Reader comments

I just want to thank you, and I am totally 100% in support of you. I will be sure that everybody is hearing about this at school this Monday. Down with the RIAA!!!!!   - Josh Souza

I figured I should do what I can to help you in the effort.  Therefore, I attached a PDF of the flyer you have posted on your website. That way, instead of posting lots of formats that require pay-software, you can post a universal document which may be viewed with free readers.

Regards,
Colby Jordan

Hey, guys, I stumbled across your website while fuming over articles on the internet about radio station payola. I must say, good for you, absolutely, for maintaining this site. I've been telling people all along that Napster is good for artists because it gets people to their shows and exposes their music to listeners that aren't going to hear it on their bullshit local ClearChannel affiliate.

I play with a band called Mason Brothers in Richmond, VA. We're not what any record exec would call "marketable" - no hot chick out front, no crazy antics, no long hair, no gimmicky hooks at all. We're just a 7-piece band that writes great songs, and who'd want to hear that, right? It is frustrating as a fringe artist to encounter roadblock after roadblock as you try to make your way through the world of musical performance.

I have felt for years that it was just plain bizarre that such a lack of talent was being rewarded in the music industry. How could so many people be so blatantly manipulated by middle-management suits into thinking that "American Idol" is worth a damn musically? Why isn't Ashlee Simpson pelted with tomatoes every time she's near a microphone? Why does anyone think actresses who can't even act sing great songs, too? Does anyone actually believe that Three Doors Down truly rocks? I could go on and on. . .

Sour grapes? Yeah, a little. . .I can admit to that. Mason Brothers will rise above this, and so will all the other bands like us that are forced into the background. The reason for that, I am convinced, is through file sharing over the internet. It is our only real chance to get heard, and I'd like to applaud you folks at dontbuycds.org for sticking up for us, for all of us.

Sincerely,

Zak Billmeier
Mason Brothers, Richmond, VA
www.masonbrothers.org

Hello,

I am a classical music fanatic and, presently, the only really practical way of obtaining recordings of my favourite performances is through cds. I have long suspected that, since the conversion from vinyl, that the per unit profit margins for music have skyrocketed. I think that if the general public actually knew how much profit was being skimmed out of this medium, it would be scandalized.

Despite being suspicious, I haven't been able to track down much raw data on profit to cost ratios of cds. My suspicion is that the profit margin is probably among the highest, if not by far the highest, of any consumer product on the market today. I know at least that, since the introduction of cds, the cost to produce the has dropped dramatically, to about one third what it was initially. The real cost, furthermore, of production is (I think, without knowing) much lower than it was to produce vinyl records, yet even now, 25 years or more since they were introduced, the price of cds remains considerably higher.

I would be very grateful if you could direct me to internet sources for facts and figures about cd pricing and profit margins.

Thank you.

Oleg M. Roslak

Dear Oleg,
 
As you have observed, information like this not easy to obtain in a definitive form, but some of it is available if you dig. Here is an article that says pressing and packaging a disk costs major labels about 80 cents, and small independent labels between $1.50 and $2.50 in US dollars. That is a huge markup indeed.  http://www.negativland.com/minidis.html
 
The labels deny these figures, claiming all kinds of costs beyond pressing and packaging, but they can never explain why LP and cassette cost more to produce, but retail for less. Here is the industry's take by a producer named Miles Copeland. I think it is baloney, but here goes.  http://www.riaa.com/news/guestcolumns/milescopeland.asp  I think it is also important to note that no royalties have to be paid to Mozart, Bach, Beethoven and other classical composers whose works are in the public domain. For that reason alone classical music CDs, your favorite, should not cost a lot.
 
Instead of just having to decide which to believe, let's look at CD duplication services. Here are two that give examples of pricing without you submitting a bid first.
 
http://st14.startlogic.com/~forgerec/cds/cd_pricing.htm 
http://www.diskfaktory.com/enter/024/default.asp?AffID=024
 
Their pricing gets cheaper and cheaper as the quantity goes up. This supports that claim that it costs the big labels less than a dollar, considering that they press thousands at a time, and some labels own the equipment so they don't have to outsource manufacturing. You may be able to find more information by Google or Yahoo, but the recording industry goes to great lengths to hide their real costs from the public and artists. It is scandalous. By the way, would you like me to put your letter on reader comments?
 
Sincerely,
Matthew Brown
Webmaster of Dontbuycds

Matthew,

Feel free to put my comments on reader comments.

There is one other thing to add about royalties not owing on classical music. Many of the recordings re-issued by the majors still retail for more than vinyl used to. However, the reissues are often of legendary recordings, which, in addition to not requiring composer royalties, are often 50+ years old. Thus, the costs incurred in producing them were written off long ago, and, if actually over 50, are (in Canada and the UK, at least) public domain. The 50 year rule in particular has created some downward pressure on prices from the majors, since companies like Naxos (God bless them) collect multiple copies of pristine 78s from private collectors of public domain recordings to produce a pristine cd transfer, and reissue these at bargain prices. This has forced companies like EMI to do their own reissues at about half the price they used to charge (which is equal to Naxos standard retail price) in order to compete. So far, however, EMI has not done this with all of its reissues. In fact, sometimes I will actually break down and pay double the price Naxos charges to have the EMI release, because they occasionally create the better transfer as they have exclusive possession of the master tapes (although no longer the exclusive right to sell and license the material).

I have a lot to thank Naxos for, and now Brilliant Classics as well. These labels are committed to releasing music at affordable prices. Brilliant, in particular, retails at no more than  CDN $5 per cd ( = US $4). They seem to be extremely diligent at scouring the earth for unused music licenses, charging bargain prices for their releases, and still somehow succeeding in the marketplace.

What I find particularly galling is that lowering prices (at least in the classical music market) possibly won't even hurt the labels' bottom line in any serious way. As anyone who has even only a very basic grasp of economics knows, lowering the price of a product will increase the number of units sold. Thus the current approach to classical music marketing appears to be self-destructive. They keep the price artificially high to create an "image" of exclusivity. This only means, however, that they shrink the potential market for this music, which I firmly believe exists, if only more people could afford to be exposed to it.

My hope is that companies like Naxos and Brilliant can drive the majors into bankruptcy. They seem to have a healthy awareness that keeping prices affordable actually stimulates growth in their target markets. If only the majors had the good fortune to hire some intelligent accountants.

Oleg M. Roslak

Toronto, Canada

Heyllo again!

Remember I mentioned a law in France which would make all file-sharing illegal and subject to heavy fines? Well the Parliament just overturned it and is asking for an amendment. This amendment, if passed, would make file-sharing absolutely legal!!

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000085&sid=avOoTq8aXkU8&refer=europe

The situation will probably keep being updated, but if you could post this on your website it would be great. Maybe other French people will see it, and if the amendment IS passed France would be (for once) an example for more nations to follow!

-LM

Hey, I just though I would inform you guys of a new law in France which
makes "anti-copy" programs on CDs legal. This includes programs which
won't even let you play the CD on a PC or a MAC :( It also plans to
treat every and any copied music as copyright theft and would induce
very heavy and severe fines. Even if the music is just on your PC.
Furthermore, tracking devices will also be allowed which will give out
info of what music you are playing, with what program, etc.
I find this really sad, but I'm also glad there are websites likes yours
that are a stand against the greedy music businessmen. Tomorrow I'm
going to take some sellotape and stick those flyers up ^_^

In your "letters from readers" section someone also suggests that
artists should sell their songs online directly. I find this a brilliant
idea! After all many other websites already sell downloadable music
online. It would be easy for artists to do the same; they could even
sell individual tracks, or a whole album... This method of sale makes
sense, when nowadays so many people use MP3 players and computers to
play their music. Plus it would attract much more traffic to their
website, and more people would be likely to buy other merchandise
(t-shirts etc) and check out their concert dates, and so on. They could
also directly control their income - raising or lowering the price of
their album/individual singles according to its popularity. I'm sure
paying a manager or a record company costs the same, if not more, than
setting up a website on a server with enough bandwidth.

Keep up the good work!!

-LM

Sony has given a good reason not to buy CDs

By utilizing a rootkit to hide its DRM software from its customers, Sony has
given us a compelling reason not to buy CDs anymore--as if there weren't
enough good reasons already.  It's ironic that one of the RIAA's favorite
arguments against P2P is that it opens you up to spyware and  viruses--but now,
thanks to Sony, you can get malware just by putting an audio CD into your
computer.  It's as if Sony is encouraging piracy.  With this kind of "reward"
for being honest and paying for music, Sony can be assured that a lot of
people will never make that mistake again.

 jstanley

Recording industry Association of America

1330 Connecticut Ave NW

Washington, DC 20036



To Whom It May Concern:

My mother always told me, "If you can't say something nice about someone or something, don't say anything at all." Fortunately, I finally found something positive to say about your fight against the common man's intention to fairly use the products he purchased from your member companies. It did take a while to do so, but here it is:

Because of your actions and my decision to boycott your companies due to those actions, I have found a wealth of songs by independent artists who allow some of their songs to be downloaded for free. It's kind of a "try-before-you-buy" feature.

Because of your actions, I have now been listening to such great songwriters/singers as Voltaire (who I listen to instead of "Weird Al" Yankovic and Tom Lehrer), Inkubus/Sukkubus (who has replaced Rumors of the Big Wave as a great Pagan song group), and others.

And NOT because of your actions but because I want to support these independent artists, I not only listen to their music, but I buy their CDs and merchandise. This ensures THESE people get my money and support to keep on creating their great works of art.

I would like to end this letter by asking you to read two books. (I am an avid reader myself, and have already read these. And will read and reread them again and again.) The first is "Free Culture" by Lawrence Lessig. In it, Lessig goes over why your actions will not only fail, but will ultimately bring about the destruction of your organization. (You can get this book for free at http://www.free-culture.cc/freecontent/.) The second book (in a lighter vein) is "Soul Music" by Terry Pratchett. In it, you will find three different characters that seem to relate to this problem: Dibbler (a greedy agent), the treasurer of the Musician's Guild (who threatened the characters who wouldn't pay the exorbitant guild fees) and Bud Y Holly (who insisted that music is art and should be there for people's enjoyment).

