RIAA losing p2p file sharing war
p2pnet.net News:- Attempts by the Big Four Organized Music cartel to halt p2p file sharing are failing dismally, suggest statistics.
There’s been an almost seven-fold increase in the number of RIAA sue ‘em all notices launched at schools in the Buffalo, New York, area since this time last year.
But notwithstanding continuing Big Four ‘police’ actions, more and more people are logging onto the p2p file sharing networks in Buffalo and elsewhere.
Virtually every month since September, 2003, the Big Four’s RIAA told the world another 750 or so of its American customers were file-sharing “thieves” and “criminals” who’d deprived the labels of their rightful earnings.
File sharers are “devastating” the corporate music industry, said various executives.
“Piracy is an idiotic word for what’s happening,” said Sony BMG’s Andy Lack, going on, “it is stealing. This is about criminals and thieves in the night.”
“Devastated” means layed to waste. Destoyed. Totally wrecked. So obviously nothing could be further from the truth when it comes to Warner Music, Vivendi Universal, EMI and Sony BMG who are, individually and collectively, worth literally billions of dollars.
They’re minting money, reporting eye-popping revenues year after year, thanks to you.
And yet, the music industry has been “devastated” by p2p file sharing, said then CRIA (Canadian Record Industry Association of America) boss Michael Robertson in 2003. Music downloading has “devastated” the industry, screamed his successor, Graham Hendeson, 12 months later. And, “Piracy, it can’t be said enough, has been devastating for us,” states Lack. “The young – it is not their fault. Now we have an obligation on trying to educate them.”
‘Blitzing’ schools
Warner, et al, have never been able to explain how sharing something equates with stealing it, how it deprives its rightful owner of its use, or how files shared amount to sales lost.
But that’s what they say, using the assertion as the foundation for their bizarre sue ‘em all marketing and ‘educational’ campaigns under which they try to use law courts, legal systems and teaching institutions around the world to force music lovers to buy their, and only their, ‘product’.
In the US, although they seem to be laying off consumers at large, that doesn’t mean they’re leaving a specific consumer group – students – alone.
To the contrary, they’re “blitzing” schools and, “the recording industry is launching a campus crackdown on free downloading of music,” says a Buffalo News editorial, going on:
“Several area colleges say they have seen a sharp increase this semester in the number of notices that the Recording Industry Association of America sent, flagging illicit file sharing on campus.
“It’s a perpetual chess game with the devil,” the story has Harvey S. Axlerod, the University at Buffalo’s “computer discipline officer,” referring to, “the ability of illegal downloaders and computer programmers to stay one step ahead”.
A, ‘more aggressive and comprehensive approach to colleges’
RIAA letters, “state that a computer – identified by an IP address – relying on a file-sharing program was used at a particular time to download a certain file,” says the story, going on that the Big Four ‘trade’ unit had sent only 23 such notices to UB in September and October 2005, but in the same two months of this year have boosted the number to 159.
“We are taking a more aggressive and comprehensive approach to colleges, which includes a greater number of notices,” The Buffalo News has the RIAA’s Jonathan Lamy stating.
At UB, “students are required to sit through a brief online course on copyrights and must promise to remove the file-sharing software and any illegally downloaded material from their computers, Axlerod said,” the story continues, adding:
“File sharing rose steadily from 2003 to 2006 and peaked this March, when 7 million people were using peer-to-peer programs at an average point in the month, BigChampagne Online Media Measurement reported.
“By September, that figure slipped to 6.4 million users, the company reported.”
However, Big Champagne tells p2pnet overall statistics for the number of people simultaneously logged onto p2pnetworks at any given time in the US currently look like this:
2003 – 3,004,873
2004 – 4,603,048
2005 – 6,523,733
October, 2006 – 6,562,440
And globally, the numbers are:
2003 – 5,518,899
2004 – 7,048,102
2005 – 8,997,196
September, 2006 – 9,385,967
Stay tuned.
Also See:
trying to educate them – Open letter to parents, July 2, 2006
Buffalo News – Colleges facing the music on file sharing, November 15, 2006
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November 17th, 2006 at 4:33 pm
http://streamripper.sourceforge.net/ – hook up to streaming music on the net, and separate songs to mp3 files
http://www.nongnu.org/streamtuner/ – tons of internet stations to listen to, and select by file type, e.g., .ogg, .mp3, etc.
http://www.getdemocracy.com/ – pick out tv channels to watch, and receive updates on each channel chosen. Internet tv is videos, videos, more videos. democracyplayer takes all the search and categorization hassle, cleans it up, and presents viewers with something they recognize: turn democracyplayer on, watch videos you know are what you’re interested in.
