It won't work. We won't stop.

All you file sharers out there should be ashamed of yourselve's. The LORD GOD said "Thou shalt not steal"! Stop it right now!

And then for all you distributors of evil and homosexual pornography, I hope you get sued and thrown in jail where you will get your "just" punishments! (Don't bend over and pick up your soap)

Good thing that I am a Canadian... we don't get this crap up here.

The harder they push the deeper underground we go.
They can only make there lives worse rather than increase there bottom line.

Seriously, don't think people will find a way around their mysterious "tracking". It's all BS and I doubt they have the money to sue everyone...they would go bankrupt trying.

Eat one RIAA

Hey Canada, they will sue you too

Seriously, don't think people won't find a way around their mysterious "tracking". It's all BS and I doubt they have the money to sue everyone...they would go bankrupt trying.

Eat one RIAA

Funny, wishing evil upon homosexuals does not sound like something your LORD GOD would approve of. Frankly, I will laugh when Mr. Caster is roasting in the hell of his own making.

Stealing is less evil than hate. Sorry. You should be ashamed of yourself. Too bad you are probably too self-righteous.....praise jesus n pass the ammunition.

I can't believe D. Caster calls himself a decent christian person after that post. What a joke, get a life.

As that other guy said...

Eat one, RIAA. Go fuck yourself.

Caster's Last stand
Hey there homophobe, go chat to your priest...he'll fill you in.

Who are we stealing from? The "artists"? If most people are like me, they would never even consider "buying" most of the crap they download.

RIAA - improve the caliber of your talent and we'll buy the legit media!

If RIAA continues to pursue this, people will just stop buying music from artist and manfuctures that are RIAA members. They have no jurisdiction over any material not produced by one of their memebers..

the $$$ is still going out...it's just being spent on computers and disc'...maybe the RIAA should invest in making blank disc's...let us fill them with some quality.

The RIAA must change their ways...all they are doing is alienating the consumers they need to survive. Do they honestly think that sueing individuals is the answer?

no, not a good deal. 'nuff said.

yea im a christian and as far as I know it we're not supposed to judge, that's for God to do okay?? And true that jimbo, the stuff by artists today is so manufactured, there's no soul in it. Frankly, even if kazaa was dismantled , even tho i dont have kazaa now , I still wouldnt resort to actually buying the music now cuz it sucks. except for eminem and artists who put out good stuff

The traditional CD is dead. Until the music and movie industries give us quality content at a fair price, we will continue to download, share and distribute their content. Break the system. The RIAA's and MPAA's business model is flawed. The market shows this. Change or sell your $million homes because we won't pay your overinflated, price-fixed levels.

Maybe if artists actually made their money by ACTIVELY promoting and touring, they wouldn't need the vampiristic recording industry to exploit and use them only to leave their dead carcassas on the road of "entertainment". Plenty of other successful entertainers are. Learn to adapt and embrace the future. Focus on how the net can IMPROVE the situation.

The RIAA has gone too far. In a recent lawsuit in NYC, the RIAA is suing Verizon Wireless for personal information regarding a user who shared 900 songs and a full length video on the Peer Network Kazaa. Allegedly, the RIAA perused her personal hard drive, violating the woman's 4th and 14th amendment rights to privacy.

I hope every peer network user rips you a new one RIAA.

I've already paid for a car or two in legal purchases of music...Your'e welcome, btw. That is no reason to dl copyrighted material however, as one peer said above, sell me something worth buying... And another thing, you cock-knockin' rip-off 'artists', I don't offer copyrighted music to 'share' but I do promote local bands all freakin day long. Try and stop me...Or do you want a monopoly on them too?

The music industry needs to embrace the future not the courts, litgation and bad blood.

u will never stop us all no way IN HELL will it be done, no way ON HELL can it be done so give up now.

IF everyone switches to the Linux OS, they won't be able to track you. Thier systems only work on windows Operating systems.

The real reason the RIAA is losing sales....
They released 25% fewer titles in the past 2 years, and only had a 15% loss in sales..that means actual sales per album are up....downloading is just an excuse.
What, did they think we would buy the same CD twice?
Read this
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3117505.stm

DVD - $15-$20
CD - $12-$15
How much cost to make movie and CD? The real problem is that CD's are overpriced. Pricedrop can boost sales. Do you guys remember prices for LP records?

What a racket!
Who does the RIAA think they are?
The recording industry hasn't been around forever, and believe it or not artists made a living before them! Maybe if they offered a little more content with their $18 product i would buy it. When i download and share music i am getting a taste for what is out there, if i like it i will probably buy it.
Will i be sued for downloading Beethoven?
These fascist RIAA pigs are an endangered species and they know it.

Internet is a media.

I pay for using this media.

All stuff that I can find there is mine.

Shut the fuck up.

All of you.

The record industry has been screwing over artists for years--Their time and energy would be much better spent developing a licensing scheme that embraces file sharing rather than threating us all with lawsuits and guilting us with TV ads.

As long as I have to pay $75 for a ticket to a show $10 for a burrito at the show and another $4 for a bottle of water. Ill keep pirating. It seems like the music Industry has been stealing from me for years so kiss my pirating ass. And the weird convienent christian who posted that crap. Think for yourself

I already pay 50 dollars a month for a connection to the internet, and I feel obliged to use that in any way I can. This includes downloading media.