Anyway, when (if) you change the way you deal with your customers, I might start buying your products again. But don't count on it.
 

Dennis Yates

Recently I purchased a new Ford Focus 2005 model,
included was... get this... a MP3 CD player system. Plays
every mp3 I throw at it. Apparently the vehicle manufacturer
Ford is not in bed with the RIAA else they would not include
MP3 systems in new vehicles, right? I must say that I have
converted every single CD that I own to mp3 format cause
I don't want to wear my CD's. And no I don't share my music.
CD's are too expensive to begin with and I just can't afford to
buy new ones when a worn one goes out. As for copy protection
on music is wrong wrong wrong. If you buy a CD you own it, you
should be allowed to make backup copies of your music. If you
can't do that, you don't own the CD, and that's called renting.

As for the MPAA, guys, the actors make too much money
to begin with, how about you start paying them 10 bux
per hour like normal people and make they actually work
for a living. If I ever go to the movies again, I haven't been
there since I was a child, I want quality movies, actors that
can actually act, nothing that's manufactured in a special
effects studio, sure the movies look cool, but the actors
are like walking stiffs, I see more life from a zombie in the
night of the living dead. I find movies that was made
20-30-40 years ago hold up better then new ones.

Just my 2cents

Matt

Hello,

I am writing to say how DISGUSTED I am with the recording industry!

I bought this cd from Sanity and it had this copy protection on it, which installs this weird player; if I click cancel it ejects the disc. Me being who I am, was very simple to get past it; I mean come on Suncomm has to be the stupidest company if it was easily "cracked"

That’s not why I am angry though; I’m angry because I have friends who are independent, and they are tired of not getting any exposure anywhere because of the "public interest" bands. Public interest? I don't really like half the trash that comes out, and if I ever had kids, I would not want them listening to it. I hate them, so suck, and they WILL be taught a lesson. If they commit a crime, they should be punished HARDER then if we do it because they are a big corporation who should know better. Also, from looking at some sites I found out about a lawyer who made a pretty good point and has a pretty good way at how big corporation should be punished.

He says that if corporation do something wrong, they should be shut down for a period of time. It also argues that it would affect peoples jobs; well they wont do it again if people complain about losing their jobs, and the corporation wont do it again, or try and hide there illegal activities.

On P2P, there is a lot of "illegal software, music and DVD's" Its only illegal if you don’t own it. But I believe in try before you buy, if I don’t like it, return it; or in this case delete it. As of today I am no longer buying a single disc from any member of the RIAA or any similar branches. TRY BEFORE YOU BUY people; there is nothing wrong with it. I even bought heaps of CDs as a result, but only independent music.

Stefan,

Australia

Note to readers: Most comments posted here are from thoughtful, articulate people and are generally supportive. Sometimes however, we get hate mail from small minds barely capable of putting together a sentence. Here is one example with expletives censored, presented for your amusement.

eat s***

First of all I would like to say "You guys are f***ing stupid"

I'm not even sure what planet your from.

I put locks on my door cuz I know someone might take my television. You
little grubby net nerds have been hi-jacking copyright material for a long
time now. Your taking someones hard work. You guys act like you have the
right to share copyrighted material and the record industry is the big bad
wolf or something lol. I have an idea. How about you go out and buy a cd if
you like that artist. Support the artists that you enjoy. The only reason
why you would rip your music onto your computer is so you can trade it for
something else. Or perhaps to put it on an mp3 player? Well you can go BUY
music in digital form from many difference sources.

Go f*** yourselves.

David

Now, back to the kind of letters that are worth our time.

Hi there! I'm about half way through reading your site (Which I so far think is great). I've just come across where
you've said a copy protected CD went to #1 in June 2004 (Velvet Revolver "Contraband") and you've told people not
to buy it. Well, I'm not just suggesting this because I'm a fan of the band, but I have a more fair suggestion. I
have the Australian pressing and it DOES NOT contain any copy protection I know of. So, my suggestion is maybe to
recommend buying an Aussie import instead. That's all, thank you!

Keep up the good work

-Ben

You pwn

I love how you are displaying the truth. KoRn, in their
video "Ya'll Want a Single" it shows them destroying a CD store.
Nice vid. If you don't like the band, just watch the video. I have
to quote them...

"We are the ones breaking you down
We are the hope to drown out your sounds
All across the world, you fed what you found
All across the world, we're breaking you down..."

Nice song. Really sounds familiar. I just hate what America has
become now. A place full of no freedom and greed. America: Land of
the Greed, is what I think it has become. Don't get me wrong, I
love the country, just not what it has become. I could press on,
but I don't want to offend and more pencil pushing lawyers and
perhaps others I have already offended. I personally download
music and already have maybe 100 files using a program called
WinMX. It does not always download files, but it is free, and I
have to say, worth the download. Shockingly, Velvet Revolver songs
are on the program, not that I know they will download.
 

Nintendofann11

Questions from a lawyer...

Dear All,

            First, don’t jump to conclusions because of my title. By first right, I was (still am) a recording musician for the last 22 years of my life. In edition, I have worked on the inside of the music business this site is so down on. With that stated, I understand the argument from both sides of the fence.

             I have looked at several business models over the past five (5) years geared toward “changing the music industry.” However, I have yet to see a true successful model. I am greatly interested in seeking the power of the internet, file sharing, to promote “new” artists, but it is very allusive and nonexistent. Individuals have attempted to thrust different bands at my doorstep and say “file sharing made this bands career,” but I can never get the numbers to prove it.

             Music is a business. Artists need money to eat, live and make their music. Record companies need money to pay the artists, the royalties, business expenses (as illegal as some may be) and make a profit, hopefully. This is reality. At least today’s reality. CD sales have dropped because of file sharing. Regardless of your reasoning as to “why” we should file share, under present law it is theft. The sooner that is embraced and accepted the sooner you, your supporters and this website can make a difference.

             Currently, radio, films and television deliver the “new artists” to the world. This costs money. Most of the people who file share are searching for music or artists already known to them via the above means in some way or another. They cannot search for someone they don’t know! Make sense? It should, because that is where the real dilemma begins.

             How do you make known to the world “Joe and the Dyno Mutts” AND make money doing it? You cannot just place a song of the group on a file sharing network and expect them to take off. It doesn’t work. Why? No one knows them. Therefore, “Joe and the Dyno Mutts” will not have a music career that lasts very long.

             Until that is solved, the industry will not change. I would love to be able to find the elusive missing link and bring the industry up to date. However, investing money in a losing idea is not ideal for my future generations. I would encourage any thoughts and comments that would be helpful to resolve the missing step between the music industry and file sharing.

 Sincerely searching for an answer,

William D. Vaughn, Esq.

vaughnlawfirm@charterinternet.com 

To the kind attention of the staff of www.dontbuycds.org

 Dear DONTBUYCDS staff,

 It’s a real pleasure to invite you to visit GIOP’s Official Website, a new project that want to re-create true, screw, simple and genuine art of “roots” reggae … similar to the original one of 30 years ago.

 Real passion melodies, real instruments and just few digital effects: we want that the quality of our music depends just by the skill of the band (at this project took part some of the most important Italian reggae musicians, maybe you have already heard some of them…).

The project is focused on the genuine art of reggae (influenced by Bradley Nowell’s Sublime Stylee too!), with no commercial ties of any genre… to create a pure and free product that reflects the expressive necessities of the band members at 100%.

Lyrics examine the nowadays “sad” music system, principally ruled by economic interests. This is a “sad” reality that the musicians are constricted to follow… if they want to work and live with music.

We suggest you to listen to songs "People From Jamaica" (first single), "Tell Me" and “Look Inside The Blue” cause they clearly reflect our “roots” conception.

In alternative we suggest “Cunning Solution” (very conscious lyrics) and “Over My Head”, more influenced by rocksteady.

"Face The Music" (EP) album is full downloadable on the website… for free: in fact the good thing of music made just for passion… is that it can be decided to be given as a present.

So this is our present for you and for all true reggae musicians and lovers … that make music first of all for passion, then for money!

AS BOB SAID: “WHO MAKES MUSIC THINKING TO MONEY, HIS MUSIC WILL LOSE ITS VALUE.”

RESPECT.

 GIOP’s Band

www.giops.net

I'm glad that other people besides me are standing up to this. I've been file-sharing since I was twelve and I'm
lucky that I didn't get into trouble. File-sharing is no different than people taping something off TV. I sure
hope the RIAA changes their strict ways.

I think I figured out the real reason why the RIAA hates file sharing. I can definitely say that my buying habits have increased TREMENDOUSLY thanks to file sharing, but then I realized what I've been buying - bands on labels such as Nuclear Blast, Century Media, The End, and other smaller labels. Labels not with the RIAA. Whoops.

Mike


I found your site after surfing the web for "buy CDs"  I have a few comments after reading your stance on the music industry, etc.  First of all, I agree, the radio industry sucks, and there isn't a single old jazz or blues station in my listening market.  Second, rock music apparently is a dying monster.  It seems like every time I turn around, they are taking rock stations off the air, and then making these "corporate" rock stations that play the same top 40 schmooze over and over again until we are sick of the songs.  My question is why don't they play other songs by a Top 40 artist, not just the same 40 song play list.  Also, many stores are definitely asking too much for a CD.  The majority of an albums cost is the packaging, which most people don't bother with because the booklets are too small to see pictures or read lyrics.
 
