# Fuck The RIAA **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 8, 2003, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-riaa/167365 "2003-04-08T19:10:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lateralus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@Lateralus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lateralus)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-riaa/167365/1 "2003-04-08T19:10:01Z")
Fuck every last one of those worthless cuntscrapes. Fuck their price controls and fuck $20 CDs. The disc itself costs a few cents, so an album should cost no more than $5. Peace ---
**Author:** ![RexDart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b77776/32.png) [@RexDart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RexDart)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-riaa/167365/2 "2003-04-08T19:19:55Z")
Yeah, their monopolistic controls over CD prices are the reason they’re facing the problems they do today. When the prices of pre-recorded VHS tapes finally dropped from the astounding $80 price tag to the more reasonable $10-20, people were far less inclined to go through the hassle of taping the movies off Showtime or HBO and hooking up two VCRs to each other to make duplicates and trade them. If the price of a CD was allowed to fall to where it would be without the RIAA’s price controls, say down to around $10 or less, they wouldn’t have to worry so much about all the “piracy”. They brought this on themselves, and now they can suffer for it. ---
**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-riaa/167365/3 "2003-04-08T19:30:28Z")
Fuck. Them. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-riaa/167365/4 "2003-04-08T19:33:17Z")
While I agree that CDs are overpriced, please take into consideration the following costs. The disc, case & manufacturing Color printing and insleeve Distribution Entertainment lawyers A&R Producers Artist Royalties I would say more then 5 bucks, but not what they currently charge. ---
**Author:** ![Ego\_Mk2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/58956e/32.png) [@Ego\_Mk2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ego_Mk2)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-riaa/167365/5 "2003-04-08T19:33:48Z")
If you want to get back at them get a large group of people to boycott buying new CDs. Then have each one of them start their own group, etc. The only thing the RIAA listens to are revenue reports. ---
**Author:** ![Tars\_Tarkas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tars\_Tarkas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tars_Tarkas)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-riaa/167365/6 "2003-04-08T19:34:17Z")
I agree 100% and burn CDs in protest! (in more ways than one!) ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-riaa/167365/7 "2003-04-08T19:37:58Z")
Price is set by supply and demand, guys. The costs have very little to do with it. I mean, what’s the marginal cost of a movie ticket? Three cents? If you want the price of CDs to drop, have people stop buying them. ---
**Author:** ![istara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e79b87/32.png) [@istara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/istara)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2003, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-riaa/167365/8 "2003-04-08T19:39:08Z")
Watch them fall, watch them burn… It is too late. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2003, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-riaa/167365/9 "2003-04-09T01:35:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by World Eater \* > \*\*While I agree that CDs are overpriced, please take into consideration the following costs. > > The disc, case & manufacturing > Color printing and insleeve > Distribution > Entertainment lawyers > A&R > Producers > Artist Royalties > > I would say more then 5 bucks, but not what they currently charge. \*\* You forgot marketing, subsidizing artists who don’t sell, videos, and probably some more things I can’t think of off the top of my head. ---
**Author:** ![bernse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@bernse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bernse)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2003, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-riaa/167365/10 "2003-04-09T01:56:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RickJay \* > \*\*If you want the price of CDs to drop, have people stop buying them. \*\* Nah, that’ll give RIAA even more ammo 'cause you know everyone with a burner and/or a PC and/or has used any sort of filesharing software at anytime IS A THIEF!!! ---
**Author:** ![MrVisible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@MrVisible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrVisible)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2003, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-riaa/167365/11 "2003-04-09T04:44:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RickJay \* > If you want the price of CDs to drop, have people stop buying them. The only problem with that approach is that, when revenues start falling, the RIAA will claim that it’s because of piracy, and bribe the government to give them the right to do door-to-door searches for pirated materials. The collusion between the government and this monopoly is appalling. ---
**Author:** ![kasuo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8c91f0/32.png) [@kasuo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kasuo)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2003, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-riaa/167365/12 "2003-04-09T17:07:10Z")
As a wise friend once said, “I will not be subjected to price gouging.” (sp?) ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2003, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-riaa/167365/13 "2003-04-09T17:42:36Z")
Well, I don’t know if the RIAA will get to do door-to-door searches, but I do know that $20 is pretty close to the market value of a CD. I don’t think it can be entirely coincidence that CDs cost pretty much the same in most industrialized countries, even where the RIAA’s reach doesn’t go. I really don’t see how $20 is an unreasonable price. It’s exactly in line with the price albums have always been; adjusted for inflation, the prices haven’t gone up. On top of that, the product is of much higher quality; it’s vastly more durable, more compact, technically better in a hundred ways, has better sound, and holds more music than vinyl or cassettes. When you consider the amount of use you can get out of a CD, $15-20 strikes me as being a very reasonable price. Would you pay $1 to download a song if they legalized that system of song distribution and all the artists signed on to it? Well, a CD isn’t much more expensive than that - $1 a song for some, up to $2 a song, most of them somewhere in between. And you get it preburned and with pretty liner notes. What’s the problem? I’m no fan of the RIAA and its Luddite strongarm stance, but I simply cannot agree that CDs are overpriced. I think they cost about what they should cost. ---