I download tons of songs off kazza, and most of them I delete. What's the point of buying an album for one song? Besides, MP3's are far supperior than CD's.

It's not our fault. We dont intentionally "steal", we are just going for the best option.

And who says downloading MP3's is bad for musicians? There have been plenty of musicians who actually became *famous* because of the fact that they released MP3's. No CD's were made, just MP3's.

Just because someone is going to sue the consumers, THE PEOPLE WHO PUT THEM IN THEIR POWER, that wont stop me. There are alternatives, and there are ways to secure Kazza. I've done it, and it's not that hard.

There's always usenet, and MIRC. But I mostly go to MIRC for warez.

The RIAA is trying to save money and to avoiid being deemed a vexatious litigant. Do not accept amnesty. Go with the expensive legal proceedings untilt the courts are forced to understand that they cannot afford and support the RIAA's antics.

Years ago, when downloading was difficult and error-prone, the RIAA and businesses like it had their wake-up call. They chose to ignore it. Now the market is telling them, in no uncertain terms, that it will not bear their gouging.

The RIAA and its ilk, whether they realize it or not, acively contributed to its own downfall. Their price-gouging incentive program inspired people to find another supplier - despite the difficulties.

They didn't think the summer would ever end and they didn't store anything for winter and not they're trying to use legal corruption to halt winter's coming. Morons.

Their's is the questionable ethics.

Sticking two fingers up the establishment is traditionally what rock & roll has always been about; totally approved of, of course, by the RIAA and it's members.

So, after many years of encouraging it's customers to adopt this rebellious and disrespectful attitude towards authority and the establishment, it should not come as any great surprise to the RIAA that, now they and their members have become the establishment, it's customers are now presenting the same two fingers to them.

To coin an old cliche, what goes around comes around,

ALL YOUR MP3 ARE BELONG TO US

Damn, Mr. D. Caster, you are a man living in denial. We all know you want to give that young choir boy a big fat kiss, hang out at the cool clubs with the bare chested man toys. Much better than your daily ritual of wanking to your special books.

Here's the deal: Approximate per CD costs $14-18.
Cost to manufacture CD = $.10
Cost to record music and produce CD = $.10
Cost to distribute CD = $.10
Cost for jewel case = $.10
Cost for production (design, printing, copy writing, etc.) of artwork (sleeve and silkscreen) = $.10
TOTAL = $.50
(of course, cost goes up or down according to how many sell, etc. etc., but you're still looking at well under $1 per regardless)

So, the big question is: where's the other $17+ going? Sure, it's easy to think that it's all profit, but of course, it's not. Want to know where it's _really_ going? Promotion. That's right -- the RIAA's main function is to promote the sales of recorded music. And they're spending around $15-16 to promote the songs. MTV, radio, concerts, signings, posters, pimping out to rags like Rolling Stone, etc., TV shows, ads, etc. etc.

I don't knock the promotion-style business model in general. You do what you have to to market your commodity. The problem is, the market has changed, and the RIAA's business plan no longer works. Instead of adapting and moving on, they're trying to use the courts to make up for the failings of their business model (oh, and don't forget that a good amount of that $17 is going to litigation costs, lobbying, the whole "lawmaking" process, etc.).

The RIAA is a dinasaur. It's proving it can't adapt. Sure, they'll sue some consumers, but there's not stopping this "rolling stone". They haven't three years after Napster. They haven't after 30 years of bootlegging.

My advice to the RIAA: learn new methods of promotion, come up with a new business plan, go to market with "generic" versions (i.e. artless, barebones CDs) of CDs that cost $3-4 bucks. Hell, even with downloads as fast as they are, I'll go pay $3-4 bucks for a whole CD (if it's good). But not for long -- download times are only going to get shorter, and then there's no going back.

More people have been killed in the name of religion then any other reason in history.

but on the subject, RIAA is gonna slit their own throats. People will buy from another source. And who do you think the artists will have publish their music, Those who the people will buy from.

despise the riaa too, but cardellini, they didn't violate anyone's 4th or 14th amendment rights. riaa is private. only government entities can do that.

The riaa is threatening to snoop around in my harddrive, I will do my damnedest to keep them out. I use kazaa. I hide behind anonymous proxies, run firewalls, and change my user name often. I do not listen to anything coming out today, it is all garbage. I do download some classic rock and burn it, but not much. I already own most of anything I would listen to. I have bought over 750 cds. Fuck with me and I'll burn a copy of anything I own if someone brings me a cd. Don't fuck with me and I'll stay fairly cool. Put out something decent and I will buy it, keep the Britney shit and rap garbage coming out and I won't. Simple huh?

It sure is funny that the "holy" and "righteous" Mr. Caster over there is hypocritically stealing himself.
If you go to the website of the organization that he is president of (http://www.inoohr.org), you will hear a song playing; a copyrighted one by George Jones entitled "Peace in the Valley".
The song is owned by BMG (http://bnarecords.com/gj/songinfo.htm); the file is "GeorgeJones_PeaceintheValley.wav" incase anyone cares to inform the RIAA of this infringement.

