Flailing In The Tar Pit

[filkertom]

Got an e-mail this morning from catlin, referring to this pathetic joke of a scare tactic by the Retarded Imbeciles Attacking Audiophiles:

Given the recent RIAA official statement that making copies of disks for personal use is copyright infringement, I wanted to ask your opinion on it, and your preferences for your customers. My husband and I have most of your work, and have bought it for others, but I never keep my purchased disks in the car. I had always copied them, so that if my car was broken into I did not lose a disk I cared about. To blasted hard to find good filk music locally to replace it! If this is something you object to, I will be happy to stop, but it had not occured to me that that would be illegal.

Thank you,
Catlin

(And thank you, Catlin, for letting me quote you.)

My reply, very slightly tweaked:

Honestly? The RIAA can bite me. Actually, I might use this letter as an example to post on my LJ and web site, if you don't mind.

I think the RIAA is full of shit on this. It's yet another avenue they're trying to close, another way they're treating customers like criminals.

My position is very simple: If you got the music from me (or an authorized dealer, e.g., Bill & Gretchen, Juanita, CD Baby, one of the digital distro sites that carry a few albums) legally, for your own use, you can do what you want.

I ask that you do not copy them and pass 'em around to people (except for the freebies, such as the 128 Kbps iTom and FuMP songs). I insist that you do not copy them and sell them to people. I do not allow you to pass off my work as yours, or to sample it without permission for profit.

That's pretty much it.

Basic archival stuff? Go wild. Backing up on your hard drive? MP3 player? Laptop, iPhone, an extra copy or two of the CD for the car, or for theft insurance? Sending a track or two to a friend, or making a small sampler CD, to introduce a friend to my stuff? Absolutely. I consider those reasonable uses, and I have no problem with them.

I don't have DRM of any kind on the CDs or MP3s, and don't intend to, ever. (I'm afraid I have no control over whatever DRM the digital distro sites, e.g., iTunes, may put on them.) My business model is based on trusting my customers to pay me, and trying to charge a fair rate for my work. So far, it seems to be working wonderfully. And I bet that sort of thing pisses off the RIAA to no end.

Thanks so much for asking. I do appreciate it.

Tom

The RIAA is scared out of their minds. Their gravy train is going over the cliff, and they have no idea what to do except to terrorize their customers. (And, yeah, terrorize is the word. Threats of jail time and multibillion dollar fines for copying MP3s and bootlegging CDs?) They understand nothing of music, nothing of the connection between musicians and music fans, and nothing of customer service. All they see is their big bucks flitting away, because no one needs them to distribute the music anymore.

Thoughts?

Comments

[twfarlan.livejournal.com]

Seems reasonable to me. More, it seems to fall in line with previous court decisions on "fair use" when copying media.

[moquif.livejournal.com]

What is the purpose of the RIAA these days? Is it possible for an artist to survive, even thrive, without their help? Nothing is scarier than a large powerful organization that suddenly lost its purpose.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

It is. I do. I'm not making huge amounts of money, but I'm paying the bills, and enjoying myself immensely.

[mouser.livejournal.com]

...enjoying myself immensely.

Hey, aren't you supposed to be SUFFERING for your art? *Obviously* you're not doing it right!

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

I was until my art was all I did....

[mouser.livejournal.com]

*blink*

That sounds almost like lyrics...

[voiceofkiki.livejournal.com]

Agreed. Hell, that could be the basis of a really kick-ass song. :D

[moquif.livejournal.com]

Don't get me wrong, paying the bills and enjoying yourself is very important. But to some artists the fame and money takes priority. Yeah, very shallow I know. Can they get what they want without the RIAA "help"? I'm wondering what would happen if the top 50 RIAA artists dropped RIAA and decided to go it alone. What does the RIAA suppose to do for artists in this day and age in the first place? It sounds like it's a union that's desperate to stay revelant.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Well, that's kinda exactly the point. That's why I wrote "(Don't Gotta Be A) Big Star (http://filkertom-itom.blogspot.com/2007/10/052-dont-gotta-be-big-star.html)". There are two kinds of people in the world: those who want more money for themselves, and those who don't (the latter group includes people who want more money to do things for others). And I'm sure the ones who want more more more think my priorities are as screwed up as I think theirs are.

As far as I can tell, the point of the existence of the RIAA has evolved from the mechanical distribution of rights and royalties, the recognition of who's on top of the charts, etc., to the dominion over same. They call the shots. They say who's hot, who's not, who's in stores, who's on the radio. Thing is, the internet screws that equation to hell. Check out Rob's FuMP song for today (http://www.thefump.com/fump.php?id=1002), and you'll get an idea of what I mean.

The RIAA is, at this point, a mob-style enforcer of rules that have already been broken, circumvented, and rendered obsolete. And, because those rules are how they get their money, they're doing everything they can to fight back. Problem is, they haven't got anything... least of all, an understanding of how the internet works.

