Internet piracy about undeveloped artists

Beware music downloaders and file sharers! The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is watching you, and downloading an MP3 of 'that one song, by that one band from, like, the '80s' could land you in court. \nNot really, but hundreds of filesharers have been subpoenaed by the RIAA's attorneys in one of the more ridiculous legal actions of the past few years. Among the RIAA's claims are that filesharing is theft, that it diminishes the value of recorded music and that it is primarily responsible for the recent downturn in record sales. These positions are absurd because each is a case of chickens coming home to roost.\nFilesharing is theft if someone other than the copyright holder uploads the video, music, text or still photographs and makes it available to others without compensating the copyright holder. But the fact that major labels are up in arms about it is offensive. \nFor most of the last century, recording artists were saddled with contracts that bound them for their entire careers and compensated them with ridiculously low royalty rates. Any advances or costs incurred while recording or promoting the record are considered loans, and in the modern era, after recording a record, promoting it and shooting a video, even successful artists can wind up hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt to their label. Bands that don't sell 50, 100 or 500 thousand records often end up worse off financially than if they'd never signed a deal at all. Crying foul about fan filesharing betrays a sickening level of greed and cynicism on the part of major labels. \nThe RIAA also claims that filesharing diminishes the value of recorded music and demeans artists. This is pretty rich coming from an industry that places cattle calls for singers, creates contrived pop stars and discards them as soon as the public loses interest. Does filesharing diminish the value of recorded music any more than the steady stream of terrible records that are heavily hyped for six months and end up in bargain bins a year later? \nThe eternal quest for the "next big thing" has made artist development less of a priority, and major labels are not nurturing the careers that will produce a records on par with Sgt. Pepper's or Songs In the Key of Life. If labels dispose of artists so easily, why should the public value them?\nRecord sales are down and the RIAA knows why. It's YOUR fault, evil filesharer. Never mind that the economy is in recession, major labels are putting out few records worth buying, and that after 20 years, CDs cost pennies to produce and still cost up to $18 retail. \nWhat never seems to come up is that independent labels like Epitaph, Vagrant, Fat Wreck and Definitive Jux regularly sell in the hundreds of thousands. Many more independents like Hydra Head, Anticon, Relapse and Nuclear Blast move 25,000 to 50,000 copies of their bigger releases. Independent labels are able to pay much larger royalty rates than the majors while delivering records to retail outlets for a significantly lower price. These small scale operations are nibbling away at the edges of the market, and a handful of artists like Dashboard Confessional are taking giant bites out of it.\nLet's face it, everyone wants something for free, and if anyone knows about ripping people off, it's record labels. They are afraid that filesharing will destroy their industry, just like Hollywood was terrified of television, and then VHS and DVD machines. \nMore likely, filesharing and the anarchic nature of the Internet has forced a shakeup in the recording industry. Its business practices are under attack by artists and the public, parties that are both tired of being taken advantage of. It seems that common sense is starting to prevail as retail prices are falling and fairly-priced MP3 stores come online. The RIAA needs to take another significant step towards restoring the recording industry's credibility and drop the lawsuit against music filesharers. \nOnly then can they start rebuilding the trust of recording artists and the music-buying public.