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Why do I let it bother me so much?
Just when you think that the Invisible Property whore-mongers can't do anything more outrageous, they manage to somehow top themselves.

RIAA wants royalties to artists lowered, The Hollywood Reporter, Sides Chosen in Royalty Tussle

As the content providers themselves clamor for lower payments to those who actually MAKE the so-called intellectual property, the RIAA is moving in to widen the profit-margin on its new and seemingly lucrative business model of extracting the most possible revenue from their claims of copyright. At least they are approaching the task of raping the most money for themselves as possible from all angles.

"The labels contend that the music publishers have gotten fat as their business has starved and want the payment method rewritten."

Perhaps they should consider how fat the lawyers have gotten off of all of these male-cow-feces copyright suits.

"According to papers filed by the RIAA at the Copyright Royalty Board ... "While record companies have been forced to drastically cut costs and employees, music publisher catalogs have increased in value due to steadily rising mechanical royalty rates and alternative revenue streams made possible, but not enjoyed, by record companies."

Alternative revenue streams made possible by record companies? The only "alternative revenue streams" in music that I can think of are downloads from the internet, and as I seem to recall, the record industry has pretty much had their collective craniums planted firmly and deeply within their own rectums about how to approach the issue of music downloads. Furthermore, I am not sure what doublethink or wacky hallucinogen is required to even begin to believe that the record companies have somehow "made possible" these alternates; given the evidence of just the past 8 or 9 years, it would seem that the extent of RIAA's making possible was limited to the only people, groups or companies they didn't have a chance to sue out of existence.

I am sure their completely valid and poignant argument (hint: the preceeding was sarcasm) could be applied to other areas of life. Consider the record companies' prospective response to their sending a crazy drunk person with a gun to rob a bank.

"We have been forced to pursue other alternatives to make money in a down market. After all, security guards and police force revenues have increased in value due to steadily rising crazy-drunk-people-with-gun stopping rates and other revenue streams made possible, but not enjoyed, by gulag-neofascist-mafioso record companies."

Did I get off track? So sorry...

"DiMA argues that paying a high rate will undermine what is a new business model and exacerbate the piracy problem that has been decimating the labels."

Hmm...music piracy will be solved by paying the artists less money. Actually, that point is valid, logically. After all, if you take more money from the musicians, they will be less inclined to make new music, and so therefore there will be less music out there to be pirated than would have been otherwise. Not that it matters all that much anyways, since about 75% of all the new music produced now is a steaming pile of shit. I wonder if the record companies and these so-called "new-media" companies calculated the overall lousiness of their product into play when figuring their losses.

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The point of all my rambling is this: If there is nothing else to be learned from the actions of the middle men whose importance is waning, it is precisely that they will do whatever they can to justify their existence. By making this stance, they have, to me, completely nullified any moral argument they might have had in saying that, by suing the ever-living poo out of people, they are simply trying to protect the artists. On one hand, RIAA is trying to extort $150,000 per song out of people in their trumped-up infringement cases, and now on the other hand, they are trying now to take more money from the people that make their product. It is completely retarded.

The star burns brightest right before it burns out. I call on anyone who reads this to do what they can by boycotting Sony BMG, EMI, Warner Music and Universal Music Group. In fact, just boycott all of the 1,600 record labels that are represented by RIAA. Don't buy their products and don't pirate it either. Just cut it out entirely. Your life won't be affected all that much by not listening to the Top 40 station on the radio, and I am sure you will discover a wealth of wonderful music from the independent labels and local groups out there. Try perhaps making your own music and promoting it out there. I call on everyone to do what they can to make the world of music so fragmented that the record companies will have to come to terms with the reality of the situation, instead of grabbing what they can from whomever they can. And if they don't come to terms with the reality of the situation, they need to expire, like the failing business models they are.