Now for the disagreements/bad stuff.  Computers were never intended to be the primary stereo system in someone's home, or while traveling with a laptop.  While there are some who play CDs through the computer, most people try to save the songs onto a hard drive, thus having access to many songs without having to change out a CD each time.  The problem arises when songs get converted to MP3.  The max sound level for most MP3s is 160 to 192 kbps, and is nowhere near the quality sound of a CD, therefore it makes the point of buying a CD useless if you are going to listen to the music in this format.  Plus, I myself have downloaded songs from various sites before, and have run into several issues with file trading.  Number one, its a haven for viruses created by people with too much time on their hands.  Number two, consumers are misinformed by the labels on certain files because the person they are sharing from doesn't know how to look up the correct artist and song title.  Number three, a lot of the song sources are crap.  I can't imagine ten years from now if MP3s are the only form of music and people pay for such crappy sound, in addition to having crappy recordings from the source. 
 
People trade songs online for rare and hard to find tracks.  This has been a peeve of mine about the record industry for years.  Many artists catalogs have yet to be fully released/reissued on CD, and I have a whole wish list of rare stuff that I wish the record companies would release.  The reason they don't?  Not enough demand for the product.  Hell, if you can go online and just download the rare songs, that should be enough to appeal to the one percenters right?  What's the point in remastering them?  Sound quality!  You can find cassettes and vinyl cheaper now because hardly anyone uses that medium anymore.  Cassettes fade out after a couple of plays, and I have had this discussion with a few people that still cling to vinyl.  If I wanted to listen to vinyl, or those first issue mid 80's CDs, or MP3s with the sound quality as poor as 64 kbps, I'd rather listen to AM radio....there is NO comparison to the sonic quality of a remastered CD.  Unfortunately, some remasters are not even released in this country because of the lack of demand, and when people continue to promote the growth of file trading/sharing, there will be no demand for CDs anymore, so hang on to your Sgt. Pepper CDs, because someday they will be obsolete, right?
 
JB

Stop me if you've heard this one...

I have a theory.

Posit: Online distribution is the most cost effective means for
distributing digital content

Effect: This invalidates the modern recording company business model,
making them nothing more than an overblown marketing firm.

Result: Artists can now directly sell thier music to thier fans, and use an
independent 3rd party (or multiple 3rd parties) to market it if they wish.

The problem, of course, is that the recording industry will not just go
quietly into that good night. They will spend every last dollar trying to
convince artists, legislators, and consumers that they only way to sell
music is _their_ way, and any other way is
illegal/immoral/unethical/unamerican. And they have done a pretty good job
of convincing the first two groups that they are right.

So how do you fight this? Well, in order to have a commercially viable
business model, you really only need two things, a producer and a consumer.
The consumers are already onboard. Because of Napster and it's progeny,
they see the benefits of online distribution. They like it and they want
more. But while consumers beg for open, uncrippled digital music, they are
force fed things like PressPlay and Rhapsody. So how do we cut out the
middleman?

The answer, I believe, lies in the producer<->consumer connection. And if
the artists will not come to us, we must go to them. I propose that we
start a listing of mailing addresses for artists who have had thier music
shared on the Internet. The purpose of these listings is to allow consumers
to directly contribute to the people who created the music...the artists.
We should encourage people to send a check, cash, or money order, directly
to the artist, in the amount of the percentage of retail sales that the
artists would have received for digital music that has been downloaded.
Some estimates for this amount are as little as $0.05 a CD, so paying for
an entire collection of digital music would probably not cost more than
$100.00, but it would be money given directly to those who create the music
that we love.

I believe that artists will respond to this. Once the checks start piling
up, they'll start to wonder why they're giving such a large percentage of
thier hard earned income to record companies who do little more than act as
middlemen between them and thier fans. They'll start to wonder if selling
the music themselves directly to the fans would be possible and maybe, just
maybe, a few of them will break from the herd and run headlong toward
financial and artistic freedom.

Ben Rady

To Anyone who cares:
I'm a man of few words so I'll keep it simple.
I'm 21 & fairly loaded for my age.  I like to spend $$$ & I love music.  In fact, I had a t-shirt made that says "Music is the closest thing to God on Earth".  Anyhow, I probably purchase on AVERAGE 8-10 CDS EVERY MONTH (I said I loved music).  The point is that Share programs such as Napster only opened my eyes to new music forms.  Some of which are now my favorite bands & most of them smaller bands.  As my eyes were opened to new music I started to buy more music (funny how that works).  My point is that this whole ordeal is soooo American.  I guess Metallica wasn't rich enough so now the rich get richer & those smaller bands that I fell so in love with will never get a record deal because people will continue to not know who they are.  That's the biggest injustice of them all.  Up & coming bands thank you Lars, for never getting to rock out like you have, & you know for being such a bully you're really not that big of a guy.  Oh, don't forget that many of these hypocrites screaming about the Napster dilemma were once major liberals, or do nothing but dub other people's music...the list goes on.  Kind of ironic for a singer to stick his or her foot in their own mouth. PIGS I tell ya, PIGS!  Hey Lars, there is no such thing as an original thought.  You are not the son of God.  You listened to other music when you were young & that is where you got the ideas that made up the music you played.  It's called "Inspiration".  It's just sad that at the rate you're going the only thing you'll have to listen to when your old is Metallica. I just hope it doesn't all sound like Saint Anger (that shit was weak yo).

Peace, Love, & Music

Jesse Anderson - Moline, IL

Oh, one other thing.  Don't be afraid to tell these jokers what's what.
We the people...................................................................
KIR

A customer's letter to the labels.

Well I just purchased the following 2 CD's at my local shop Alfie's "Do You
Imagine Things?" and Sondre Lerche's "Two Way Monologue". I will no longer be
supporting any artists that are on your label. The CD won't play on my PC
without doing an install of the software you have provided. I bought a music cd
and not software. If I prefer Windows Media Player for my music CD's then so be
it, you cannot force me to use the software you have provided and hence you
have lost a customer.

Your fear of piracy has lead you to paranoia and down the wrong path. How do
you think I have heard of bands such as Alfie and Sondre Lerche and went out
and purchased their CD's.

Here are the steps
Go to www.allmusic.com
lookup an artist I know and like
look at the similar artist section
click on a band
read their bio and album reviews
download a some of their songs in mp3 format and listen to them
like what I hear go out and purchase the album
don't like what I hear delete mp3's
(I used to go to amazon.com to listen to a 30 sec sample but that is not enough
to make an informed decision).

Go to concert when in town.

Artist gets money and I have artwork and music. I refuse to download mp3's from
a pay service as the cost is too high in my opinion and a connection to the
band is lost.

As for my ticket to an upcoming Sondre Lerche concert, I have given it away.
It's just too bad that I can't get my money back for it.

Please read the attached pdf to enlighten yourselves as to the effects of
downloaded music.

No longer buying or supporting your artists and not downloading

Marijan Madunic

Your site is in violation of 18 USC 1030

Nevermind the subject, I thought I'd be a smart ass..

I enjoy your web site. It's very nice to see that people are actually
standing up against these assholes in the industry. I literally laughed
audibly after reading the bill to make P2P programs a felony and
recording in theatres a federal offense. The RIAA is a tyrant. Destroy
them. :)  Speaking of, these bills are only going to slow the
activities in the US.. I can promise that other countries are going to
laugh at something like this. Hell, SuSE in Germany has already said
they are not going to stop working on their Linux distribution;
basically giving the SCO the finger. I love it. I use SuSE. The SCO can
bite me. To date, I haven't seen them produce any proof that Linux
distributions are copied directly from UNIX in such a way they violate
copyrights. The SCO hasn't cared all this time that there are so many
Linux distributions-- they even released their own.

What I found highly amusing about the bit with the RIAA is that they
could subpoena me for downloading music.. music that I legally have a
right to, as I have purchased the CD in the past. You can browse my MP3
directory and you're not going to find 60 gigs of MP3s, I only download
what I've owned before. I'd love to be in court for that one, the RIAA
would be hit back nice and hard for several millions.

Welcome to America, where you can live free.. as long as you don't use a
computer for anything other than talking (Within guidelines. See
carnivore/DCS1000). It's literally to the point I have to write my own
bloody encryptions and chat programs just to talk to friends and family
to ensure they're actually PRIVATE conversations. How pathetic is that?
That in a land where we are supposed to be so free, you can't talk to
your own friends or family without fear of Big Brother listening,
looking to take you down for conspiracy or what ever bullshit offense?
I've been contacted by my ISP before and told that I was involved in
illegal activities and must stop immediately. (Checked the headers and
confirmed it with them, it was a legit e-mail from then.) I like to
learn as much as possible. This includes things that could be considered
terrorist-like or illegal under privacy acts. Just because I read it
doesn't mean I do it.. and just because I read it, I'm flagged for it.
Then if I talk about it to my friends, as they share my interests, then
it's conspiracy? What the hell?

Standing up against the RIAA [and SCO] is a great step. I'm already
there, and I hope everyone else gets there too. It won't be long before
people are writing and releasing extremely nasty viruses that don't just
ask for a cookie, but render the information on your system useless--
and I bet they'll contain strings like "**** THE RIAA" or "DOWNLOAD
MP3S". I'm rather steamed that I can't even use a really powerful
encryption, it's illegal. I can't say certain things online, or I get
nailed for conspiracy to commit, or pinned down related to some other
crime that's already happened.. like the guy who had all his computers
taken from the FBI under the belief he hacked and stole the HL2 source
code. Gee. I wish I could have the FBI kicking doors in for me too when
people tried to hack my servers. I reported over 200 hacking attempts to
the FBI, most low to medium-severity with a handful of high-severity..
several months later, nothing. What a response.. thanks for protecting
me, my company and my users there, guys. *shakefist*

If you'd like, I can whip a site for ya if your server can handle PHP..
nothing much for compensation, maybe just my company logo (Rather small,
won't take up 99% of the site like most advertisements). It looks a bit
like you're trying to keep it rather low bandwidth, though. Up to you.
Love the site.

  -Michael Martinek ("Akede")

Hi there Matt,
 
Just found your site from looking at some BBC letters.
 
Have you read recently, the British BPI has been throwing it's weight about?
 
Apparently, CDWOW in Hong Kong is not allowed to sell CDS to English people unless they are licensed for the EU. This only applies in England, so any one else in Europe can buy what they like, from where ever.
 