Amnesty, eh? No thanks, I'll keep my ill gotten music and download some more for free. I can promise one thing though, if this fight is brought to me personally, I would gladly welcome it...screw legal battles, you better hire some armed thugs.

Canada rules. We actually have an exception to our copyright laws that allows file sharing. More specifically, it allows you to make a copy of any music you have and give it to another person, free of charge. You can copy albums, tapes, and CDs, and so long as you do not receive compensation from the recipient, it's all nice and legal. This is also why blank tapes and blank CDs cost more in Canada -- there is a government levy on those media, a portion of which is returned to recording artists as compensation for this copying practice. The point is, no Canadian can be sued until Parliament changes the rules. RIAA, MPAA, you fellas know where you can stick your subpoenas. Cheers to all from the Great White North. :)

Well, well, Mr. Caster. Have you ever wondered how much respect would Jesus Christ have for current copyright laws? Would Jesus Christ promote sharing music or corporate greed? Don't you find just a bit reckless in judgement to throw the name of God against people who share their files? You may think about it. But there is one thing there is for sure. You are nobody to give lessons about God. You do not even remotely represent God by any means whatsoever. Next time you say something, do it on your own behalf, and never implying that God is in your side.

As to the bloggs about stealing...

(Disclaimer: I am NOT a lawyer)

I think you have missed the irony, or have not read some of the other posts available at slyck.com

If a butcher (grocer) had filet mignion in his butcher's case, and I just reached around, helped myself and ran away without paying for what I took... yes that would be a form of theft (stealing) known as shoplifting. This is a crime against the RIGHTS of the butcher (grocer) through depriving him of the posession of the filet, or it's monetary (dollar) value thereof. Hence, where once the butcher worked hard, produced meat for sale, and offered it to the public, I stole it, thereby depriving the butcher of his work product (skill of butchery), AND his commodity, the filet itself. I have deprived the butcher of his right to sell that particular filet, because he no longer has it... I do. This is the distinction, as subtle as it may be...

The butcher worked, produced and had the meat. Now I do.

The butcher had meat, now has none. I have it, having stolen it.

With file trading however, although I may not pay for an .mp3, The artist or record company that produced the song that became an .mp3, still has the original recording. There are many CD's with the song on it. I have neither broken into the recording studio and taken the master recording, nor have I touched any (except the one I bought) of the thousands of CD's in existence that have the song on it.

You see, I have NOT stolen anything. They still have it.

What some people and groups like the RIAA are arguing, is that by offering my .mp3's for upload by another person, I am guilty of stealing? But wait a minute... I BOUGHT these CD's that created the .mp3's that I am offering for upload. what have I stolen?

This is why the RIAA will loose. The sound-bites on the evening news, the news stories all over the Internet, all come down to one single premise.

What did I STEAL?

NOTHING. The terminology for the debate is not stealing, it is COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT. The RIAA is stating that if you offer up a copy of a song that you paid for, you are guilty of "piracy" because "maybe" the person downloading the song from you never paid for the "right" to have it.

In a court of law, this is assuming facts not in evidence, and can never be presented without justification. The RIAA is using the DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act) to assume in court that the mere fact that you use a P2P network, you are a defacto criminal guilty of uploading music that you KNOW is being downloaded illegally. Nice of Congress to pass this piece of crap, huh?

However, it will be solved in courtroom after courtroom as a jury of your peers when presented with the above line of reasoning will undoubtedly see that this is all smoke and mirrors... ( a tap dance, to quote a phrase from a recent nominated film.)

And... even those who ARE guilty of willfull copyright infringment, will have a great argument in court, due to long overpriced CD's, price fixing, and industry manipulation of control over what gets distributed (i.e., crappy music coming out these days from overproduced one-man-bands.)

If you download music you have not already paid for, you are guilty of copyright infringement IF the copyright holder has EXCLUSIVE rights to his work product. If you upload music you have not paid for, you are guilty of copyright infringement if the copyright holder has EXCLUSIVE rights to his work product.

This all goes to copyrights. Copyrights were NEVER intended to bolster an Industry like music or film. Copyrights were established so that the copyright holder could gain credibility and perhaps build on his copyrighted work to the betterment of AMERICAN society.

Before you go spouting nonsense and typing curse-words like they're free (that goes out to alot of you)... take the time to study up on the issue. That is what will defeat the RIAA and the next bully in line to take your rights away.

by the way... the RIAA is only a lobby / legal firm representing their members (some music artists...)

Visit Slyck.com for the great P2P debate.

Why does an american body think they can sue me for anything? Why am I going to shell out huge amounts of money for a cd I wont listen to in 2 months time. They would be better off charging a token amount like the "new napster" is going to do.

And if they try charging me even 2$ per song for a download copy, they better provide me a copy that won't "die" after 10 listens or some crap like that. Or add any sort of bullshit "signature" to it that lets them track me moving it from one upgraded hard disk to another etc. And they better make it a version that I can burn on a cd and play in the car. I don't want to have to turn my computer on every time I put music on, no matter how good the sound card is. I'm hardly going to lug my PC around in the car with me!