**Author:** ![bernse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@bernse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bernse)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2003, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-riaa/167365/14 "2003-04-09T18:53:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RickJay \* > **Well, I don’t know if the RIAA will get to do door-to-door searches, but I do know that $20 is pretty close to the market value of a CD. I don’t think it can be entirely coincidence that CDs cost pretty much the same in most industrialized countries, even where the RIAA’s reach doesn’t go.** Wasn’t there a recent court ruling about music companies artificially “fixing” the prices of CDs? Some sort of cullusion? > [@](#): > > \*\* When you consider the amount of use you can get out of a CD, $15-20 strikes me as being a very reasonable price. Would you pay $1 to download a song if they legalized that system of song distribution and all the artists signed on to it? Well, a CD isn’t much more expensive than that - $1 a song for some, up to $2 a song, most of them somewhere in between. And you get it preburned and with pretty liner notes. What’s the problem? \*\* Well, if I understand you correctly, why don’t DVDs cost more than they do? I can get most new release DVDs for less than $20 CDN. Heck, less than some new CDs. And these are full length, 2+ hour movies that cost tens-of-millions to produce. You can make the argument that box-office reciepts subsidize them, but even movies that lost money (or were straight to home) cost about the same to buy. Don’t get me wrong, I think an artist is entitled to get paid for their hard work and everyone is entitled to a profit. But jebuz, RIAA is using _any_ hard numbers that show a drop in CD/Music sales as evdidence that it’s because people are _stealing_. They tend to ignore the fact that any market will fluctuate. And the Governments buy it. That is what pisses me off. Here is a link at the proposed Canadian “levies” on blank media… brought in to help “protect” the Music industry. [http://neil.eton.ca/copylevy.shtml#proposed\_levies](http://neil.eton.ca/copylevy.shtml#proposed_levies) And yes, I think CD’s and music in general is overpriced. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2003, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-riaa/167365/15 "2003-04-09T20:57:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bernse \* > **Wasn’t there a recent court ruling about music companies artificially “fixing” the prices of CDs? Some sort of cullusion?** [Yes, there was.](http://www.musiccdsettlement.com/english/default.htm) \*\* > [@](#): > > And yes, I think CD’s and music in general is overpriced. \*\* The used CD store is my friend. I may not get **The Latest Releases!** , but I do get some good albums for about $5-$8 a pop. ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2003, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-riaa/167365/16 "2003-04-09T22:59:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RickJay \* > \*\*On top of that, the product is of much higher quality; it’s vastly more durable, more compact, technically better in a hundred ways, has better sound, and holds more music than vinyl or cassettes. \*\* Not all of those claims are true. CDs hold only 80 minutes. I’ve seen prerecorded cassettes that held 90 (“Pink Floyd - The Wall” is a single cassette) and blanks that held 120. As for durability, CDs are good in some ways, but not others. They’ll scratch just like a record. If your car CD player sucks, even a brand new disc will skip on every little bump in the road. Not so with cassette decks. ---
**Author:** ![Payton\_s\_Servant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3da27b/32.png) [@Payton\_s\_Servant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Payton_s_Servant)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2003, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-riaa/167365/17 "2003-04-09T23:34:06Z")
If you have the money to buy a computer and all of the hoo-ha that goes with it, then you certainly have $20 to buy a CD, so shut your pieholes. Bunch of self-centered, self-absorbed yaboos, the lot of ya. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2003, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-riaa/167365/18 "2003-04-09T23:48:59Z")
> [@](#): > > Price is set by supply and demand, guys. For a commody this is true but the RIAA acts like a monolopy (actually something like a oliglopy, which is close enough to monolopy pricing) and pricing is not set where supply and demand would naturally meet but at a higher level. ---
**Author:** ![Super\_Gnat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Super\_Gnat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Super_Gnat)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2003, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-riaa/167365/19 "2003-04-10T00:12:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Payton’s Servant \* > \*\*If you have the money to buy a computer and all of the hoo-ha that goes with it, then you certainly have $20 to buy a CD, so shut your pieholes. > > Bunch of self-centered, self-absorbed yaboos, the lot of ya. \*\* My computer came with my scholarship. Does that mean _I_ get to download music? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![dietrologia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@dietrologia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dietrologia)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2003, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-riaa/167365/20 "2003-04-10T00:27:43Z")
There is a disconnect between an ever-increasing tech-savvy public who is able to burn their own CD-Rs for ten cents versus the RIAA who would sell you an equivalent CD for $15-19. The public doesn’t begrude the recording industry’s ability to turn a profit, they disagree with the _margin_ of profit. And it’s _precisely because_ CDs are overvalued that people are increasingly turning to do-it-yourself CD production. Coupled with this is the RIAA’s perpelexing unwillingness to embrace digital on-line technology. Why won’t record companies make available their _entire_ music catalogs for purchase/download on a song-by-song basis? Why won’t record companies make available songs for purchase/download which are encoded in CD-quality bit-rates and not subpar 128kbps encodings? Why won’t record companies save themselves money in distribution costs by allowing for album purchase/download and pass that savings on to the consumer? In short, why does the RIAA _et al._ treat the internet as a threat at every turn rather than an enormous opportunity? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-riaa/167365.md?page=2)