There was a big article about it in The Sunday Times Broadsheet recently
 
Best wishes
Kean

It's not just the recording industry and the RIAA, it's also the movie
industry and the MPAA.  I'd boycott them, but the Last Samurai was worth
every penny to see in the theater.  Terminator 3 wasn't, and I'd have
gladly pirated it (but my parents payed for the movie).

Also, until there's a good alternative, I'm afraid I will have to buy
CDs (or put them on my Christmas wish list).  iTunes just isn't there
yet.  What I need is a way to be able to download FLAC files of my
favorite songs, and I'm only willing to pay 10 cents or so.  The 99
cents of iTunes is still overpriced, considering what they pay to
provide the service, and it gives me mp3s, which are reduced quality, as
opposed to FLAC, which is as good as the CD.

David Masover

If you could either post this article on your site and/or send it on to groups/communities that may benefit from it I would appreciate it. http://www.mxdwn.com/feature.php?sid=38

Thanks

Fred Pilarczyk

Lars is an idiot

I hate the RIAA, They are a bunch of liars.
I have a little bit of info for them:
An "artist" is someone who creates something for the sake of creating it. If you make something to make money YOU ARE A BUSINESSMAN!
It is poignant how Independent musicians are for file sharing networks, because then their music is exposed, and Yet the RIAA claims P2Ps hurt sales.

The whole industry works together to fix the price of CDs. How much money do you think Lars actually gets from a Metallica CD? Not much. Considering it costs 20 bux a CD the whole band may make 3$ per CD. That is because all these other people are making the money, record labels, managers, lawyers, retailers, shippers, distributors, advertisers etc etc.
It would be different if they actually charged fair value for a CD they recorded. BUT THEY DON'T!

We need someone to SUE the RIAA for false advertisement. Those commercials they run about "stealing music" and comparing it to strong arm robbery. I would personally spit on whomever designed those adds.


Steve
feel free to post

Dear Sirs!

I'm absolutely agreed with your action. Protection CDs from copying - stupid idea. Some people can make a copy with digital sound cards, but some cannot even play it. So, it looks like many people MUST make illegal copies.

I live in small European country ESTONIA . Here situation more difficult. Simple CD, in shop, costs almost 20 $. 10 years ago average price was 10 $. Biggest part of this price, going to Estonian Authors' Society (EAU) . So, I don't buy CDs in Estonia .

Anyway I support your idea: "A consumer organization boycotting the recording industry".

 THX

 Felixz

I understand why you guys are pissed, but do you realize that you are not only hurting the labels but all the musicians as well. This is our bread and butter, this is how we pay the bills. It may not hurt the metallicas and britneys of the world but you are killing up and coming bands. The record company sees low sales, so they drop the bands before they can even really get started. You guys keep this up and eventually there won?t be much music. Who will have time to make it if you cant make a living off of it? I agree that something has to be done about the record industry but this is the wrong solution.

-Brad Dunn

My Response:

Dear Brad,
 
Those of us who are angry with the RIAA and the big labels have a lot of sympathy for musicians, but cannot continue patronizing an industry that treats customers like thieves. They must reform or perish, and that is that. Music existed for millennia before records, and will still exist if the recording industry as it exists today perishes. Have you considered that dontbuycds.org has never asked anyone to boycott concerts? We don't call for that at all. Attending a performance is a great way fans can patronize artists without handing money to the RIAA mafia. Buying CDs from the big labels, naively believing that a few cents will trickle down to artists only encourages the industry to continue abusing us. You will never convince people that buying recordings is a debt we owe. It isn't.
 
I am wondering if you have read an article by Todd Rungren about these issues? Here is a link. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/music/feature_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=2007230  You may also be interested in what Janis Ian had to say in two articles. http://www.janisian.com/article-internet_debacle.html    http://www.janisian.com/article-fallout.html  Also, Joni Mitchell had something to say. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/2329001.stm
 
The Todd Rungren piece is new, but Janis Ian and Joni Mitchell said what they did long before the RIAA sued a 12 year old girl, and a kindly old grandmother who had a Mac when Kazaa only runs on PC. They accused her of trading gansta rap. Imagine that!
 
I am curious. Are you a solo artist, or in a band? If you are on an indie label that is not affiliated with the RIAA, your label is not being boycotted. Check out the non-riaa music sources section on the external links page. Maybe you should ditch the label you are with now, and sign up with one of them.
 
Sincerely,
Matthew Brown
webmaster of dontbuycds.org

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.10/fileshare.html
Wired News Article about BigChampagne. Mentioned on Slashdot under the header "What the RIAA gets out of filesharing."

I would suggest adding this information to the rant section, in the paragraph discussing the benefits of filesharing. Perhaps also in the "Payola" section--it's slightly off-topic, but has a great deal of relevance when talking about marketing.

And perhaps you've seen the BBC article that claims that music sales are down over ten percent worldwide for the first quarter of 2003? I found it interesting that the author attributed the drop in sales to piracy, especially in light of a headline under "Related News" off to the side: Justin Timberlake is the top seller in the US this year. Pathetic.

About the site itself, I have only one comment: the "External Links" page is rather long. It would be nice to see that slightly better organized.

Ooops! The Yahoo News link, "Music Industry unveils tracking methods" has expired. Better get rid of it.

I do agree that a compact disc boycott is the right action to take. However, I believe that the long-term goal of this movement should be to do away with the recording industry entirely. You mention all of the relevant information but do not draw the larger conclusions from the data: the cost of producing a CD has fallen, the internet and p2p networks provide new, low-cost marketing methods. The level of technical expertise required to produce and distribute music has fallen dramatically.
The record industry exists because originally, the cost of production (including facilities) and marketing were prohibitive on the small scale. Obviously, the way to get larger returns on marketing is to reach a larger consumer base, and the result of both of those principles was the current situation. The **** that passes for "pop" music is also the result of marketing decisions, beginning with the introduction of radio. Radio was a vastly superior marketing method, but air time was limited, and thus extremely competitive. So, if you are a record label spending money on air time, you want to promote the bands and artists that will sell the best. As record labels enlarged, competition grew smaller, and in the absence of competition, the record executives determined more of the radio content. The decisions as to what artists to promote became more and more arbitrary: formula marketing, formula music. Labels began to limit content, based on the idea that people will not buy mus
 ic that they deem to be offensive. The converse of that is true, up to a certain point. But it is an immutable law of human nature that you cannot have anything that will appeal to everyone. Auto manufacturers have recently embraced this idea (see MSN article http://www.msnbc.com/news/978276.asp). The record industry failed this test, in their quest for ever-larger profit margins. Along the way, they discovered that, deprived of an alternative, people will buy pretty much anything---and used this against consumers, jacking the cost of a CD far higher than any reasonable estimation of value.

But suddenly, the game has changed: technology has risen to the point where an artist can write, record, produce, market, and distribute an album without ever leaving his or her home.

In other words, the RIAA is obsolete.

The price-fixing strategies have pushed consumers too far, and the backlash is significant. The RIAA has had great success in turning public opinion against themselves, with a series of some of the worst PR moves imaginable.

To sum up: The RIAA is unneccessary and unloved. They will continue to exist only as long as they can continue to litigate.

That's the view from my perspective. You guys have a great site. Keep it up!

-Ten

The RIAA, Dumb and Dumber!

I'm going back to vinyl!  Screw it- The RIAA can keep their crappy cd's. I don't want to support the wicked RIAA with any purchases! 
Most 12 year olds cannot afford to buy many cd's, so how does this translate to lost sales if they download the music instead?  

Jahd Awnster

Excellent Work!

Its great that somebody has finally taken the time to create a website that might sway the balance of ignorant people away from the clutches of the RIAA!
 
(as most intelligent people already hate those heartless, scheming f***ers anyway)

Silenius

I totally agree with your message.  One thing I would like to add is the
RIAA treats the war on piracy like America's war on drugs.  They bust little
poor 12 year old girls and college students at the 'end of the chain' for
downloading while there are people selling the CD's on the streets.  Do they
even realize how this starts? It's not joe-12-year old in his room ripping a
cd he/she just bought, its groups of organized people with access to
promotional CD's (magazines, radio stations, packaging factories,
warehouses, and even the people involved with major labels) that are
stealing the CD's and releasing them before the official release date!  Any
CD that I have been interested in since 1999 (produced by a big recording
label) I had access to days, weeks, even months before it was released! 
This was happening way before napster too.  If tomorrow, the Internet was
totally shut down, I could still get a pirated CD off the street (ever see
the bootlegging market in Hong Kong?  Its crazy and existed before Kazza and
Napster).  Online file trading makes no difference, these underground groups
will exist forever and the RIAA can do nothing about that.  It's funny that
these Radio stations that are involved in Payola and the RIAA have people
working for them that will risk their job to steal a promo CD.  It reminds
me of the movie fight club, all the average joes working together to stick
it to the man.  If the RIAA continues with its current practices, I can only
see the situation getting worse.

Al

p.s  you have permission to post this and keep up the good work I enjoy your
site.

I've enjoyed your website, and agreed with many of your ideas.  I especially
feel that cd's are badly overpriced, and I'm wary that labels may have too
much control over artists - for example, my favorite group reported on their
website that they wrote and practiced over 40 new songs in the past two
years since the last album; Yet the new album, released tomorrow, contains
only 14 songs.  why 14?? why not 20, or 23, or 28 of those 40??  probably,
the label.

