[photo courtesy of Flickr user Toshi Hoo]
The slow death rattle for the major record labels continues. After 10 years, the geniuses at the RIAA finally decided that it's probably not smart for business to continually sue your own customers. I know, it's a revolutionary concept.
Much like their unceremonious retreat from DRM-laden digital music, the brain trust at the RIAA realized their customers aren't necessarily "criminals" for downloading music for free and that maybe they don't shop at iTunes or Rhapsody because they want a little more control over the music they buy. Of course, rather than focus their energy on harnessing the powerful marketing power of free digital distribution, the RIAA instead plans to redirect their lawyers towards Internet service providers.
I suppose the silver lining in all of this is that from now on the worst that can happen for downloading copyrighted music is your ISP cutting you off completely. It's still a stupid penalty, but at least it's preferable to spending thousands of dollars defending yourself against a rigged judicial process. So, for now I will rejoice in the end of this sordid chapter in music history and crack a beer in celebration that I managed to escape the clutches of the RIAA over all these years and have TONS of music to show for it.
Much like their unceremonious retreat from DRM-laden digital music, the brain trust at the RIAA realized their customers aren't necessarily "criminals" for downloading music for free and that maybe they don't shop at iTunes or Rhapsody because they want a little more control over the music they buy. Of course, rather than focus their energy on harnessing the powerful marketing power of free digital distribution, the RIAA instead plans to redirect their lawyers towards Internet service providers.
I suppose the silver lining in all of this is that from now on the worst that can happen for downloading copyrighted music is your ISP cutting you off completely. It's still a stupid penalty, but at least it's preferable to spending thousands of dollars defending yourself against a rigged judicial process. So, for now I will rejoice in the end of this sordid chapter in music history and crack a beer in celebration that I managed to escape the clutches of the RIAA over all these years and have TONS of music to show for it.
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