AND STOP releasing and re-releasing stuff every couple of years. Of course people are going to download dvd movies... why should I spend money on a title now that gets rereleased in 12 months with 10+ hours of extras? and then 12 months after that, it gets upgraded again! No more rip offs!!

Ohhh I hated the RIAA, with it's wee beady eyes, and that smug look on it's face "oooh your going to buy the music, or get sued, oooh".

I wish I lived in a free country like Canada. Why is it, that my Canadian neighbors get to do things that my government wont allow me to do. I'm supposed to be in the land of the free. I guess it's because in America they cater to the rich. The powerful make the rules, while the poverty stricken live under they're tyranny.

Just say NO to a Digital Darkage.

A society that respects INDIVIDUAL LIBERTY AND FREEDOM cannot enforce laws against file sharing. What are we gonna have here?

So lets pretend it is now illegal in the USA of NAFTA to file share... but it is not in most of Africa and Asia.

Guess what. We lose. We lose the technolgy race that is won by INDIVIDUAL LIBERTY. Restrictions on INDIVIDUAL LIBERTY ARE RESTRICTIONS ON INDIVIDUAL INITIATIVE AND ACHIEVEMENT.

We will lose the technology race if we maintain restrictive digital rights laws. Yes this is the same tech race that puts night vision networked camera goggles on our troops. The same tech race that puts UAV's over enemy territories without endangering american lives.

Cassette tape. Radio. Any questions?

Learned to pirate from Castro,born in the Caribean sorry RIA is on the blood.Amnesty deal sounds like you guys are going nuts trying to find who is who

KAZAA ALL THE WAY SCREW THE RIAA!

I haven't bought a CD in years. I don't download either. But if the music industry would put an artist's entire collection on a CD and charge less then 5 bucks, maybe I would buy one or two.

Fair dinkum, bunch of parasitic cunts are the RIAA. Fuck 'em, I ain't paying no middle man for new copies of music I have previously purchased, I've downloaded digital versions of every song I've ever bought on LP, tape or cd, and why the fuck shouldn't I?
Payed for it once, don't I own a copy of it for life then? Who gives a fuck if I have lost the original copy, I have a copy available now in the latest technological format...

don't buy weed, plant a seed, end the greed, fill the need, free the weed, yes indeed...

I vow to NEVER PURCHASE ANY MUSIC FROM ANY ARTIST ASSOCIATED WITH THE RIAA ever again!!! LICK MY A** RIAA.

Denise Caster sounds like a stupid Bush loving judgemental Catholic American who hates Homos because he probably is ONE. Go get fucked in the ass - asshole!! And your fucking web site SUCKS!! God will punish you for putting up such a stupid website, and trash talkin, because God has taste - unlike you, trailor trash!

Yes - we're all right...the RIAA can go fuck themselves. Self-righteous bastards.

As to Mr. Caster - you have to be the lowest of the low. I visited your website with it's poor layout and crappy design and inaccurate message. You too can go fuck yourself or maybe one of us here can go find you a nice Arnold Schwarzenegger type. All who are reading this should visit his holiness', Mr. Caster's, website. I'm sure you'll find it mind expanding.

You know what is funny is that America talks about freedom of individual rights and speach. That is the biggest crock. We Canadians have much more freedom and we don't have to fight your stupid wars because we got a Priminister who has a set of Balls and can stand up for our rights as a Nation. You all fallow your leader like sheep and die for nothing but a fue barrels of oil. hahaha stupid people!! read between the line.

Hey guys,
Why waste so much time to discuss all the craps..??? Just turn on your computer and take all the stuffs people offer you to take.There are always the ways to go around so called " Tit For Tat".No one can stop us to use P2P and they have no rights either to do so.
So happy downloading
Cheers.

An amnesty? What a great idea. I'll happily delete the mp3s on my drives and sign the affidavit on the condition no prosecutorial action will be brought against me for the other 300gigs of crap I have sitting on them. Is the RIAA offering amnesty against every other bastard that will want a piece of me (or anyone else) who admits to file sharing? Yep. What a great idea.

The news media makes me sick. They are ignoring perhaps the biggest news story that has 'never' been investigated. 4 years before Napster was born, the CD-cartel began a marketing policy called MAP. The Federal Trade Commission called it something else - price fixing. They estimated the industry ripped off music consumers to the tune of $400,000,000 (and that was a conservative estimate). There was a multi-state antitrust lawsuit filed against the cartel, forcing it to pay back $144 million (in CDs and cash). But, the cartel got to keep the remaining $256,000,000. Why? And remember - the lawsuit was just that - a lawsuit (in civil court). Why hasn't the Justice Department (A)taken the cartel into 'criminal' court, (B)demanded the return of the other $256,000,000, (C) demanded 'punitive' damages on top of that, and (D)put the perpetrators of this MAP policy behind bars in a Federal pen?

In May this year, CSPAN's 'Washington Journal' program invited Mitch Glazer (an RIAA toady aka spokesman) to the show. They invited callers to call in and ask their own questions. I DID! And, I captured that brief segment in RealVideo. Click on my name below to watch Mitch Glazer sidestep my question of 'Where's the $256,000,000?'