However, I will not completely stop buying cd's, I will continue to support
my favorite artists.   I just wanted to point out that file-sharing, while I
have engaged in it, is not the ONLY means of "trying before you buy." 
Referring again to my favorite group of all, they really take care of their
fans.  Five days before release of the new album they emailed everyone who
signed up to their mailing list with a link to a player on their website,
playing the FULL track of each of three songs from the new album.  Plus the
video for one of the songs.  I agree that full songs are a better measure of
"try before you buy" than the tiny little clips on places like amazon.com
and cdnow.com, and this band provides them to their fans, free.  They trust
that those who love them best will continue to support them.  Their fan club
also receives incredible benefits at what I think is a very reasonable
price: goodies such as receiving in the mail some time before an album is
released a pre-release teaser disc of 2-3 songs, and every Christmas they
write us a Christmas song and a Merry Christmas letter to go with it.  I
really look forward to that annual present in the mail.  We also have a
guarantee of tickets to any show they headline - if you buy them through the
fanclub, you'll never be barred from a show because it is sold out.  Not to
mention access to the special fanclub-only website, including music,
downloads, pictures, home videos, contests & giveaways, and access to the
band journal - they write to their fans, sometimes as often as once a week!
while on tour, and make home videos of them in the tour bus, setting up for
shows, meeting fans & signing autographs, hanging out on days off, and
non-tour videos of them in the studio.

Why should I go on morpheus or kazaa and try to find songs from the new
album, when i'm going to buy it anyway and they're GIVING me a preview? 
(I'm not the sort of person to download all songs before the album comes
out, that ruins the fun of the first listen when the disc is fresh out of
the package on release day.)   I can offer no words of comfort to the RIAA
or to labels in their lament over piracy, but to the artists, I say this: 
Love and cherish your fans.  Give them what they want - your music.  True
fans arent going to burn your cd, they want the "real thing", including
cover art, liner notes, and "extras" (enhanced cd material, included videos,
etc.)  Make a fan club, make anything we could download off of p2p or buy
off of ebay obsolete next to what you already give.

Maybe we as fans should encourage more of our favorite artists to do as many
already do - provide a few songs off the album, or as recently New Found
Glory did with their album Sticks and Stones, MOST of the tracks! to listen
to, linked from their website, for FREE.  we can try before we buy, and
those of us who like you will definitely buy.  (and maybe some artists need
to be reminded that fans are important and SHOULD be loved....)

This doesnt help the issue of finding new artists we never heard of before,
but it would certainly cut down on MY downloads.  (by the way though, the
"Other people who bought this item also purchased:" links on amazon I find
to be very useful.  Combine THAT with artists providing full tracks on their
official websites, and there you go.)

I agree on the gift horse the record industry threw away: I have at LEAST 12
cd's that I never would have bought if not for hearing the music from
Napster.  what's that, over $200?

My only other note is on the mention of record store listening booths:  I
would LOVE that.  Most stores do have a display with headphones, but those
usually only have 5-6 cd's, and it's always mainstream over-radio-played
crap I'd never buy or listen to in a million years anyway.   Can't they just
have a giant cd changer in the back and a big bank of headphones (or booths,
so that we can hear the headphones over the music already blasting in the
store) and we can just browse the whole lot?   My music purchases would
probably triple.

Anyway, good site and good luck w/ the boycott.  I'll be telling people
about it.

Kate
Boston, MA

Matt,

Good job to you. I agree with your message. I will pass it around.

Thanks for taking the time and effort to push this. I think it is a good idea.

Aight,
Clintok

I feel the time has already past for artists.....If they don't come on-board with P2P as a promotional tool...they will also fall to the same fate as the industry giants.    My music is ambient music, some out of print and some not even available in the U.S. of A.   I have to thank the Recording Industry Moguls who control distribution.....I get what I want through P2P networks... For example.....just cruising along watch my downloads and uploads, a name popped up in my que....Psicodreamics....I browsed his files and found music of the same screen name..I got a few tracks and I loved it...I went straight to his own website and bought all 3 of his CD's for $24...$8 bucks a CD...I love winning....ARTIST'S   take note....this is your future talking to you...and this is how you will do it...in home studios and on-line cruising of Peer to Peer networks....those who don't follow suit....won't be wearing suits.....you can wither away broke, Like the Dinosaurs I don't buy from anymore!
 
signed......The Flightless Bird

Thank you for your website.  I have refused to
purchase cd's other then for my daughter for the last
5 years.  Reason being that I couldn't afford to spend
the amount of money they charged for 1 or 2 songs that
I liked.  Now I am helping a greater cause in my
opinion.  I have felt since I first heard of Napsters
troubles (which I had told my brother long before that
he would have problems if he kept downloading songs at
the speed he was) that the better solution was for the
file trading websites and the RIAA to work together.
I agree with you that file trading is like the radio.
I can't take my internet into the car with me so if I
liked a song I would go look for the cd.  But the
problem was that the songs I liked were not found in
most stores.  I liked the indie artists and dance
music found in England. 

On another note.  I don't know if you have digital
cable.  I have music channels that I listen to on the
cable.  It is great because I again, find songs I like
and can go try to find the...oh wait, I never can find
the cd and with the amount of music I have been
exposed to in my sleep, I can afford it anyways. 

Thanks Again.
Amanda Persing

Thank you so much.

Suggestion: would it be possible to make an online version of a petition campaign?  If enough of us would sign a declaration saying we promise to not buy certain products until things change, the overwhelming number of signatures would be powerful.

 

The record industry has grown fat. To them the world revolves around the ?red carpet?, Grammy Awards and who made the gown that J-Lo is wearing. They have totally forgotten about their customers.

 

They don?t even call us customers. They call us fans!! We are customers and we deserve the respect that any other customer deserves!!

 

They are so fond of saying that ?The record business is a business?. The people responsible for positioning this ?business? in anticipation of upcoming trends have NOT done their jobs. Internet access to music has totally caught them sleeping (probably with some B-movie model). They want to force their customers to continue using a totally out-dated mode of business.

 

And why shouldn?t they. They are living in Malibu and skipping all the way to the bank.

They make a CD with 15 songs. I, the customer, like 5 of those songs. Yet, I?m forced to pay an over-priced amount for the CD that contains the 15 songs. I, the customer, want to be able to purchase the 5 songs I like. I, the customer, would like to have internet access, purchase the content that I want.  I don?t need them to make a CD.

 

The technology has changed. The record ?business? has not kept up and now they want to prosecute their customers.  I believe we will probably not ever have famous spokespersons that support OUR cause. These people are affiliated with the industry that is at the root if the problem. This has to be a grass-roots effort.

 

Do NOT buy and tell anyone that will listen. Record sales have fallen 20% and now sales have dipped to 30%. The boycott is working. Do not be deterred by the lack of media coverage. They are all in this together, to some extent. All they want to discuss is when a case is bought against a customer. This suits their purpose because they want to assist the RIAA is scaring us. Do NOT buy?Do NOT buy!!

Timothy Willis 

Dear Mr. Brown,

Just thought you'd like to know that I appeared on a radio talk show tonight
on the white paper. It was The Online Show with David Lawrence. He took
the RIAA side and we had a discussion of our opposing views. They post the
audio to their website. Here's a link to it:
http://thedavidlawrenceshow.com/001552.html

Being my first talk show on this topic, it was a "bit" rough. Hopefully,
there will others and my presentation will become more polished with each
one I do.

Sincerely yours,
Scott Jensen

Dear Don't Buy CDs,

Due to your Anti-RIAA stance, I thought you would be interested in a white
paper I've written on how file-sharing will further impact the entertainment
industry.  The white paper has been reviewed by experts in the field, three
of whom have provided quotes which can be found on the title page.  The
paper itself covers the entire entertainment industry, from movies to music,
from novels to computer games.  The white paper can be accessed via these
two links:

http://www.nonesuch.org/p2prevolution.pdf

http://www.miketurco.com/library/p2prev.pdf

Naturally, if you have any questions, feel free to send them as a reply to
this message and I'll do my best to give them well-thought-out answers and
send them back to you as soon as possible.  On the other hand, if you'd like
off-the-cuff answers, simply call me at 608-836-0706.  If I'm not here,
please leave a number where you can be reached and when would be the best
time to call.

Sincerely yours,
Scott Jensen

Comment about An Open Letter to Artists

I just wanted to comment about your comment about the
"listening booths". In the Central NY area, there are
record stores; Media Play that still have these
"listening booths", albeit now more like head phones
in the isles. So, previewing music, though on the
limited side, can still be done. Just thought I would
throw my 2 cents in.

A passing reader.

File sharing software really benefits the smaller bands and labels. The bands I listen to maybe sell a few thousand CDs a year, yet when I go to see them live the venue is packed. Why? For the love of music. I have a subscription to three music magazines. I read them from cover to cover, and jot down the interesting bands I find (usually 20-30 bands = too many records to buy and take a chance on). Then I download a few songs from their CDs. If I like them, I check out their tour schedule and make sure I go to a show. At the show I buy buttons, a shirt, a CD, or whatever. A CD or song is a persuasive tool to get a fan to a show. And without file sharing, how are people in the 'middle-of-nowhere' US going to get the music. Downloading music gets bands heard and helps to create music scenes. So rather than a band touring to just NYC, Chicago, Cleveland, etc., they can play shows in smaller cities they never knew existed that now have a huge fan base for them. If you care about the bands, then go see them live, buy them a beer, and tell them they rock. 

Chris Davidson

CD's are getting cheaper, are they not?

Also, why not set up a donation system - all money you save by not
buying cds should help to find new artists who's music YOU WANT TO BUY.
Surley the least a good song deserves is support?

t./

My Response:

In the United Kingdom, CDs are getting cheaper. Elsewhere, such as in the United States, they are not. The prices are higher than ever.

If you would like to donate to artists whose music you enjoy, there is a website for that called Musiclink.com. As I understand it, any artist may be listed there for free, then fans send them donations.

Sincerely,
Matthew Brown
Webmaster

Dear "Don't Buy CDs", Dear "Don't Buy CDs",

I'd be interested to hear more of the apparently critical letter you received from James Lee Stanley that you refer to on your website (http://www.dontbuycds.org/artists.htm). I've just sent him a snotty email, which he seems rather baffled by. He seems quite forward thinking in his approach to MP3s and music distribution in general, so I am surprised you flag him up on your site as someone against your cause. I'm all for a campaign against stupidity and record company greed, but I'd like to be sure my vitriol is not misdirected in future. Perhaps you need to decide whether you are specifically against the CD-protection systems which are hindering legitimate use of paid-for music, and thus bad for both artist and listener, or whether you are just "anti-everything". The analogy you make between radio and filesharing is quite weak and certainly open to argument / differences of opinion. Ultimately your blurring of the distinction been your laudable "anti-copy protection" / "pro-listener choice" stance with the quite different arguments about filesharing is going to alienate many of those of us who support the former cause but see 'sharing' as a quite different (and less clear cut) issue. 