All three of the above links set you up to organize your entertainment, and stock your devices with independent artists and creators who use Creative Commons licensing, and need your support. The holiday season is upon us. Make this one to remember. It’s time to say goodbye to RIAA/MPAA, and the rest of the corporate thugs that pollute our media environment with . . . well, you know.
November 17th, 2006 at 4:55 pm
Isn´t it correct that Bigchampagne don´t count BT-Users ? …then we would have to add them……
November 17th, 2006 at 5:39 pm
It is good that we have at least one reliable research co around
November 17th, 2006 at 10:12 pm
The author of this article is a F’ing moron. If he had any insight on the amount of money the labels are actually losing then he/she wouldn’t make absolutely rediculous statements like “hey’re minting money, reporting eye-popping revenues year after year, thanks to you.” That is the funniest thing I’ve heard all week. If he knew even one god damn thing about the industry why do you think Sony and BMG merged 2 years ago, why do you think EMI and Warner have been in talks for the last year about also merging. These companies are busting their ass just to stay alive and in the red millions upon millions of dollars. Yes, the music industry will never die because there will always be a demand for music. However, if you respect artist and the value of their expression you wouldn’t write stupid faulty things like this. Filesharing, not digital format, has caused the biggest revolution in music history.
Yeah by a super coward.
November 18th, 2006 at 4:05 pm
EMI
http://www.soundgenerator.com/news/showarticle.cfm?articleid=6450
Sony
http://www.coolfer.com/blog/archives/2006/01/in_the_quarter_1.php
And Warner was so broke they could only pay .. how many million
was it ?? … to buy YouTube ??
“If he had any insight on the amount of money the labels are actually losing then he/she wouldn’t make absolutely rediculous statements like “hey’re minting money, reporting eye-popping revenues year after year ”
Seems pretty accurate then.
But , IF, and I stress IF, since it has never been conclusively
proven that P2P hurts sales ( oberholz/strumpf study shows p2p
has ZERO impact ) P2P is not the cause of this imaginary loss,
what else could be ??
1. Generic uninteresting content offerings ?
I say it this way because their puppets are not artists,
an most of them aren’t musicians .. they are showpieces.
The customer is tired of it.
2. Ridiculous prices for an CD stuffed with filler tunes and ONE
song that someone MIGHT want ?? ( see 1. above )
3 Alternative entertainment options
PC ’s Game Consoles .. sooo many different ways to entertain
ourselves, but still only so much cash to disperse.
Maybe people are spending less on CD’s becuase they actually
have OTHER interests as well ?
4. Suing your customers .. Quick or Dead .. is really bad for business
So, it’s not at all possible, that enough people are finding out
about the absolute maliciousness of the e-cartels in the sue
em all ( who cares if they’re dead ) campaign, and they are
fed up enough to NOT BUY .. like .. Boycott ??
Yes, I know how you industry types try to dismiss the Boycott as
negligible, but as more people hear just how ridiculous the suits
are, and the callous, dishonest behavior of the e-cartels, they
join with the rest of us boycotters. Deny it all you want
The BOYCOTT is a factor.
5. I list this last, but it may be the most important factor …
INDEPENDENT Artists.
You know, the ones that have nothing to do with the e-cartels.
With P2P, sites like YouTube ( not for long tho, since it is now
an e-cartel property ), Dmusic, the TRUE independent could sit
side by side with the e-cartel ‘product’. And, guess what ….
The Indy’s are getting preference
That’s gotta hurt.
I guess the e-cartels only choice is to frighten people off the
P2P networks … lie about how broke they are, while sueing
bullying or .. BUYING out of business any outlet that could
provide a level playing field for the Independent Artist.
It’s this last option that is the biggest example of your ONLY true statement …….
“Filesharing, not digital format, has caused the biggest revolution in music history. ”
This statement , however, is backwards …
“Yes, the music industry will never die because there will always be a demand for music. ”
Music existed before there was any .. industry.
The industry .. will … die.
Music will always exist, regardless of the existence of exploiters.