All I can say is that the RIAA has a lot of damn nerve slapping the label of 'thief' on file-sharers when the cartel they represent has gotten away (so far) with one of the biggest consumer robberies in history. And the news media? They're just going along for the ride as if the RIAA was some kind of angel. They're not. But, they're not a devil either ... just the devil's advocate.

Stealing is wrong. But, stealing from a thief who has already stolen from you invokes a certain 'poetic justice' that I for one can appreciate. No doubt the file-sharing community feels the same way. Amnesty, indeed. Sheesh.

(NOTE - RealVideo file is 3 megs. Modem users should brew some coffee while it downloads.)

hell no to RIAA

I share thousands of MP3 songs.. who can stop me!?

Listen:

- D. Caster is making fun of the idiots supporting the RIAA

- The RIAA's suits only have merit because of the public policy which was worded in the DMA.

- Who, in terms of lawmakers, wrote and voted to pass the DMA as it was worded.

- Let's publish their names and see how long the damn RIAA has the "right" to sue.

All I am saying is to stop these idiotic suits and force the RIAA into the 21st century, lets change the DMA. Which means removing the guys who put it in place. Use the power!!! Don't let the old folks be the most feared age group.

JS

Just one question:

Anyone ever have a computer crash with over 300 downloaded songs on it?

I have. And then out of laziness, i only re-downloaded one song.

Because all of my local record stores do NOT carry that band. Or, any of the other bands i listen to, for that matter.

So how else will i listen to the music that defines who i am?

Here's to all the Recording Industry Robin Hoods.

(p.s. All of the bands i listen to are Indie bands, and they're doing just fine. wink wink, nudge nudge, RIAA.)

If downloading is such a big problem, then how the hell do albums sell 30 million copies?

Heres the answer.

They hook a bunch of saps into bying the $25-$30 CD (I'm canadian) by showing one song, the only good one on the entire piece of crap, in every form of media.

play it every 20 minutes on MTV, every hour on the radio, pictures of the artists in newspaper ads, then we go out , buy the CD, listen to that one song a few times,and put it right to the bottom of the pile cause we're sick of the song!

Yes I download and i dont care if the RIAA or any other asses come to my door and tell me I'm doing a bad thing. That is only a load of BS!

This RIAA amnesty deal, what's next, creating a list of ppl that can't buy music over the counter? or computers because they might download music or movies?

What we do with our money is our problem, not your's RIAA!

The RIAA is nothing more than a cash cow for a group of fat cat lawyers that dont even have the artists intrests in the equasion.

as to the fate of the original napster...

HEY METALLICA! You admit to getting your start because of tape trading?

WELCOME TO THE 21 CENTURY PEOPLE, GET OVER IT!
WE'RE NOT LEAVING!!!

the riaa will never shut us down. we are smarter than they.

-Songs are made of data, right?...
-So each song is unique in data content...
-What if each song's unique data was somehow "registered" as being a copyrighted piece.
-When it would go in OR out of a server via the internet, it would be flagged.
-A "toll" would be attached to this.
-A modest fee could be charged per toll entrance/exit.
-This money would appear on each internet service provider's and/or internet user's bill.
-This money could be passed on to the copyright holder.
-Then people could file share all they want.

Alright,

I have several things to say.

The Riaa Sucks, they wont succeed with their lawsuits. Why target americans, when most probably half their staff members download from Kazaa, would they sue them? This is just wrong.
This proves today's society is whacked.

Also, we are allowed to have privacy, and this is a betrayal of our privacy, spying on us. Its like us spying on the riaa staff members while they're doing stuff.

Thanks For Reading This.

I download the songs,I burn them to cd's,i delete the song from my hard drive.I play the song all day long.What are they going to do?Are they going to search every house in the country that has a Pc?I dont think so.The "goverment" can't even come close to stopping drugs.What makes these bunch of assholes think there going to stop people from downloading music.Are there not more important things to worry about like "TERRORISM"!

the Canadians are so right (this time)

when you have a president who goes to war while trashing the entire economy so his brother and father and their family business can make a few hundred million, who is going to go along with the clueless morons who think they own art, music and anything else people are stupid enoigh to let them grab ?

Americans who obey these "laws" are taking in the a-hole like good little citizens

Kazaalite, people! KAZAA-LITE DL IT NOW.

An amnesty? What a great idea. I'll happily delete the mp3s on my drives and sign the affidavit on the condition no prosecutorial action will be brought against me for the other 300gigs of crap I have sitting on them. Is the RIAA offering amnesty against every other bastard that will want a piece of me (or anyone else) who admits to file sharing? Yep. What a great idea.

I say, this is crazy and that RIAA should get with the program. It's obvious that eventually most media is going to just be downloaded off the internet (for a token fee) and everyone's going to forget that Pre-recorded optical discs ever existed.

Hi!

I'm a business and I want to make as much money as possible. I realize that 80% of my product is crap but I want you to pay $15 for the few parts of the product you actually do like.

I play my product on the radio, including digital sat radio (XM)which could be considered putting my product out in the open and I also make videos of my product which is transmitted in digital format once again offering it out in the open.