Jonathan Bury, UK

Dear Jonathan:

The actual letter is on the reader comments page, along with my response, which is very similar to the open letter to artists. I get the impression that many artists accept the party line the labels have recited like a mantra, and haven't considered anyone else's position. One thing is for sure. If the industry continues on its current course, they might make file trading go underground, but will anger and alienate millions. Enemies are rarely customers. Besides, making file trading go underground won't make it cease to be, it will just make the practice seem even more cool and rebellious to young people. Artists and the labels need to realize this. Napster was the greatest promotion the industry ever had, and they didn't even have to give it payola. Kazaa, and the rest could be just as much of a boon as Napster if the labels would come to licensing terms with them, or just let them be. As for "copy protected" CDs that won't play in a computer, and sometimes won't play in dedicated CD players. Even the most RIAA loyal artists should see that this is a bad idea. This is a sleight many of us will never forgive or forget.

Sincerely,
Matthew Brown
webmaster

To Whom It May Concern:

I have to be honest in that I have not downloaded very much music from 
online networks. Also, I have been one of those stingy ones that doesn't 
share. However, now I kind of wish that I would have. The RIAA needs to 
pay for their decisions. I wish there was some way that we could get the 
message out to all American's to stop buying CD's completely. This would 
indeed cripple the industry and show the people that are all trying to 
prosecute music lovers that we are the ones who made them rich, and we are 
the ones that can make them poor. Law suits will come and go, but in the 
end, whether or not the RIAA survives is up to the American public. If the 
American public boycotted CD's starting tomorrow, it would cripple the 
industry. I agree that most people that download music end up buying the 
cd. It is just not the same unless you have the CD--even with MP3 players. 
I used to download one song of a band that my friends told me about, and 
then after doing that I would buy the CD---what an evil consumer I 
am.....the RIAA would hate a person like me, wouldn't they? NO!!! I have 
been buying CD's of the songs that I like. At the same time, the RIAA 
decides to raise their prices and try and prevent the less affluent group of 
Americans from getting their hands on their favorite songs. Unbelievable. 
I have decided that I will not buy another CD as long as I live--unless the 
RIAA comes around to public voice. The fact that they are trying to get 
lists of people from universities and colleges that were distributing music 
is just crazy. All they are doing is awakening a sleeping giant of people 
who want and demand change. Idiots!!!

Anyway, I liked your website, and I hope that you can keep it up to date so 
that I can refer my friends to it to see the latest news on this issue.

Thanks!

Maybe you just have old information or you just stopped updating the website but the recording industry has started making newer copy-protection schemes that will let the cds play on computers but not get copied, one of these is centered around using the Microsoft windows media audio format to "hide the tracks on the cd so you can't copy them but can play it on your computer, using windows media player of course,  {SARCASM ALERT} but I'm sure that microsoft won't try to dominate the music industry with this, they'd never do that ("yeah right")

------------------------------------------

One of the main causes of the fall of the Roman Empire was that, lacking zero, they had no way to indicate successful termination of their C programs.
-- Robert Firth

They always say to be wary of the quiet ones who don't get mad, but, personally, I'm more worried about that loud pissed-off guy in the middle of the street with the shotgun and the chainsaw

0101001101101001011001110110111001100101011001000010110000001101000010100101011101101001011011000110110001101001011000010110110100100000010010110110111001101001011001110110100001110100

translate here-> binary  

My Response

The protection scheme you are referring to is only one of many. If it were the only one out there, we would have less to be angry about, but it is not. The one EMI is using all over Europe, and will roll out in the US if they haven't already, often makes discs unplayable in dedicated CD players, especially brand new audiophile quality units which are the most expensive ones. Kevin Smith from London, England recently wrote to me about those, and you can see his letters on Reader comments. When people complain, EMI tells them their player is the problem, and they will just have to try a different one. People have told me that they are downright abusive on the phone, and in e-mail. Is this how a business should treat customers?

None of these protection schemes will stop a dedicated CD duplicator from copying them, nor do they stop someone from hooking a CD player to the line in port on a computer sound card, so they are not an obstacle to the pirates making counterfeit discs to sell on street corners and at flea markets, but they make using legitimately owned discs a great pain to paying customers.

I am not surprised that Microsoft is in bed with the recording industry. Birds of a feather flock together. I will post your letter on the reader's comments page. Thank you for the information.

Sincerely,
Matthew Brown
webmaster of dontbuycds.org

Dear dontbuycds.org.

In your response to James Lee Stanley, you neglected
to inform him that it's not file sharing that is
robbing the artists of its pay. It's the record
labels themselves. Please see my attachment of how
the "Math" of getting a record deal works. I think
this shows who the "REAL" pirates are. James Lee
Stanley may think the RIAA is going to get them more
money. The reality is, the only one the RIAA is going
to provide money for by suing its customers is the
record labels, not the artists.

Visit boycott-riaa.com and learn more.

Tony Malak
Michigan

WHO ARE THE ?REAL? PIRATES?

attached to Tony Malak's letter

"Despite the whopping success of Apple's iTunes online music store, some popular artists have refused to sell their music in single track format.

Artists claim that the "get only what you want" model undermines their art, in this case, the concept of a full album (order of the songs and the "full picture" all the tracks on the album together create) and are also worried about the fact that selling all the material in single track format might have a negative effect on their album sales."


I remember Courtney Love saying "Today I want to talk about piracy and music. What is piracy? Piracy is the act of stealing an artist's work without any intention of paying for it. I'm not talking about Napster-type software. I'm talking about major label recording contracts."

"This story is about a bidding-war band that gets a huge deal with a 20 percent royalty rate and a million-dollar advance. (No bidding-war band ever got a 20 percent royalty, but whatever.) This is my "funny" math based on some reality and I just want to qualify it by saying I'm positive it's better math than what Edgar Bronfman Jr. [the president and CEO of Seagram, which owns Polygram] would provide.

What happens to that million dollars? They spend half a million to record their album. That leaves the band with $500,000. They pay $100,000 to their manager for 20 percent commission. They pay $25,000 each to their lawyer and business manager. That leaves $350,000 for the four band members to split. After $170,000 in taxes, there's $180,000 left. That comes out to $45,000 per person. That's $45,000 to live on for a year until the record gets released. The record is a big hit and sells a million copies. (How a bidding-war band sells a million copies of its debut record is another rant entirely, but it's based on any basic civics-class knowledge that any of us have about cartels. Put simply, the antitrust laws in this country are basically a joke, protecting us just enough to not have to re-name our park service the Phillip Morris National Park Service.)"

"So, this band releases two singles and makes two videos. The two videos cost a million dollars to make and 50 percent of the video production costs are recouped out of the band's royalties. The band gets $200,000 in tour support, which is 100 percent recoupable. The record company spends $300,000 on independent radio promotion. You have to pay independent promotion to get your song on the radio; independent promotion is a system where the record companies use middlemen so they can pretend not to know that radio stations -- the unified broadcast system -- are getting paid to play their records. All of those independent promotion costs are charged to the band. Since the original million-dollar advance is also recoupable, the band owes $2 million to the record company. If all of the million records are sold at full price with no discounts or record clubs, the band earns $2 million in royalties, since their 20 percent royalty works out to $2 a record. Two million dollars in royalties minus $2 million in recoupable expenses equals ... zero! How much does the record company make? They grossed $11 million. It costs $500,000 to manufacture the CDs and they advanced the band $1 million. Plus there were $1 million in video costs, $300,000 in radio promotion and $200,000 in tour support. The company also paid $750,000 in music publishing royalties.

They spent $2.2 million on marketing. That's mostly retail advertising, but marketing also pays for those huge posters of Marilyn Manson in Times Square and the street scouts who drive around in vans handing out black Korn T-shirts and backwards baseball caps. Not to mention trips to Scores and cash for tips for all and sundry. Add it up and the record company has spent about $4.4 million.

So their profit is $6.6 million; the band may as well be working at a 7-Eleven.

Of course, they had fun. Hearing yourself on the radio, selling records, getting new fans and being on TV is great, but now the band doesn't have enough money to pay the rent and nobody has any credit. Worst of all, after all this, the band owns none of its work ... they can pay the mortgage forever but they'll never own the house. Like I said:  Sharecropping. Our media says, "Boo hoo, poor pop stars, they had a nice ride. F*@# them for speaking up"; but I say this dialogue is imperative. And cynical media people, who are more fascinated with celebrity than most celebrities, need to reacquaint themselves with their value systems."

dear dbcds,
I have just read over your page and your objections to the actions of the riaa. while the riaa has never been very supportive of me, I do recognize the reality of intellectual rights. in your statement you talk about the riaa  violating your rights, but you don't even acknowledge that the artists who created the art you are enjoying deserve to be compensated.  the people who put up the money so that the art could be turned into a product you could enjoy deserve to be compensated.   there is also the consideration that every artist who records a song has to do so in a studio of some sort on equipment of some sort that all has to be rented or purchased, so those folks in the chain are being compensated.    you have a right to listen to any music you want.   you don't have the right to deprive artists and their patrons of a reasonable profit.  if you download...pay for it.   if you copy cd's then you are taking money out of the pocket of the artist who made the music you are copying. this isn't rocket science. this is personal accountability. you want the ride, then pay the fare.
james lee stanley

Official Website: http://www.jamesleestanley.com
Merchandise Stores: http://www.jamesleestanley.com/mp3/mp3stores.html 
James Lee Stanley Electronic Mailing List
MP3 Site: http://www.mp3.com/jamesleestanley

My Response: My Response:

I have been concerned that some artists would misunderstand dontbuycds.org, and my concern was founded. You have misunderstood the message of the website entirely. No one is advocating theft! Music fans do respect artists, but deserve to be treated as customers by the industry, and wooed; not presumed thieves, bullied or threatened. I own over 1000 titles on Cassette, LP, and CD. I used to blow a lot of money on my love of music. Then, the industry started to view my patronage as a debt they were owed, not a privilege they had to earn.

