# My Letter On the RIAA And Why I Hate Them! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 13, 2004, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-letter-on-the-riaa-and-why-i-hate-them/229106 "2004-02-13T21:47:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Alien2022](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e19adc/32.png) [@Alien2022](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alien2022)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2004, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-letter-on-the-riaa-and-why-i-hate-them/229106/21 "2004-02-14T06:21:37Z")
Have you tried the new Napster? Pretty damn reasonable, and its still better than paying out the ass for Cds. Plus its all legit. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@Silver\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Fire)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2004, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-letter-on-the-riaa-and-why-i-hate-them/229106/22 "2004-02-14T06:49:18Z")
> [@Sonic 1992](#): > > Did you know at the time of the Napster shutdown, most people with DSL & Cable/RoadRunner cancelled subscriptions! Umm, cite? ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2004, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-letter-on-the-riaa-and-why-i-hate-them/229106/23 "2004-02-14T06:54:07Z")
All P2P debate aside, it is true that the RIAA is just one big racketeering organization. $18.99 per CD, and who gets all that money? Certainly not the artist, who earns no more than $0.50 per unit sold, IF THEY’RE LUCKY…and that’s AFTER paying back the cost of the recording session, music videos, etc. BTW that’s the same amount they get since, oh, the mid-70’s I think. And CD’s are far cheaper to produce than vinyl ever was. What’s really sad is the only people who seem to be upset about it are as ill-spoken and incoherent as the OP, which makes all us [Electronic Freedom](http://eff.org/) lovers look bad. Sadder still is that so many musicians, even the starving ones, are so used to sucking the corporate tit that they don’t stand up for themselves – with [Janis Ian](http://janisian.com/article-internet_debacle.html) and [Courtney Love](http://archive.salon.com/tech/feature/2000/06/14/love/index.html) being notable exceptions. It’s nice that the RIAA has finally rolled over and allowed _some_ form legal download service, but like hell I’ll ever use them. Forget all the technical machinations and whatnot, I’m just too damn pissed off over being robbed all these years. Maybe I’ll change my mind if I ever [get my check…](http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/nothing/cdrefund.asp) ---
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2004, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-letter-on-the-riaa-and-why-i-hate-them/229106/24 "2004-02-14T06:55:22Z")
You forgot to write “P.S.: I am not a crackpot.” ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_Ellis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Michael\_Ellis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Ellis)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2004, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-letter-on-the-riaa-and-why-i-hate-them/229106/25 "2004-02-14T07:05:07Z")
Ilsa, that was fucking brilliant. ---
**Author:** ![Cerri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3bc359/32.png) [@Cerri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerri)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2004, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-letter-on-the-riaa-and-why-i-hate-them/229106/26 "2004-02-14T07:06:49Z")
Satan-worshiping metal bands? Let me guess…I’ve slipped thru a hole in time, it’s 1987 and you’re Tipper Gore leading the PMRc, right? Lay off the exclamation points, dude, you’re gonna give yourself an aneurysm. ---
**Author:** ![Civil\_Defense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Civil\_Defense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Defense)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2004, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-letter-on-the-riaa-and-why-i-hate-them/229106/27 "2004-02-14T07:31:55Z")
Just a couple things… Ilsa had good points, and I guess for the record, I’ll say that P2P IS one of the best mechanisms ever, I use it constantly, and that’s that. So, to address some points. 1) I don’t know where the hell you live that CDs are greater than $18.00, but wtf? Circuit City has new CDs for $10; Best Buy usually has something similar. Older CDs are about $13, or you can go to a used shop and pay $5. 1. While you’re correct that the quality of videos recorded in theaters on video cameras is abyssmal, you’re forgetting that a lot of movie piracy is occuring with the help of theater staff nowadays. ie-- people who work in the theater that have access to the materials are the ones posting to kazaa and such (I’m thinking LOTR:ROTK, for example). 2. DVD copying is not as horrible as you make it out to be; maybe you just don’t know what you’re doing (which, judging from your OP, wouldn’t surprise me). I’m NOT advocating that anyone copy a DVD or distribute such material, but DVD rippers output perfect quality (and why not, a DVD is a digital data representation anyway). Right, so, I believe the movie industry is losing a lot more than you think. Simultaneously, I believe that CD prices aren’t as outrageous as you claim. That said, P2P is awesome and-- guess what-- I still buy CDs and contribute otherwise to artists. ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2004, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-letter-on-the-riaa-and-why-i-hate-them/229106/28 "2004-02-14T07:59:57Z")
