p2pnet - rss feed: More RIAA p2p distortions
p2p news / p2pnet: Teenagers five years ago had a sense of entitlement to illegally download music and now, “We’re having to go back and retrofit those values.”
That’s Organized Music spokesman Mitch ‘The Don’ Bainwol (right) on p2p file sharing.
By ‘retrofit’ Bainwol means ’scam’. Because the OM family, fronted by Bainwol, says it’s successfully suing not only teenagers but also mums and dads and grandparents and schoolgirls into buying its music ‘product’.
These OM assertions are, however, more than mere PR / propaganda BS. They’re outright lies.
It’s been estimated that more than 61 million Americans regularly share music with each other online. Against that, OM members Warner Music (US) Vivendi Universal (France), the infamous Sony BMG (Japan, Germany) and EMI (UK) list some 16,000 US citizens who’ve received RIAA subpoenas.
Sixteen thousand against 61 million? And not one of these OM victims has ever been found to have broken any laws, civil or criminal. In fact, not one of them has even appeared before a judge.
Put into perspective, this means individuals stand less chance of being singled out by the RIAA as they do of being struck by lightning or winning the sweepstakes. And as more and more people open Net accounts, the chances become smaller and smaller. It’d be interesting to see this rated as ‘odds’ for and against.
And yet the mainstream media report, ad nauseum, repeated RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) claims that it’s successfully ‘prosecuted’ thousands of people as though they’re accurate statistics from a reputable source.
“Now, by comparison, teenagers are paying for legitimate music downloading services, such as iTunes,” Bainwol is quoted as saying in Axcess News. “They don’t have the sense of entitlement that we have had to go back to transform.”
Another hard-core lie.
Apple proudly claims it’s sold around 600 million downloads since it went online in 2003. Even accepting this figure as accurate, it’s still nothing compared to what’s happening in the real world of online music epitomised by the p2p networks.
In October this year 6,530,408 Americans were simultaneously logged onto the nets at any given moment, says p2p research firm BigChampagne.
And contrary to other RIAA lies, file sharing is rising, not going down.
Globally, in October, 2003, the number of people on the networks at any one time in the day was 6,142,506 and last year, it was 6,255,986.
This October, the number was 9,168,812, says BigChampagne, and literally billions of music files have moved online during the period iTunes says it’s clocked up 600 million.
“We are fighting what I see as a battle of visions,” Bainwol says in the Axcess News story. “We raised awareness from blissful ignorance to ‘when you’re taking, you’re taking. It’s wrong and against the law’.”
However, the only people doing the taking are the OM members. Meanwhile, as Sony BMG has discovered, the lamescream media upon whom not only the labels but also the software and movie cartels have relied upon for so long to spread their mis- and disinformation puff pieces, are fast losing ground As THE news and information sources.
Your ‘vision’ is as seriously distorted as your statements, Mitch. Listen to the sound of the waves. The tide is turning.
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UPDATE: AXcess News editor Eric Stevenson left this comment post:
“In all fairness the story was written by a media student in DC who received a grant (from Scripps Howard Foundation) for a six-week stint in Washington to see what its like being a news reporter.
“AXcess News supports the students in carrying their stories (which is disclosed at the botton [sic] as being a Scripps Howard Foundation source).
“Though we have received quite a bit of comment on this article. A Hong Kong-based entertainment magazine is writing a counter story about the amount of pirating still going on there, which we have encouraged them to write for us an exclusive. We expect to post that story in about a week. I encourage your readers to watch AXcess News for that publication and by all means, feel free to counter-comment - pro or con. http://www.axcessnews.com”
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UPDATE # 2: In response to Stevenson’s post, “Then in all fairness, that should have been made clear on the axcess site,” believes p2pnet reader Morg.
“There is a lot of similarity between this and the story in the Mercury News which carried a story in which a student in Texas also made unqualified and inaccurate statements apparently on behalf of the music industry,” he says. “The story is here - http://p2pnet.net/story/6393.”
See:-
Axcess News - The Entertainment Industry’s New Script? Rewrite the American Moral Code, November 10, 2005
November 12th, 2005 at 8:51 pm
In all fairness the story was written by a media student in DC who received a grant (from Scripps Howard Foundation) for a six-week stint in Washington to see what its like being a news reporter.
AXcess News supports the students in carrying their stories (which is disclosed at the botton as being a Scripps Howard Foundation source).