In the 1980s, the radio and MTV were still great ways to discover new artists, and the Columbia House and BMG record clubs seemed like a good deal. In the 90s, they stopped playing music videos on MTV, and radio became nothing but a few overproduced, over commercialized garbage songs over and over. It seemed that music had died. Then came Napster. It was again possible to try a wide variety of music, and occasionally buy something I really liked. It was everything the radio and MTV once were and more! Then they took it away. That I begrudgingly tolerated. While the retail price of CDs continued to skyrocket, but their cost to produce and quality came down, I begrudgingly accepted it. When I got a "copy protected" CD that would not work in my computer that meant war!!

I talked to many people who had similar experiences, and they all encouraged me to go forward, and start www.dontbuycds.org

The point of the site is that the recording industry has behaved outrageously, and patronage is not a debt customers owe them, but a privilege that must be earned. When the user's preferred player, or only player is a computer, a "copy protected" disc that will not play in one is useless. Something useless is also worthless.

Have you considered that many fans who discovered your music, then bought your recordings, and attended your concerts discovered you on file trading networks, or from a friend making them a tape or CD-R? Have you considered that blank tapes and CD-R have a so-called piracy tax charged on them, so the recording industry gets some ill-gotten booty even when people don't use them for music? Since your music is not played on the radio, these methods of promotion are the only ones that you have available. People don't have to pay to listen to the radio, and file trading networks are the new radio. Why shouldn't we try before we buy? Back in the day, record stores had listening booths to let you do just this. If you were interested in music that the radio didn't play, that was a wonderful way to discover new music, and was free. They took that away, too. I could go on forever, but what I would say is already said on the site on one page or another.

Sincerely Matthew Brown

webmaster of dontbuycds.org

P.S. My wife just bought your latest CD

Do you also think that internet sites should make it clear that you are
purchasing a copy controlled CD by means of a warning pop up or in the
description of the disc itself as this is how I buy the majority of my CDs.

Kevin

Giving a warning is the least they could do, but they don't even do that.
Really, they need to stop making copy controlled CDs altogether. I posted two
articles on External Links that that show 1/3 of all CD sales worldwide are
counterfeit. In all countries but Japan and the US, the pirate disk market
is larger than the legitimate market. If the cheap disks kids can get on a
street corner play in a computer, and the expensive ones at legitimate
retailers won't, kids are going to buy from the man on the street corner.
The labels need to realize this.

Matthew Brown

Guys

If you people are so upset about the fact that copy controlled CDs don't
play in your PCs which is what you use to play them on, then how do you
think I feel when the cursed things don't play in my high end CD player?
That's right, I can't even play them on the device that was specifically
made to play CDs!!!!

Technically, they aren't CDs as they fall outside the red book agreement
between Sony and Phillips and as such shouldn't be marketed as CDs. Yes, I
can pay another $80 to have a fix put on my CD player, but WHY THE HELL
SHOULD I??? So if a band releases a CCCD I won't buy it and if there isn't a
vinyl issue of it, then I don't buy the album at all. How to shoot yourself
in the foot, as written by the record industry.

Good luck with the campaign.

Regards

Kevin Smith
London
England

Dear Kevin,

You certainly got taken by the record label, and you shouldn't have to put up
with this kind of nonsense. I am curious, was the disk in question published
by EMI? They have treated customers worse than any other label I am aware
of, and deserve to be boycotted all the way to bankruptcy.

You, and others who got these disks in the U.K. should sue the labels, as
they misrepresented what they were selling. Phillips may be interested in
pursuing them if the Compact Disc Digital Audio logo was used. They have no
sense of humor when it appears on a disc that doesn't meet red book
standards. There is a class action lawsuit over those disks in the U.S. that
the labels will probably lose. A suit in the U.K. might be modeled after it.

I put your letter on the Reader Comments page so that others will be made
aware how bad this problem is getting. Thank you for sending it.

Sincerely,
Matthew Brown
webmaster

If I got my backside in gear, I should write to all the record companies If I got my backside in gear, I should write to all the record companies
asking them what they propose to do about my situation. If they all put ?20
each in the pot then I would happily get my CD player attended to. I should
also forward a copy of their responses to a music magazine like Q to see if
they would take up the cause.

The CDs involved are Sleeping With Ghosts by Placebo which is on Hut
Recordings, part of the Virgin Record Group and Hail to the Thief by
Radiohead, Parlophone, part of EMI. They have been careful not to include
the standard CD logo on it.

Regards

Kevin Smith
Hi
I would like to be able to buy a CD with Just 1 song. The song I want, till then I should be able to copy.  Who puts 15  to 20  songs on the  CD ,  The  Artist  or the recording Company?
 
Lu Grahn
Vancouver
To Matthew Brown-
 Hello- I heard your interview with Stirling this eve- I just had to write and let you know that I have been aware of the rip-off for many years- I have been promoting independent artists through media shows  up till a couple of years ago-I, with a team of people have been actively putting together an alternative marketing system for unsigned artists that allows them to compensated honestly and far greater than any label deal. the general public doesn't realize that very little if any of the cd sales ends up with the artist- We have developed a marketing system through streaming media, networking, manufacturing and direct marketing that will allow most of the funds to got back to the artists and the on-line affiliates that direct the customers to the artists- I would be happy to converse with you more . I think you may like what we're doing - and could recommend our site to your members-
 
we're just launched and in the process of making some changes but, everything is working even though this is just the first phase- I'd like to hear you comments -  thanks- dk
 ps below is a quick overview without any details-- all that is available on our site    got to    www.mymusicuniverse.com
 

BFMI/MMU------ CONDENSED SYNOPSIS

Be Free Media International (BFMI) through My Music Universe  (MMU) has created a unique business plan that allows an artist to remain an Independent Business Operating Artist (IBOA) and at the same time access to a world market, while relieving much of the burden of the business through high tech promotion, manufacturing and direct on-line distribution.

Our goal is to provide a Win-Win scenario for all parties involved by employing the best ideas in modern marketing and technology.

The artist can now take advantage of limitless compensation possibilities through a co-operative network of other artist members and affiliate on-line stores all directing new customers to MMU, therefore, the artist income will not be solely dependent on their own careers and creative efforts.

            MMU allies each individual career with others through a system that has been designed to return more potential income to those providing the music, videos and customers than any other plan we know of. 

The following is a condensed point breakdown:

  1-BFMI/MMU will always pay royalties to the artist for every sale no matter who initiates it-   NOTE: International direct deposit has been set up

  2-BFMI/MMU also provides commissions @ 2 levels or tiers

a-      from 10-20% to the artist member or affiliate that initiates the sale

b-     from  5-10% to any referred artist or affiliate.

NOTE; this can be a permanent commission attached to another referred artist or affiliate that becomes a member. A fee is also rendered to the referring artist for accepted submissions.

  3- BFMI/MMU has set up a coded, fully accessible tracking system for each artists and affiliate, which allows for lifetime customers and the creation of a permanent residual income.

  4- BFMI/MMU has full E-commerce in place including direct deposit, world banking and collection of funds, on-line shopping cart and international shipping.

  5- BFMI/MMU membership is a one time flat fee and provides for unlimited manufacturing of each CD entered for on-line sales.

  6- BFMI/MMU provides safe/protected streaming of audio and video media, a bio page, and links to artist websites. NOTE the system does not require an artist to have a website.

  7- MMU is a fully optimized website created and designed with ranking technology

  BFMI/MMU is actively working on upgrades and various promotional and marketing ideas such as, a subscription data base for DMD (single pay-per-track downloads)---Archived radio for MMU artists features--- media promotions

Hello,

2 things especially bug me about CD's:

1. If I already own a particular record or cassette and then buy the CD
form, I still pay the same price. I have already paid the artist license
with the previous purchase and I should only be charged an upgrade price,
which would be lower than the regular price. I think the money should be
refunded to everyone who has paid for two licenses.

2. If I already own a recording of a particular song then I should be able
to download it without being charged. All I am doing is changing the media
from the record or cassette that I already own to a digital format. As
before, I should not be charged twice for the license.

If your organization is willing to start a class action lawsuit on either of
these issues, you can count on my support.

Best regards,

Tim Doskoch <-:)
Edmonton, Canada

Hi,
Your welcome(sorry it's taken me so long to reply). I couldn't agree with you more. I feel I can get more out of a DVD example:Led Zeppelin-DVD than I can out of a cd. They are priced a little better and give you so much more than a standard "high" priced cd. I haven't bought a cd in sometime now unless it used. I will buy a new only if it's for a friend's or girlfriend's birthday or Chhristmas. That's the only exception I make anymore.
Everything shows up used eventually, I do feel bad about my favorite artists getting nothing out of the deal but I can't afford to just go out and buy every new cd I want.
Also I noticed you had had a question about Flaming Text from one comment you had received. I don't know if anyone cleared this up for you or not but they are nothing more than signatures that can be added to the bottom of emails. See mine below "BEAKER".
I hope this was helpful.
Brian Kelly
Image by FlamingText.com

Image by FlamingText.com

I think that all the people want to buy Cds and software, but in a right 
price. In USA software is cheaper than in many countries (for example, 
in Brazil you buy a Microsoft Windoxs XP for $200 while here the home is 
83 dollars). But music here is really expensive.