I think you should sign it “Lazlo Toth.” ---
**Author:** ![Toddly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/22d042/32.png) [@Toddly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toddly)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2004, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-letter-on-the-riaa-and-why-i-hate-them/229106/29 "2004-02-14T08:54:35Z")
Sonic, you will not get any sympathy with an attitude like you expressed. P2P file sharing has affected the sale of CD’s and increasingly so in the last 3 years. The music industry had better adapt or they are screwed. Don’t buy the damn CDs is the best message that can be sent to these companies. KGS …great post. Exactly my thinking. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Badger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/848f3c/32.png) [@Dead\_Badger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Badger)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2004, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-letter-on-the-riaa-and-why-i-hate-them/229106/30 "2004-02-14T11:08:38Z")
> [@robertliguori](#): > > Copyright infringement !=, always has !=, and always will != theft. If you must use inane metaphors, call it trespass. If I break into a movie theatre and watch a movie without paying, I haven’t stolen…You know what? You’ve doubtless heard the arguments and the metaphors before. I won’t bother. Then you’ll have had it explained to you that the concept of copyright theft (ooh! a modifier? how novel…) has existed for a very long time, and that merely because you choose to apply a stupidly literal interpretation to some word you feel casts your behaviour in too negative a light does not make what you do just fine. “Woe is us, this concept of non-tangible property is just too hard for us to master; we are doomed to continue taking stuff that is not ours until someone comes up with a suitably distinct word!” Pfft. What the hell does it matter what we call it? Call it “scrotum” for all I care. _You do not own the rights to what you are taking_. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2004, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-letter-on-the-riaa-and-why-i-hate-them/229106/31 "2004-02-14T11:26:29Z")
> [@](#): > > All P2P debate aside, it is true that the RIAA is just one big racketeering organization. $18.99 per CD, and who gets all that money? Certainly not the artist, who earns no more than $0.50 per unit sold, IF THEY’RE LUCKY…and that’s AFTER paying back the cost of the recording session, music videos, etc. I hate the RIAA too, but that’s overly simplistic. The artist shouldn’t get ALL the money. A lot of people are involved in the making of an album and they all have to get paid. People who do the liner notes, legal things, shipping, etc. need money, too. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2004, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-letter-on-the-riaa-and-why-i-hate-them/229106/32 "2004-02-14T11:29:14Z")
Sorry, I got sidetracked. **Sonic** , your letter makes you sound like a giant, shrieking, hysterical numbskull. But I don’t think you’ve given a false impression. No representative will read it unless you’ve bolded and capitalized the phrase “naked teenage whores,” in which case I bet a few will give it a second glance. However, ‘I don’t like this product, so I shouldn’t have to pay for the stuff I do like’ is reasoning only a total dunderhead would even attempt, let alone send to members of Congress. Oh, and you spelled “losing” wrong. Looser. ---
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2004, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-letter-on-the-riaa-and-why-i-hate-them/229106/33 "2004-02-14T11:55:05Z")
> [@Dead Badger](#): > > Pfft. What the hell does it matter what we call it? Call it “scrotum” for all I care. _You do not own the rights to what you are taking_. You assume that a person _needs_ “rights” in order to make a copy of some digital information. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2004, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-letter-on-the-riaa-and-why-i-hate-them/229106/34 "2004-02-14T11:56:55Z")
> [@](#): > > You assume that a person needs “rights” in order to make a copy of some digital information. If it’s obviously owned by someone else, he does. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Badger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/848f3c/32.png) [@Dead\_Badger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Badger)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2004, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-letter-on-the-riaa-and-why-i-hate-them/229106/35 "2004-02-14T12:16:30Z")