I am the one who said that the introduction of analog cassette recorders would kill my industry and have seen astronomically increased sales. I also fought the introduction of CD-Recorders stating the same thing yet sales have continued to go up year after year.

Now with all that stated I want you, the consumer to know that if you share, share not sell, one of my products I will get a subpoena and force your ISP to turn over ALL your personal information. I will then sue you for 150,000 Dollars for each song you shared.

Sure... i'll destroy your life and the lives of your family but this is really for your own good.

After all how could we possibly pay our artists the huge amounts of money that we do, which does drive up the price of CD's ( 200% since 1985 ) ?

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

The RIAA and MPAA and all those affiliated with them can burn in hell for creating an idolistic object that draws attention from god... If you wanna get religous about it... If not, they can still go to hell if they think we're going to pay in upwards of $20 per cd, when, if your lucky, you get half a song worth listening to.

hey i just saw two little kids playing a cd and the other was recording it on a tape. does riaa sue those two

a excerpt from an recent article:
The RIAA, MPAA and copyright holders describe P2P users as "pirates" - invoking images of swashbuckling pre-teens hauling up the Jolly Roger and stealing intellectual property in the dead of night. New ads announced by MPAA President Jack Valente impress the idea that "copying is stealing" and that someone who burns MP3s is no different from those who slip a CD under their shirt at the local Tower Records.

But technically, file sharing is not theft.

A number of years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court dealt with a man named Dowling, who sold "pirated" Elvis Presley recordings, and was prosecuted for the Interstate Transportation of Stolen Property. The Supremes did not condone his actions, but did make it clear that it was not "theft" -- but technically "infringement" of the copyright of the Presley estate, and therefore copyright law, and not anti-theft statutes, had to be invoked.

So "copying" is not "stealing" but can be "infringing." That doesn't have the same sound bite quality as Valente's position.

I wish a major news organzation would have the balls to call the RIAA on the above fact...

want to make easy money well sue someone which is what riaa is trying to do. excatly how much will go to the artist. i wonder if any will go. after all the ceo has to be paid first and the lawyers. if you really want to be a crook be a lawyer or a ceo then you can do it with the law on your side. Where are the artist of the songs? Do they really believe that riaa is on there side? if so then i have some ocean front property for sale in north dakota that they can buy. ROCK ON KAZAA

To the RIAA:
Want to stop file sharing? Here is what you do. The RIAA needs to create their own file sharing network. Charge a 1 time fee of 19.95, then 10 cents for every song you download (25 cents if it is a new release). The RIAA has stated that there are 2.5 billion downloads a month. Lets say they get half of the downloads to occur on their networks.1.25 Billion songs x .10 = 125 million a months in sales with out breaking a sweat. Here is the good part: There is no packaging, distribution and very little over head. I know that there are a few here that would not pay 10 cents a song but offer a legal alternative that would not break the old pocket book and you will make a mint..

The above of course will never happen. Why? because the RIAA is too greedy and then the RIAA would have to admit that they were wrong about file sharing.

On a side note: I bought a legal CD the other day and tried to make a Archive (backup) of it which I have a legal right to do (much to the dismay of RIAA), but I was unable to because of the Copyright crap that is on there. I think that I will sue the RIAA for infringing on my rights as a consumer. I think a class action law suit is in order. Anybody with me?

Have no fear. The RIAA is gasping for air.
They fear that artists can go directly to the web and publish or associate with distributions like Apple and Real networks.
No more middle man means no RIAA.
The RIAA monopoly on distribution is failing.
These new lawsuits are just part of its new business model. How many lawyers have the RIAA hired? How many grandmothers and 7 year old kids must be sued to pay them? Fire all the lawyers cut the product prices in half and ....
Oh yeah I forgot...The RIAA doesn't produce any product. Just threats and persecution.

For your religious people there. We may be each a violation of gods copyright. Oh course if the Lord calls offering an amnesty program. I would think you should take it.

Hey what a great idea Mr. Caster. I'm a gonna download some gay porn right now. Maybe you could post your favorites.

The RIAA and MPAA will lose this battle. My band has served our music in MP3 format from our website www.Lidix.com for almost 2 years, helping us gain exposure and eventually ending up in the 'Shared Folders' of countless Kazaa users. It's unfortunate that greedy artists and organizations aren't as generous as many independent groups. Soon, that greed will come back to sting them, when the only music you can find with P2P software is independent. Which will be good for my band. Fuck the RIAA and the MPAA.

I just want to echo the sentiments of everyone here who would like to see the RIAA do something constructive, like produce good music for a change.

Heres the problem as I see it:
1) A good song hits the radio
2) People rush out to buy the CD, which has 13 other crappy songs on it in addition to the one good song.
3) People feel ripped off (18.00 for 1 good song?)
4) People decide to download the "one good song" by Nelly, Missy Elliot, Justin Timberlake, Britney, Christina, et al. and make their own "compilation CD"
5) People are happy that they now have a FULL CD with nothing but GOOD songs on it.