In other hand, the arguments of RIAA in which piracy or copy are the 
responsible by the decrease in the money of the big companies is not 
realy true. Think about Microsoft windows, probably is one of copied 
softwares in the word... but Bill Gates is the one of the richest man in 
the world. He didn't go to bankruptcy because of this. As I said before 
83 dollars to me seems a right price, not $200. In software we can 
think about Linux... don't talk me about Linux. I used this SO during 48 
hs (I try!)... but it was impossible to configure, my joystick and my 
sound card don't work. Besides, people has the right to choose what want 
to use and need to pay for it... the right price.

It's interesting what the RIAA talk about mp3. Second them, mp3 is a 
illegal format of music and you can't copy to mp3 neither your own CDs 
bought legally. Since there is no official mp3 CDs, someone could explain 
me why Sony (one of the majors) has produced mp3 players? They are 
supporting the piracy! This is ridiculous. People can sue Sony by 
this... "they sell a electronic equipment with some specifications (mp3) 
we can't use". I think that RIAA must first sue its member... I want to 
see this news in TV "RIAA sue Sony, Philips and Panasonic because of mp3 
players"! Another thing is that if people who use Kazaa (80 million) 
stop to buy CDs, the decrease on CD sell will not only be 6-7% a year.

Who is the loser? We have the weapon in our hands. If we stop to buy 
the expensive CDs from RIAA partners... we will save 20 bucks. We will 
win 20 bucks. And RIAA partners? They will close. Yeah... you can think 
"there is a lot of people that live from music in this industries". In a 
first moment, this people (that really work by music) will be out of the 
business. But I don't think that Shakira, Britney or Christina, 
Metallica, Eminem, etc... will not sing because this. This people can 
have your own employees, decide your own carrier and... the most 
important... Really receive the money of their work and their music. I 
feel sorry they didn't see this yet!

Brancy13

Hello,

RIAA needs to understand that people want choice and convenience and CDs are neither. From what I understand, most listeners only want to listen to one or two of the songs on a CD and the rest are filler that they would rather skip.

I only own about 20 music CDs because I can?t find anything that I like, I don?t know what I like, it isn?t convenient, and I don?t want to spend hundreds of hours sorting through music to find the random bluegrass, religious, folk, classical, rock, and jazz songs that I happen to enjoy using for background music. I had a couple audiophile friends who introduced me to much of the music that I like, 8 years ago I didn?t listen to anything because I hated everything I heard on the radio and couldn?t afford a $20 book on a topic that I am obsessed about let alone risk $17 on a CD that might be pain to my ears. RIAA might be interested to know that only AFTER I listened to ?pirated? music on MP3s, I found music that I liked and have purchased 16 of the 20 CDs that I own in the last 3 years! Because someone else pirated music, they made over a hundred dollars off of me!

I think that the average consumer is BORED with the traditional music offerings and that MP3 sharing should be encouraged as a form of marketing because it creates EXCITEMENT in new music listeners.

Don?t sue them, encourage them and their friends will become music consumers instead of music haters.

Mike

Hello,

Though I agree that the mainstream recording industry is very corrupt, it isn't an issue of CD prices in my mind. It's an issue of a lack of equity and dishonest business techniques. Executives are paying themselves grossly disproportionate sums in comparison with their employees. They are also taking advantage of their employees through dishonest deal making, claiming that what appears and in fact is dishonest is common practice, and therefore acceptable. Obviously, this is rubbish. But I wholeheartedly disagree that CD prices are too high and that cracking down on file sharers on the Internet is highly objectionable. Transferring copyrighted files through a file sharing network is a felony. There is no excuse for it. As for CD prices, I'm aware that manufacturing a CD costs very little, but producing an album of artwork costs considerably more, and selling albums for five dollars will not make a profit. Bootleggers make a profit because they don't have to pay anyone. When !
the artist, engineers, directors, producers, etc. need to paid, five bucks isn't going to go very far. I must point out that Discipline Global Mobile, an independent record company that strives for equity and to engage in honest and straightforward business, often sells its CD's at a higher price than the corporate companies, and the reason for this is that they pay their artists more. In my opinion, this is a step in the right direction, because recording artists have been taken advantage of for a long, long time. Dontbuycds.org has some very good points, but I really don't think that a boycott of the recording industry is the way to solve things. I think that if artists would refuse to sign contracts that take advantage of them, and if more and more record companies would set a good example by engaging in honest business, it will produce much better results in the long run.

Luke

Hi!

I just read this article:
http://dontbuycds.org/piracy.htm

"Outside of the U.S. there is no DMCA, and crackers in Germany have already broken their copy protection schemes."

I just wanted to tell you that there's a new law in Germany making it illegal to circumvent copy protection. And I think that such laws will be passed in other countries as well.

Regards

 Thank you for that information. I will post it on reader comments, and will edit the article, What Is Piracy?

webmaster

I've been reading a lot about the corrupt cd's today and I have to say that I think this practice has been going on longer than most of us think. I purchased cd's back in the 90's that act the same way as some of the newer ones are in cd players and PC's.
I have bought cd's that are not remastered or recently released that have only partially worked or not worked at all in either my cd player or my computer. Examples are Gordon Lightfoot-Gord's Gold (tried 3 different copies in my PC none of them will play all the way through). The Who-Live At Leeds Box Set (2 copies neither one would even track in my cd player. Yes I know this one was remastered). Jimmy Buffett-Don't Stop The Carnival (one track would not play in my PC and the computer portion of the cd would not play either).
I'm glad I stumbled across this site today (and a few others). Keep up the good work.

Sincerely,
Brian Kelly

Hello people at Don't buy CD's. I have read about 'What is piracy?' on your
site. It is well written and everybody can understand it. Thanks to people
like you the greedy music-business-organizations can not anymore easily
cheat and lie to people. What is 'on top charts', 'a hit' is made by
advertising and propaganda. The radio (TV) stations play most time just what
the music business bosses want people to hear. So people go out and buy the
music they hear on radio and TV. This is a big mess because many other
musicians, producers, composers with different music taste will have
troubles go 'on the air'. So they will be mostly ignored by the masses. But
thanks to the P2P technology people do have now own decision what they want
to hear. Now many 'underground' groups/performers get chance to come and see
the light. They do not need anymore big labels a la Sony, EMI and the rest
with shitty contracts. They can record, produce and put it on P2P
independently. THIS is a main reason RIAA got nervous about. RIAA is losing
control and one day they will not exist anymore.

People all over the world keep up the fight!
Marc-Andre L. from Zurich/Switzerland

I agree fully with the ideas behind this boycott. Unfortunately, this cuts out the primary method

If you're like me, and like some of today's artists, but don't want to support the RIAA, there are two options to take that you should know about: used CDs, and saved streams. 

As someone else pointed out, used CDs are a legal way to enjoy the music without paying the RIAA a single cent. In addition, used CDs are usually at a much more reasonable price than a new one, and are essentially the CD - liner notes and everything! If you want to show your support financially, you could try to send them money, although I don't know how you would go about doing that. A more accessible idea is to go to their concert or join their fan club. 

On the other hand, you can use the legal new medium of streaming. It's like radio, only you have a lot more choices (since you can access streams from all over the world), and potentially CD quality songs. Plus, you can save it to your hard drive as an MP3. What's really great is that if you use WinAmp, the decoders for both MP3 and OGG have built-in mechanisms for saving streamed MP3s. These can be accessed from the plugin preferences menu; you simply choose what folder to save the file to, and it does it. You get exactly the file that you were listening to, and with the diversity of streaming "stations", you can get exposure to new bands while getting the major-label songs you like.

I hope this helps.

Daniel

I agree 100%!!! The day when music stopped being about music and more about money and power was a lamentable one. Support the artists, screw the greedy executives!

Darron Murrell

Hello everybody, great site - keep up the fight!?

The root of the whole problem as I see it is just the inflation?of the?value of the entire industry: Do I believe that Eminem (random example) is talented and works (fairly) hard and deserves to get paid for what he does? Yes, of course. Do I believe that Em's contribution to society (or ANYTHING) is so great that he should be a multi-multi-multi-millionaire? Hell, no! At the root of the music 'stealing' issue is the fact that most of the people downloading and swapping files are people working 40+ hours a week for just above a living wage; for them to see someone become richer than God just for slinging a couple of semi-passable tracks is just too much for us to take. This exaggerated value is in every aspect of the industry, ironically the one aspect that SHOULD be a little more expensive is largely unnoticed: concert ticket prices. In order to become so fantastically wealthy a band (group, artist, posse, whatever) should have to tour CONSTANTLY. If they are able to charge $60 or $100 for a show and people pay, more power to them. If they try to sell tickets at that price and don't fill the venue, well then, there is the market at work. In short, I think that the industry as a whole should be subject to the same drive we all have - if I work harder I will make more money. It's plain and simple from my point of view - value for the dollar will get them much more respect and in the end more money than any amount?of lawsuits.?
?
P.S. It is also obvious that the industry as a whole has no idea what they are fighting against: the file swappers will not be stymied by any technology they use to block access to CD's, file-swapping services, etc. - these guys are good, and they love a good fight (and I love them for it!)?
Once again, keep fighting and keep up the good work, I'm behind you 100%

Thank you,
M. ?Ballance
Web Designer

Just my opinion
Although it's quite evident that you have much research, and your opinion is obviously valid, I find that in your "What is Piracy?" essay, you overlook a few things.
For instance, in your comments made about the prices of CD's, you mention "The main reason is that people who would buy a CD for under five dollars at a flea market would never spend almost twenty dollars for one at the mall." You don't seem to mention the fact that there are other places to buy CDs, outside of the mall. Stores like Best Buy and some local record stores sell CDs, for anything from $5 to $11.?If these stores are not accessible to some people, there are always on line music stores that sell CDs for decent prices.
Another problem mentioned: "Any artist that wouldn't do it [the record labels'] way might never find an audience. Napster changed that." has some overlooked points. These same Internet music stores (which I mentioned before) have ways to introduce people to new music, either of the customers'?own taste in genre, or not. Whenever a CD is looked up on one of these websites, there is a section entitled "Buyers Who Bought This Item Also Bought:" which shows?a few other artists that may inter