> [@Mr2001](#): > > You assume that a person _needs_ “rights” in order to make a copy of some digital information. Well spotted. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2004, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-letter-on-the-riaa-and-why-i-hate-them/229106/36 "2004-02-14T12:21:14Z")
> [@Sonic 1992](#): > > I only buy Used CD’s now. I looked into the so-called “legal sites” > > If you decide to be an RIAA Sucker and buy music online, here’s what you get: > > 1 . Music in a totally locked up format that you cannot do $hit with. > 2. Cancel your sky high monthly subscription, and POOF you loose your music > 3. You cannot save or transfer to another deviceor computer!! Good 'ol hell sent DRM! > 4. Just like cellphones are a ripoff, If you don’t download music one month or so, YOU STILL PAY!!! Looks like you missed iTunes. 1. you can burn a normal CD directly from the downloaded AAC file, then do whatever you want from it. The only restrictions are that you can’t trade the AAC file directly and can’t convert directly to .MP3 2. no subscription 3. see #1 above 4. see #2 above Songs are $1 each, less than your precious 45s, albums are typically $10, I think. By my count you used 77 exclamation points in your letter, I think you should have upped it to an even 100, just so they would notice you. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2004, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-letter-on-the-riaa-and-why-i-hate-them/229106/37 "2004-02-14T14:56:46Z")
> [@Mr2001](#): > > You assume that a person _needs_ “rights” in order to make a copy of some digital information. In that we’ve had copyright laws since 1790, based on principles set down in England in 1710, the idea that a person needs “rights” to copy information created by someone else isn’t a particularly new idea. The medium is just different in this case. ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2004, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-letter-on-the-riaa-and-why-i-hate-them/229106/38 "2004-02-14T16:29:14Z")
> [@Mr2001](#): > > You assume that a person _needs_ “rights” in order to make a copy of some digital information. Furthermore, **Mr2001** , it is extremely disingenuous to call a musical composition such as a symphony, or a literary creation such as a novel mere “information.” It would be like harvesting luxury automobiles from parking lots because they are mere “resources,” or pocketing diamonds because they are “rocks,” or killing humans because they are “animals.” The word applies but it is woefully top-tier and vague. _Some_ resources, _some_ rocks, _some_ animals, _some_ information is not the same as the rest. The details of the War of 1812 is “information.” The 1812 Overture is _cre_ation. ---
**Author:** ![Cyrokk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@Cyrokk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyrokk)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2004, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-letter-on-the-riaa-and-why-i-hate-them/229106/39 "2004-02-14T17:58:10Z")
> [@Sonic 1992](#): > > (like all the others they fought, like the DOUBLE CASSETTE DECK, the DAT, The Fact That CD Recorders Could’ve Come Out Many Years Earlier) When exactly was DAT a threat to the RIAA? DAT is a two track recording medium essentially like cassette. It thrived for a short time only because computer recording technology was not yet up to the task to record, process, and store uncompressed digital tracks. DAT machines are in pawn shops because computers can now handle the task. So, you think you are slapping the RIAA in the face by downloading free MP3s, eh? I guess if you ignore the crap quality of the MP3 format, ignore the possibility that you miss out on all the little things that come with a purchased cd, such as artwork, lyric sheets, etc., and ignore the fact that Kazaa is a pandora’s box of computer virus exposure, then yeah, you are sticking it to the man. I think I will just prefer to do it the stupid way: check out a group’s website, listen to sample tracks of all the songs on the cd, and buy direct from the website if so desired. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Ilsa\_Lund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a6a055/32.png) [@Ilsa\_Lund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ilsa_Lund)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2004, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-letter-on-the-riaa-and-why-i-hate-them/229106/40 "2004-02-14T18:15:16Z")
> [@Michael Ellis](#): > > Ilsa, that was fucking brilliant. Thanks. You’re not going to start proposing again, are you? :D:D [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-letter-on-the-riaa-and-why-i-hate-them/229106.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-letter-on-the-riaa-and-why-i-hate-them/229106.md?page=3)