Though we have received quite a bit of comment on this article. A Hong Kong-based entertainment magazine is writing a counter story about the amount of pirating still going on there, which we have encouraged them to write for us an exclusive. We expect to post that story in about a week. I encourage your readers to watch AXcess News for that publication and by all means, feel free to counter-comment - pro or con. http://www.axcessnews.com
Eric Stevenson
Editor
AXcess News
November 13th, 2005 at 5:38 am
Quote:
“They don’t have the sense of entitlement that we have had to go back to transform.”
Nor do they have a sense of your music being worth what is being charged now for it. For substanard product, raising the price won’t make it more valuable. Instead it will make it less appealing to the masses.
I don’t want it now. You don’t have to worry about me downloading it; truely I can’t stand what I hear today. Maybe the worlds music values passed me by when I wasn’t looking. Be that as it may, there isn’t a market out there for me. I already have all the old stuff that I am interested in. I had 30 some years to buy it before DRM raised its head. The one thing I have that no future purchasers will have is the ablility to build a library. I don’t mean buying in mass all at one time. I mean that formats have changed over the years. My library is crossplatform transferrable. Newer buyers with todays market won’t be.
Rather than continue to try to replace the library at every format change they will drop the idea as being to expensive.
That’s only one reason why music doesn’t have a future with the cartels. Cartels insist on the DRM and I hear no one speaking up for DRM as being a great thing from the customers side. Instead I hear everything from what a rip off, to I’m gonna quit buying and start downloading, to how do I circumvent it? But nowhere are customers saying it is a great new idea or product. By all means continue to tee your customers off, evidently you can’t get rid of them fast enough with the law suits.
This pirates are stealing your stuff is only make believe in your minds as far as I am concerned.
Do I visit p2ps? Yes.
Do I download today’s music? No.
Do I download yesterdays music? No.
I was serious about the lack of interest in todays music. So am I about the rest of this message.
November 13th, 2005 at 3:35 pm
“In all fairness the story was written by a media student in DC who received a grant (from Scripps Howard Foundation) for a six-week stint in Washington to see what its like being a news reporter.”
Then in all fairness, that should have been made clear on the axcess site.
There is a lot of similarity between this and the story in the Mercury News which carried a story in which a student in Texas also made unqualified and inaccurate statements apparently on behalf of the music industry.
The story is here - http://p2pnet.net/story/6393
Morg
November 13th, 2005 at 8:28 pm
If the RIAA and BigMusic cartels were adding any value to the process then I’d be happy to pay them for that.
I just don’t consider their additions to be of benefit to anyone but themselves. Paying for a manufactured group of “pretty people” to lipsync crappy formulaic product enhanced by overproduced video and presented by a well oiled hype machine isn’t on my agenda. Neither is ensuring that your fat salary continues to be paid.
Sorry guys - I’m not buying your stuff but I am downloading bits and pieces of it. Mostly copies of my old LP collection and maybe a few new songs that my kids seem to like…
November 13th, 2005 at 10:47 pm
Check out this blog http://bitzbreaker.blogspot.com/ it seems to be tracking the latest news and bent on steering people away from old unsafe filesharing like bearshare, to new secure options like i2phex.
Maybe p2pnet could add a picture for i2phex and a link? Like it has for bearshare and blubster.
November 14th, 2005 at 4:45 pm
The formulaic well-oiled overhyped crappy music has always been around. I remember when Cher’s “Black Lady” (I know I’m dating myself here) came out, the radio station that I heard it on played it some 25 times in one night… so much that the DJ said on the air that he was tired of hearing the song.
In 1977 the Bee Gees came up with a sound that had a beat to it that everyone could dance to. It was dubbed Disco. The music industry suddenly became the Disco industry and soon, even the Bee Gees couldn’t put out an album that didn’t sound like all the rest. Fortunately, the industry was rescued by artists and fans who loved home grown rock music.
I, like you, don’t download any new music. It seems to me that music just isn’t fun anymore. So, I like you, am just rebuilding my LP collection. I consider what I am doing stealing, because about 75% of the music I previously bought and the other 25% I see as a claim to my musical heritage.
November 14th, 2005 at 9:39 pm
Just a quickie to tell you that in France, a law project (DADVSI) is going to be voted by christmas, and that it will not only put DMCA alike legislation into french law, but also wants to ban the possession, developpement but also promotion (this includes talking about) of non DRM-crippled internet “services”. This goes far beyond P2P itself, this is also about messengers, e-mails…
French readers can surf to eucd.info to know more on this (sad) issue.