MP3s and the RIAA: the heart of the case

So there it is. It looks, outside an appeal, that the days of Napster are gone. Well, let me be the first to say…

I really don't care.

To be honest, I've never used Napster, yet I have a healthy collection of mp3s and have never had trouble acquiring the music I've wanted to find. There's IRC, FTPs, ICQ, AIM, other various three initialed creations, and, of course, dozens of web sites other then Napster.

What's the point of stating this? If the recording industry thinks they're going to stop mp3 distribution, they're very wrong. Ask the software industry about how much luck they've had trying to stop software piracy, after several decades of experience dealing with it!

Yet they claim they're going to invent some unhackable format soon that's going to single-handedly wipe out all use of "pirated" mp3s. Excuse me while I laugh myself sick. I remember hearing that about the DVD format, yet it took all of a couple of years before DVD had been totally cracked.

Any form of media can be easily copied and transported on some digital format with the right amount of time and effort. The recording companies are putting up a totally futile effort to attempt to stop something that they could never possibly control.

Of course, the funny thing about this whole mp3 debate is that they claim they're losing sales to the mp3 format. How come I've never seen the figures to prove this? In fact, I don't believe anyone has ever seen figures that prove this claim because they don't exist! Just like those who keep claiming that Gore won the election in Florida, there's no hard evidence to support the claim.

The mp3 format has served merely as a new and improved radio. Just like with music radio, you can sample songs before you pluck down your hard-earned cash for a shiny silver disc, or if you live in the '80s still, a cassette tape. The only difference between the two is that you can get any mp3 you want at any time instead of what some disc jockey wants you to listen to. Also there are no idiotic commercials.

So what's this whole ruckus about then? It comes down to one thing. The recording companies don't want to lose their exclusive control over who makes it and who doesn't in the music industry. The dirty little secret they have is that, while everyone has to go through some major record label belonging to a large body, the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America), they control a monopoly on what you hear and what you don't. Up until now, unless you had a contract with a major music label, you wouldn't get heard outside of a limited area. Now, with the mp3 format, small bands have a method of easily and cheaply distributing their music to a large audience.

That downright scares these people. The mp3 format will forever shatter their total and utter hold on the music industry. No longer will you be forced to listen to whatever band they shove in your face for a few months until they're replaced with the next "hot commodity."

This whole case is about nothing more than control; who produces the product, who distributes it, and who gets to choose who gets heard. Websites such as http://www.garageband.com have already shown the power of the Internet and the mp3 format. Sure, a lot of these bands are pretty mediocre, but there are quite a few that are excellent who didn't get a recording contract or who refuse to go through some major studio.

They talk about losing sales. The only sales I've seen lost are from people who are so disgusted over the RIAA's actions in the past year that they've moved to boycotting them. Personally, I support those people. The RIAA has acted like a stuck up group that, instead of accepting and adapting to a new technology, has chosen to try to censor and destroy it. It's gone so far as to try to outlaw the entire mp3 format in the past, which is totally and utterly ridiculous.

The RIAA for too long has had a stranglehold on the music industry. Just look at how they continue to charge fifteen bucks for a music CD despite promises of yore to drop the price. I don't know about you, but I don't exactly have tons of cash to blow on music that is that expensive, especially when most albums I want have only maybe two or three songs I actually want to buy. They stand in the way of allowing many a musician and numerous bands from getting their music out to the world to be heard.

The mp3 format has been good to everyone but the RIAA. Recording studios will still be needed in some shape to release CDs and tapes, which people still gladly buy. The musicians, at least the good ones, get more freedom and more of a chance to succeed. The music fan gets to try before they buy, and those who can't afford to buy every CD get to still listen to the music they love without having to wait for a radio station to play it. The only ones losing are the RIAA.

Before you buy into the argument the RIAA offers, ask yourselves what their position is. Do some research and see if you can find the mystical figures that say they're losing millions of sales from the "evil" mp3 format. Find the hard facts they don't have and present them. Then, if you don't succeed, you will realize what this whole case is about.

Email cav@wpi.edu.