Back in MY day (the 80's) when we bought cassettes, we usually bought them for at least one song. The difference was that the rest of the album usually rocked too. Poison was a great example of this, as was Guns N Roses (Use Your Illusion 1 and 2), Motley Crue, and various other artists. At least back then you felt like you were getting your 8.99 worth when you bought the cassette. The worst album I ever bought had 2 bad songs on it out of 11. Not bad - thats about a dollar a song for some good, quality music.

These days I cant tell the artists apart. Britney and Christina sound alike to me, and I even confuse Justin with Christina once in a while, just because he has such a "girly" voice. For the most part, it all sucks. If it werent for groups like Saliva, POD, Staind, Rammstein, Eminem, and Madonna (!) I probably wouldnt listen to anything.

As for the RIAA, they can kiss my file-sharing, pirating arse. I used to copy LP's to 8-tracks back in the late 70's, then when high-speed dubbing came along in the 80's my friends and I were the "Copy Kings" of our neighborhood. Now that we are in the digital age, it only seems natural to burn MP3s. You want us to stop sharing files? Then start making CD's worth buying. Thats my take on it.

wow how come there are so many canadians here? canada kicks ass. we don't have to put up with this bullshit up there.

as for cd prices, at least universal is lowering theirs(but it's not like they have any good bands anyway, as far as i know) the RIAA are just another group of greedy sons of bitches who want to make as much money as possible off of hard working people. yeah that bitchy president of the RIAA points her finger all the time, but when was the last time she did any actual work to prevent this shit? if my job was to sit in a chair and do nothing all day, i wouldn't be bitching at hard working citizens.

oh yeah and that priest...fuck you. i've never met a priest that didn't freak me out. that must be a great job, sitting at a desk all week, thinking of how you can talk for an hour about God on Sunday, and then get paid barely above minimum wage. WOO-HOO!

Don't mean to burst your bubble, Q...but don't you think that if the WHOLE cd was good, then wouldn't people then want to download ALL the songs (instead of just the "one good song")from the CD?...
I'm just wondering if the day will soon come when a famous artist/band will start to sue file sharers...(I mean aren't THEY usually the copyright holders???)

The law seems to only apply to the internet. So, internet bad, sneaker net ok.

I don't download music. But, I appreciate complaints about quality.

However, if the intellectual or artistic rights are to be protected - I couldn't give away my 'once' used paperbacks, which I do. I couldn't copy any copyrighted material at the office for distribution to co-workers, which I do. I couldn't pass around my copy of the Wall Street Journal, which I do. And, it goes on and on.

RIAA, get real. If you continue your pesky ways, you'll be tested in the light of day and lose.

Some facts on the matter:

RIAA does have the right to sue those who share songs to which they own the rights. That's just how the copyright law works. By the Berne Convention they have the right to do this in just about any country around the world, so technically you're not immune across borders in Canada or Europe (although for any country not in R1 it's more of a pain and much more expensive).

Some more facts on the matter:

RIAA is seemingly run by a bunch of idiots, or at least technophobic people. The signs were on the horizion a long time ago that file sharing was going to be big. Probably the most intelegent manuver they could have wade was to buy Napster rather than sue it to death. The economic possibilities of electronic distrubtion for media is rather huge, and they could be making a killing off of it. Rather than pay 20$ for a CD full of songs, most of which you don't like, imagine paying 2$ for one song that you do like. The revolution in consumer power would be huge, as would the coffers that the RIAA would need for the money they'd make from it.

Right now the RIAA is fighting a war which they are losing, and badly. I say let them make their examples. The masses have spoken, and won't change any time soon. Hopefully they'll soon realize that making enemies of your customers isn't a very viable business pratice.

Oh yeah, and all of you who use Kazaa should be ashamed of yourselves. Kazaa is the 2nd most evil program devised by man (Windows ME is the only program more evil than Kazaa). Kazaa contains within it a whole host of spyware/adware/malware that checks on what you do online, what programs you run, and can even take limited control of your computer. If you don't believe me, download the latest version of Ad-Aware and see it for yourself.

fuq the RIAA and their toadies!

http://www.kazaalitekpp.com
A version of kazza with out spy ware..

PS
I agree with you about Windows ME! :-)

Peace!

How am I stealing from them when they don't even sell MP3s. They are selling apples and I'm downloading oranges. Is it stealing if I record a song from the radio or XM or whatever and give a copy to a friend? What's the difference between that and sharing an MP3?

Does an MP3 track truly equal a CD track. I would imagine there are a number of people who would argue that they do not.

Regarding the RIAA's argument that sales are down sooo much in the past few years: Maybe it's because the internet has made it infinitely easier to buy USED CDs. Duh-Huh, why would I pay $18 for a new CD when I can buy the same CD used for half or less. Maybe they should sue everyone that sells a used CD becaue they don't have the right to sell music they don't "own"....

everyones complaining about the quality of music is crappy. why you even bothering yourself with this then? if you dont like the music why even download. as for riaa i think they took the wrong approach trying to scare us into stoping to download. if anything they should have known that americans dont like being pushed around. they got a few places where you can download music legally...although i think a buck is a bit to much. another problem with that is that i like my music loud and with lots of profanity. they only have clean versions of the songs aviable which kinda makes me mad.