[moquif.livejournal.com]

Yep, I was thinking of "Don't Gotta be a Big Star" when I wrote the initial question. (I was tired, didn't make it to midnight before I crawled in bed.) I guess that means if you want to be a big star, the RIAA has to be involved. Because money screws up everything. If you want to be big and wring every nickel out of your music that you can, you need to know exactly where you stand on the charts, in stores, and on the radio.

Remember what Palpatine told Anakin, "People with power are afraid of loosing it." and money is power. By controlling the flow of money in the form of royalties, the RIAA has power and they want to protect that power by keeping ways of bypassing them illegal. You maintain power by maintaining control. If they could find out who humms their copywrited songs and charge them for that, they would. Remember when used CD stores were big and the controversy they generated? The RIAA wasn't part of the equation and they wanted to be because it gave them a measure of control and a slice of the profits.

Music has stopped being about entertainment and has become a business. Until the RIAA and organizations like that loose power, it's going to stay that way.

[lizreay.livejournal.com]

I think they're shooting themselves in whatever body parts they have left, having already shot off their feet a long time ago. If I can't transfer the music from my CDs to my music player, why would I want to buy a physical CD? I do most of my music listening on my iPod. If this is going to be the Way of Things, I'm going to be buying all my music electronically. Frankly, thanks to the DRM debacle, I pretty much already was.

[stevemb.livejournal.com]

Along with everything else, this nonsense erodes the credibility of attempts to combat real infringement that undermines the legitimate prerogatives of copyright holders.

[wayward-va.livejournal.com]

Only in the entertainment industry could you imagine treating your suppliers like dirt and your customers like criminals is a viable business model.

[sethb.livejournal.com]

The RIAA used to say that copying a CD you bought to your iPod was just fine.

[stevemb.livejournal.com]

Their statements are heavily lawyered up, in a way that creates FUD about the legality of format-shifting music you already bought (instead of buying it all over again) while giving them wriggle room for denial in case their latest attempt to curtail fair use turns out to be an overreach.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Mitch Albom wrote a column (http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m5072/is_37_25/ai_108098463) a few years ago about buying the same album multiple times for different music formats. Everything still applies, and likely will for awhile.

[sethb.livejournal.com]

Spread it widely, don't let them get away with rewriting history. (http://web.archive.org/web/20070516072606/http://www.riaa.com/issues/ask/default.asp#stand)

[nightmarewriter.livejournal.com]

Speaking of this, Boing Boing just posted an article having to do with this about the ASCAP's efforts to attack CC licences, and showing Larry Lessig, the creator of the CC, pointing out how full of crap that was:

http://www.boingboing.net/2008/01/01/ascaps-creative-comm.html

Spread the word!

[mouser.livejournal.com]

I was in Best Buy recently and happened to spy a recent Matchbox Twenty recording. Although I can't recall a single song by them, I immediatly purchased it.

It was recorded as MP3s on a tumbdrive. (Okay a "braclet drive") (http://www.amazon.com/Exile-Mainstream-Bracelet-Matchbox-Twenty/dp/B000WETHXA/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1199140519&sr=1-10)


I purchased it as a show that it's the GOOD way to distribute.


As for the RIAA they're freaking INSANE. Funny
that they're saying kind of thing NOW.... (http://www.boingboing.net/2007/12/31/record-industry-prac.html)

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

BNL has been doing that for a few years as well. We were considering it for awhile for The FuMP's year-end compilation -- we still may be, in fact; I've kinda lost track of that conversation.... ;)

[palenoue.livejournal.com]

Ooo! Ooo! Can we buy flash drives of the next FuMP album with the plastic cover in the shape of our favorite FuMPer chibi?

[jannyblue.livejournal.com]

Ooo! Ooo! Can we buy flash drives of the next FuMP album with the plastic cover in the shape of our favorite FuMPer chibi?

Unfortunately, creating custom flash-drives is prohibitively expensive. :-(

[palenoue.livejournal.com]

Not if you do it the way a friend and I used to do custom Pez dispensers:

1) get cheap flash drives, the no-frills models that look like a pack of gum
2) get super sculpty and mold the chibi FuMPers, be sure to include indentation for flash drive
3) bake sculpty chibi, make mold (numerous ways to do this, pick one that works best)
4) make several copies from molds, paint and modify as needed
5) send final models to plastics company that will make, and maybe paint, a hundred copies cheap
6) glue flash drives into chibis, copy mp3s onto drives
7) sell them as premium edition FuMP collectable miniature gaming figurines
8) send free ones to Dr Demento and other high-profile people
9) wear earplugs to dampen effect of hundreds of fans going "Squee!" at the same time

When we did this with pez dispensers we were able to get them produced for something like $3 each, then people were offering us $20-$30 each the second we sat down in the booth (it helped that we only had 20 of each figure, thus ensuring "rare" status)

I'm not saying it will be easy, but it should be fun and noteworthy. A good way to set FuMP apart from other online music projects.

