Movers, shakers, losers and fakers
p2pnet news view RIAA | P2P:- The corporate music industry tries to give the impression anyone, anywhere, is at any given moment in danger of being nailed by the corporate music industry for being “massive online distributors of copyrighted music”.
However, literally hundreds of millions of people share music with each other all day, every day, on a variety of P2P applications. And the chances of any one of them becoming a victim are akin to their being struck by lightning, or winning a lottery.
Or of the RIAA issuing a truthful statement.
Nonetheless The Few, such as Brittany Kruger, are – thanks to Vivendi Universal, EMI, Warner Music and Sony BMG – made to suffer for the totally fictitious ‘crimes’ of The Many in hopes of disuading them from getting their music fixes from anyone other than the Big 4.
Movers and shakers
I’m the happy member of a private list which includes a number of people with a serious interest in, or who are in one way or another working directly with music and musicians, corporate and independent both.
There’s always lost of interesting stuff, which isn’t surprising considering regular contributors include heavy duty movers and shakers. There are, of course, also lightweight losers and fakers. But that applies no matter where you go
When I published Brittany’s story on Saturday, I also posted a link to the list and I have to admit that, based on past experience, I wasn’t expecting much back. And I wasn’t disappointed.
“I’m with you on the ‘ends’ but not the ‘means’,” said the one and only response to the link post, going with a quote from the Brittany story, to wit »»»
They`re the first three lines Britanny (right) wrote in a story explaining exactly what it`s like to be an American student hounded by Vivendi Universal (France), Sony BMG (Japan and Germany), EMI (Britain), and Warner Music (US, but run by a Canadian). Because, say Mitch Bainwol, Cary Sherman, Cara Duckworth, Jonathan Lamy and all the other good people at the unAmerican (literally) Big 4`s RIAA…
“It seems the implication is that if they were American companies then what they are doing would be ok?” – asked the poster, who’s a decent guy, adding, “Or is that just some blatant appeal to people’s baser natures?”
I answered »»»
Although the RIAA says it acts for a ton of companies, as far as I can see, actually, it effectively represents only four of them – Vivendi Universal (France), Sony BMG (Japan and Germany), EMI (Britain), and Warner Music (US). To all intents and purposes, they _are_ the corporate music industry.
I’m pointing out although RIAA is short for Recording Industry Association of America, only Warner could be said to be American. The rest are foreign firms with US interests struggling to give the false impression they’re honest US companies struggling hard against all these wicked file sharers who are bent on robbing them blind.
In fact, they’re multinationals which, it seems to me, are running a carefully orchestrated international campaign with the goal of ensuring they gain exclusive control of how, and by whom, music is distributed online.
Recording Industry vs The People has a list of the companies which in 2007 appear most often in the American filesharing cases, and I doubt that it’s changed much. http://recordingindustryvspeople.blogspot.com/2007/07/list-of-record-labels-on-riaas-frequent.html
They are Arista; Atlantic; BMG; Capitol; Elektra; Fonovisa; Interscope; Lava; Loud; Maverick; Motown; Priority; SONY; UMG; Virgin; and, Warner.
I did a by no means exhaustive search to see who owned them and as I say here http://www.p2pnet.net/story/18247:
* Arista is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony BMG
* Atlantic is owned by the Warner Music Group
* BMG is the German half of the Sony BMG partnership
* Capitol is owned by EMI
* Elektra is owned by the Warner Music Group
* Interscope is owned by Vivendi`s Universal Music Group
* Lava is owned by owned by Warner Music Group
* Loud is owned by UMG
* Priority Records is owned by EMI
* Maverick is owned by the Warner Music Group
* Motown Priority is owned by Vivendi`s Universal Music Group
* SONY is the Japanese half of the Sony BMG partnership
* UMG is Vivendi`s Universal Music Group
* Virgin Music is owned by EMI
* Warner Music Group is Warner Music
In a follow-up post, “I rarely post on [...] so with apologies, I’m going to make up for it now. This is a long. In fact, its a rant about RIAA victims, so feel free to move on,” I said, continuing »»»
It’s all moot since we mostly agree, but to clarify, Universal was also American. You can’t blame other countries for being stupid and buying US music companies.
The thought above was [a response] to a post of mine – a link to a story on Brittany Kruger, a university student who’s currently being tormented by the RIAA. [ http://www.p2pnet.net/story/18413 ]. I’d hoped one or two music industry types might read it and be moved by it.
Now I’d like to start again, this time with more than just a link.
“My name is Brittany Kruger,” she says in her story. “I’m not a criminal. I’m not a tough person. I cry almost every night these days, and I’m scared to death of what is going to happen to me in the future.”
She’s a filesharing criminal and thief, according to the RIAA and at this point, her father is doing his best to protect his daughter because neither he nor she can afford the kind of high-priced legal representation they’d need to effectively take on the RIAA.
Had she murdered someone, she’d have a lawyer appointed to defend her, and she’d be presumed innocent until she’d been found guilty. But although she’s never been heard by a judge or a jury, Brittany is being made to suffer, day in, day out.
