RIAA says its legal crusade is pointless

Author: Tim Smalley
Published: 24th July 2007
Comments (19) Stumble
The RIAA has admitted that its legal crusade against music pirates is “not the answer” to the piracy problem.

The RIAA has admitted that its legal crusade against music pirates is “not the answer” to the piracy problem.

The RIAA has admitted that its legal crusade against music pirates is “not the answer” to the piracy problem.

Jonathan Lamy, a spokesman for the RIAA told TG Daily that “litigation tends to generate more heat, friction, and headlines.” Instead, Lamy feels that a better way to tackle the piracy problem is aggressive licensing and offering legal alternatives, but he said that the lawsuits were “a necessary part of the larger equation.”

When the RIAA’s campaign started in April 2003, the company claims that there were around 6.9 million US households that illegally downloaded music. That figure now stands at over 7.8 million based on data collected by the RIAA in March 2007.

Broadband penetration in the US has more than doubled since the initial data was collected, but it’s still questionable whether the campaign has had a telling effect on piracy prevention.

John Palfrey, a clinical professor of law at Harvard Law School and executive director of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society, shared his feelings on the matter with TG Daily.

He feels that the RIAA’s legal crusade hasn’t made a meaningful dent on young American people’s (illegal) downloading habits, claiming that it represented a signal that the recording industry is out of step with both the present and the future. “But it is more importantly, I think, a distraction from finding the way forward in a digital age,” he claimed.

I think most would agree with Lamy's acknowledgement, but the fact that the RIAA still feels the need to continue down a path that even it feels is "not the answer" is quite frankly bizarre - where do they get these people from? You can, of course, vent in the usual place.
Quote Korvaz 24th July 2007, 13:05
Well, there's no blood coming from that stone. Let's squeeze it a bit harder, perhaps.
Quote Seraphim Works 24th July 2007, 13:10
So the best way to solve a problem is to continue down a path that even the RIAA understand won't work? Wouldn't it make sense for the money spent on legal fees to go elsewhere? Like perhaps slowly updating the decades old viewpoint of some in the record industry?

Alternatively, they could always write out a cheque for me.
Quote Paradigm Shifter 24th July 2007, 13:11
"RIAA says it's legal crusade is pointless..."

...I think I just heard the snowplough firing up to get Satan into work after reading this...
Quote C-Sniper 24th July 2007, 13:42
finally they are admitting that they are somewhat retarded in how the act.
Quote Delphium 24th July 2007, 13:50
So... they understand that there tatics dont work, yet there still going to persue there same route.

*Baffles me :|
Quote mmorgue 24th July 2007, 14:06
Seeing as how they [RIAA] have not offered a more meaningful alternative, nor come up with a business model that suits the consumer, what else can they? Apart from admit their current strategy is useless and simply pray on those that might actually cough up some ££ out of scare tactics...
Quote DXR_13KE 24th July 2007, 15:02
Quote:
Originally Posted by Paradigm Shifter
"RIAA says it's legal crusade is pointless..."

...I think I just heard the snowplough firing up to get Satan into work after reading this...

and pigs are growing wings.......
Quote Amon 24th July 2007, 15:18
In case anyone hasn't queued in yet, brace yourselves for a torrent (figuratively) of DRM protection.
Quote Bladestorm 24th July 2007, 17:24
The way I hear it most of the people when sued over it, settle out of court, for a good bit more than the music would have cost them legally, so chances are the legal crusade is making them money, even if it isn't neccessarily having much of an effect on piracy.
Quote pendragon 24th July 2007, 17:27
"hey guys this stuff is broken, let's keep using it! yea!" :|
Quote Hugo.B 24th July 2007, 17:45
Bladestorm has reached a valid conclusion.
It may not work, but the love of money is too great for them to give up on it.
On the other hand, YAY! They've admitted defeat!
Not that I'm advocating piracy of course...


H.B.
Quote Faulk_Wulf 24th July 2007, 17:51
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." -- Albert Einstein.

[[Everything else I have to say has been said or can be summarized by: :( ]]
Quote EmJay 24th July 2007, 18:09
I wonder what would work - changing the music industry so their income is from live appearances, and music is essentially share-ware? Of course, we're only about half a step away from the same situation with movies... I suspect cheap and convenient legal alternatives are going to be the best bet, although my idea of 'cheap' is about $20 per month for all the content I can download. What would you pay to have everything on your computer be legal?
Quote Redbeaver 24th July 2007, 21:04
do none of u guys ever learn anything on business politics and marketing strategy? heck im an engineer graduate and i can still get it.

yes, they (finally) acknowledge that it doesnt work, and frankly, i bet u they've known it for a long time. but yet, they're still doing it. its just now they decided to go public and says, yes, we know, and yes, we'r still doing it.

why? it IS, "necessary in the bigger picture". i wont dwell on it further, but yes, i agree. think about it for a bit. to start with, try imagining that they NEVER try to pursue these pirates, then think that now they're saying "the best way to deal wit them is aggresive (marketing)" blablabla....

its no brilliant strategy, but still a valid one.
Quote Cthippo 25th July 2007, 02:01
Maybe RIAA will sue the Bush administration for pirating this "strategy" in Iraq
Quote Drexial 25th July 2007, 02:45
BWAHAHAHAHAHAhahaha ha ha ha....ha ....... ok it really wasnt that funny but still, these guys are retarded....
Quote leexgx 25th July 2007, 10:04
if thay did sue for X money thay Never buy music agane to justif them been sued for $2000

its randome luck if you get picked out if it happens once not likey to happen agane (that type of stuff has not happend in the UK yet, if your on BT broadband you get letters about that your shareing this x file and we sue you if you do not remove it heh but thats like 1 out of 1000-2000 files)

the music/TV/moive industry have been maga slow on taking up internet downloads

as i am on Virgin media {NTL cable} TV we have lost all basic sky chans now (brason did not want to pay up the exta cost sky wanted to charge) so i have to download my tv programs that are on sky one and others
Quote Bungle 25th July 2007, 17:15
Everytime I see a news article about the RIAA pursuit of Piracy I get a mental image of Arthur from Monty Python and the quest for the holy grail. Galloping around with coconuts trying to rally people to their cause. You've gotta feel sorry for them. The're a laughing stock.:)
Quote HandMadeAndroid 26th July 2007, 06:49
Who cares anyway, most music is rubbish, pushing some useless **** we don't need, or some whining kid going on about how he hates his parents and cant decide which cargo pants to buy. Ban music I say, increase the amount of prosecutions of down loaders, better still, reintroduce capital punishment for downloading music.


btw I don't care
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