[louisadkins.livejournal.com]

Sounds good to me.

[voiceofkiki.livejournal.com]

I loathe these people. LOATHE. Despise. Abhor. I'm thinking of learning every language ever known to humanity in hopes that I may one day have enough words to describe my hatred for the RIAA and the MPAA.

*fumes*

[archanglrobriel.livejournal.com]

My sentiments exactly. They make me, an ardent music fan, want to buy nothing that they might profit from or have interacted with in any way.
Conversely, when I find out someone's -not- involved with the RIAA, I want to buy their album more, even if I'm not enamored of the music.
There really are no words to describe the level of seething loathing I have for those people.

[bayushisan.livejournal.com]

Remember we at the RIAA only want to make sure we get what's ours.


I really don't have much use for the RIAA anymore. Beyond the occasional trip to iTunes I may start to look for other venues to get the music I like. I wonder if it would be possible to write a song using every word for hate in refrence to the RIAA. If I were a songwriter myself I'd try to do it.

Fred points out

[capplor.livejournal.com]

that not only does his 160-GB iPod have more memory than he could afford to fill from iTunes (being interested in songs, not movies), but the item itself came with software that easily transfers CDs, with cover art & everything.

Is RIAA going to sue Apple? I want a ringside seat for that.

--Robin

[jmthane.livejournal.com]

The RIAA, as I have stated before in other places, can kiss my lily white ass. I, too, have no use for them. In fact, same with ASCAP and BMI - when we did copyrighted tunes on the Minstrosity CDs, we went directly to the source (composer) for permission and fees.

I don't deal with those organizations, and I won't deal with those organizations. Period. They, and the major labels, are trying to kill the recording industry. Screw dat.

[nagasvoice.livejournal.com]

Creative Commons (CC) has various well-defined forms of copyright available, and you can register your works with them so people can check on it for further use. I think if your wishes are registered that way, your customers have a pretty good legal argument that they can legally copy disks for backup use in their cars and ipods & etc. It's certainly a clear indicator of your wishes as the creator of the work.
I haven't been on the CC's blog recently to check whether RIAA's bored attorneys on retainer have been trying to go after them too.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

CC actually works with copyright, not as a replacement. All the iTom and FuMP songs are released under a CC Attribution Noncommercial ShareAlike license, and I may go back and release my other albums under the same terms.

[nagasvoice.livejournal.com]

Yay! Thank you. Of *course* you're way ahead of me on all that.

[mdlbear]

I'm using the same license. I came up with a good slogan while explaining it a couple of days ago: "Fair use is free advertising."

[palenoue.livejournal.com]

I just wish there was an easy way to _find_ non-RIAA tainted music to buy. There have been several times where I googled for days and found nothing, then a few months later I accidently stumble across a place that has everything I was looking for, and that place never once showed up on any of my google attempts.

Like Leslie Fish, I'd love to buy a few albums but so far it's either cassettes (I don't have a cassette player) or a compilation album that I already have, yet I keep hearing Fish songs on various sources (like the Mad Music Show).

[the-s-guy.livejournal.com]

Heh. People need a portable RIAA detector. Something like a pen with a barcode reader in the tip and red and green LEDs.

It could also detect DRM and MPAA items.

[kirylyn.livejournal.com]

(sorry, don't have a good filking icon)

I LUV Tom's song 'I wanna be on Napster' which if the RIAA had just left alone, it wouldn't have to deal with the mess it created itself.

as soon as it started complaining about Napster, people started going to the site to see what all the fuss was about and it just turned into a gigantic snowball from there and its still rolling downhill.

You adapt or you die, the RIAA isn't adapting and deserve to die

how do those music bracelets work??

[mdlbear]

Hope you don't mind my quoting a little of this post over here.

[wolfger.livejournal.com]

Greedy bastards are trying to work this both ways. Are we licensing the right to a copy of a song, or are we buying a CD? If we're buying, we can do whatever we like with our property. If we're licensing, and we lose (or have stolen) the physical copy, we are entitled to a replacement. They want to give us the short end of both sticks. I say screw them.

[mg4h.livejournal.com]

I realized a while back that I don't use my CDs much anymore, aside from occasionally playing them through the TV speakers. The rest of the time, the music is ripped to my machines, and played from there through headphones or speakers or copied to the ipod for trips.

I have my CDs. They're in a box. They're not taking up valuable living room shelf space anymore, because I don't *need* them on a day to day basis. I have over a hundred CDs. I am not going to drag them all out the next time I want to make a mix for a party.

The RIAA are a bunch of dickheads. I buy my music in CD format when I can, or online through non-DRM format when I must. I will NOT buy DRM music, because I do NOT share it. I paid good money for it, I'm too selfish to give away what I legally paid for - but they can keep their noses out of what I do inside my house with that music. I have archival copies of my music on three different machines now, in case my house explodes. They're all on secured machines.

Grrrr!