said.
Earlier this month, members of Congress sent a letter to officials from 19 universities, including UNL, asking for information about schools' anti-piracy policies.
According to the letter, more than half of college students download copyrighted music and movies. The information requested is intended to help assess whether Congress needs to advance legislation to ensure illegal downloading "is no longer commonly associated with student life on some U.S. campuses," the letter says.
Barg is still angry about her letter from the recording industry group, which she calls bullying. But she agrees sharing music is common, and that other students don't understand the consequences.
"Technically, I'm guilty. I just think it's ridiculous, the way they're going about it," Barg said. "We have to find a way to adjust our legal policy to take into account this new technology, and so far, they're not doing a very good job."
Barg thinks the university should send an e-mail to all students, warning them that the recording industry won't look the other way.
As campus clears out for the summer, UNL officials are considering launching a new educational campaign in the fall.
"If we can do anything to help educate students about what illegal file-sharing is, we're willing and interested in doing that," said Kelly Bartling, a university spokeswoman.
Bartling said no one wants students to have to worry about how to pay tuition because of an expensive settlement. "It is a hugely expensive lesson," Bartling said.
Johnson, the UNL freshman, doesn't think the threats from the recording industry group are going to solve the problem. Friends who know he got in trouble still share music online.
"People are still going to do it until they get caught, and they can't catch everyone," Johnson said.
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On the Net:
Recording Industry Association of America: http://www.riaa.com
University of Nebraska-Lincoln: http://www.unl.edu --