In her post, “Today, February 3rd, I had a lovely conversation with one Morgan Schwartzlander [the 'lead' at the RIAA extortion centre], and let me just tell you, it was outstanding, so great in fact I got off the phone in tears,” she says. “My suggested settlement of $2,000 was ‘ridiculous’ compared to their (’not negotiable’) $8,100 settlement.
“Morgan will tell you that she is ‘not legal counsel’ but she’ll tell you what she would do if she were in your situation, she’ll give you some statistics about how motions to quash are almost never granted, and then she’ll tell you that whoever suggested your motion to quash is an idiot (I don’t think she knew that was my dad).”
I’ve spoken to quite a few RIAA victims and they’re all very ordinary people. Not a thief or criminal among them. And not one of them has the legal or financial means to even begin to mount an adequate defence.
Some give in to RIAA extortion because they daren’t risk going to court and being ordered to pay ridiculous amounts of money, as in the Jammie Thomas farce. She’s a single mother of two ordered to come up with almost a quarter of a million dollars. Others correctly believe the cards are well and truly stacked against them.
This is spun as proof of guilt.
I’ve been on Pho for three or four years, maybe five, and I’ve noticed the people who keep the labels in business are rarely, if ever, mentioned or discussed. When someone _does_ bring up the RIAA’s latest depravity, there’s a deafening silence on Pho. But let the latest formula or idea on how the spoils should be calculated, or what technique would be the most effective in getting into people’s pockets, be brought up, and there’s an endless stream of responses and suggestions.
You cannot, though, divorce the people from the profits.
Something we see more and more often on Pho is, “I apologise for this shameless self-promotion ….” and it’s frequently someone trying to solicit some of the influential people who populate this list, or promote another cool idea on how to milk online music lovers.
I’ve spoken with Tanya Andersen. And Patti Santangelo. And Rae-J Schwartz, the file sharing criminal and thief who’s bound to a wheelchair because of multiple sclerosis. And a lot of other RIAA victims. Because victims, not defendants, is what they are. They’re not bad people, not in the slightest, and they don’t deserve to be publicly hounded and humiliated by a crew of unprincipled bullies.
And I’ve spoken with Brittany who concludes, “I’m scared, and now I worry all the time about what is going to happen to me [...] I have problems sleeping, my hair is falling out in ungodly amounts, I’m having a hard time concentrating in class, but most of all I hate the fact that I’ve pulled my entire family into this.”
She’s not the only one whose school studies have been seriously impeded, or who’s suffering chronic psychological stress, to considerably understate the situation, because they’ve been targeted by the RIAA.
Brittany adds, “My dad helps me all the time figuring out what I should do, my mom listens to me when I’m having a bad day and need someone to cry to, my brothers and sister, I’m sure get jipped on the time my parents spend with them, and there’s always that perpetual question ‘hey isn’t your sister being sued or something for downloading music?’. Right now it doesn’t seem like this is ever going to end, I’m just now entering the tunnel and the light is miles away. I know it will end. I just don’t know how long it will take to get there.
“I guess Murder by Death was right when they said ‘Sometimes the line walks you’.”
Lines – bottom lines – are what it’s all about, and it doesn’t really matter how many companies are behind the RIAA, or any of the other music industry RIAA clones strategically sited around the world.
There is NO JUSTIFICATION for subjecting families and their children to the kinds of abuses which are now routine. Sharing something is NOT the same as walking into a store and grabbing a CD off a shelf. It does NOT equal stealing. A file shared does NOT equal a sale lost.
And IMO, anyone who condones, let alone takes part in, this kind of attack on kids, let alone their parents, is urgently in need of professional guidance. And I’m being serious.
Cheers!
Jon – p2pnet.net
“Agreed 1002% !! More so!!! I OVER agree!!” – said the list poster. “My comments were only to the framing of the issue in the ‘foreign’ versus ‘Americans’ spectrum, which is odd coming from a Canadian, and also (I feel) not helpful to any issue.
“It’s a powerful message on it’s own, there’s no point in harmful embellishments.”
I don’t think so. The message has been there for years but only recently has it began to pull national and international attention. And that’s thanks entirely to ‘embellishments’ in stories carried by online media such as Wired, CNET, The Register, and a ton of others and even, of late, in the mainstream media.
Jon Newton – p2pnet
[The pic on the right is an oldie from the Chapel Hill Policial Review.]
February , 2009
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February 9th, 2009 at 1:44 pm
âIâm scared, and now I worry all the time about what is going to happen to me [â¦]”
Nothing will hapen to you lady! jUST DON’T PAY NO MATTER WHAT! Worst case scenario take a good BK lawer and BK chapter 7 and this pigs will go away. You migh not even have to do this since you have probably no asset and very limited income, they can not get a peny from you!
They are the one that should be scare because these are some of the greedies, parasites and criminals who bring down our economies. Someone have to pay for that.