Okay, I go back to the days of quality albums at decent prices, (vinyl). Those were the days when music would "free" you and it was diverse and enjoyable, and affordable. Sure, we we wore out albums we liked and had to buy them again.

Now, we see an outright FACIST movement by the people who represent the people who bring us music. That's not going to work.

In response to both the lawsuits, and this amensty JOKE, (hey, we don't need yo' amnesty massa') I and everyone I know, and everyone they know, are NOT going to buy CD's that have ANYTHING to do with RIAA. That's the REAL way to kill this bullshit before it stinks even more.

They can now moan about falling sales, (even though we all know they have to compete with other media, games, etc. now) but they have NOT seen ANYTHING yet.

Get the word out: If you did buy CD's because you liked what you found via file sharing, DON'T buy them. BOYCOTT all RIAA labels and artists for now. Get over your fix, and go buy a movie or a game. Sit pretty, wait this out, and tell everyone that this affront to the customers means our purchasing deal is now OFF!!!!

In the old days, good salesmen used to say, "The customer is always right!" The RIAA is trying to get this to: "The customer is a potential felon and should submit to us in writing that they are and we might forgive them!" WTF? Give me a BREAK!

Don't ever think this is JUST about records and music. If the RIAA even gets a glimmer of hope, you are all going to lose a lot more, big time, in the long run.

Let's all vow to stop this in its tracks, and you know what, if we ALL do, it will! Yup! Boycotting is very powerful. DO NOT BUY A DAMN CD that is connected in any way to RIAA. Put your money into indy lables and such for now ... you may even find some REAL and CREATIVE music that you missed, that way.

Oh, and yes, the DMA must be changed and thanks, and mad props to our Bro's in Canada for reminding us that we US sheep MUST make this the land of the free again. Well, if it is the "home of the brave" then our National RIAA Boycott will be the PUNCH in their PANTS that they need.

Don't think about it. Don't argue about it. Just do it. BOYCOTT THE RIAA now ... before its too late.

YOU! Yes every YOU! Your money is your power, flog the RIAA with the lack of it and they won't be so big headed and we can make them think about spending their diminshing funds on persecuting our music loving brothers and sisters! They should not be allowed to turn the beauty and meaning of music into the ultimate gesture of Facist corporate slime. Let's teach them a big lesson, okay?

Merely downloading MP3's does not justify with Stealing at all. That's a Lie!
It's merely making a Copy for sampling a Song etc.
So, everyone who Records of the TV & Radio is a Thief too?! Copying is not Stealing, you still got the Physical Original!!!

Good Comments Folks, Absolutely Agree!

Here's one which is making the Rounds---> RIAA To Sue Radio Listeners For Copyright Infringement ---> http://www.newshax.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=439

Don't Miss this one!

In response to Big Easy up there. Yes, if that's the way CD's are printed now (with all that 'Copyright' bull)!

A lot of us are speaking about the high cost of cd's. I will go with you guys on that. But, lets remember that other people also need to make money. Music is a business! Truck drivers to move the cd's, BLUE collar workers to sell the cds at best buy (ex.), the business needed to pay their own bills, power, phone etc... Now, I DO feel that $18 for 49 min of crap is to much to pay.
A good example ... Linkin Park (1st cd) 49 min long $18 ... I purchased a unknown band's cd for $8 and it hard 70 min of music.

I do have alot of music dl'ed ( alot ). I have purchased cd's b/c I listened to the mp3.

Hmmm RIAA should pormote one or two songs to be dl'ed so people can get a feel for the cd.

I just read over at cdfreaks.com that p2p stands for piracy to porn. And even if you are a large buyer of their products, you are no better than a shoplifter. What you don't understand is...this is their way to embrace the new technology. After destroying thousands of families and gathering information on thousands of others in order to instill terror oh....say on about September 11 and after handing out millions to congress to support their efforts, they will control all downloads to schools(with the help of public funding) and the internet. Now everyone run over to Sony and support their new site. NOT!

Universal is cutting CD prices from $16.98-$18.98 to $12.98, and the other major labels will likely follow. This could just be a move (as with the amnesty) on the RIAA's part to give them an advantage in the lawsuits. "Sure, we offered them an easy way out, but they didn't take it", or, "We're trying to make music more affordable to the public, but they are still stealing despite our efforts." Thus, they would immediately void most defenses based on the high prices of CDs or encroachment.

And what of the downloading that goes on outside the web ?
Many of my friends have extensive music collections, as do I. We share equally and there aint a damn thing the RIAA can do about it.
Remember these pigs wanted to do away with bargain bins (used CD sales).
The traditional radio airwaves are being overtaken by, comercial free, internet radio. The RIAA will go the way of the dinosaurs; these law suits are the last desperate acts of a dying animal.

Last night on the radio, conservative talk-show host Lars Larson was railing against MP3 file-sharing. Then, he got a phone call from Mike Pinera, lead singer for 'The Blues Image', a popular group from the late 60s and early 70s ('Ride Captain Ride'). Pinera told Lars he was all wet ... that everyone in the business (except the one-percenters who always top the charts) makes no money off of CD sales. They make their money 'touring'. Pinera did a very good job of blowing Lars' argument right out of the water ... the argument that artists and copyright owners are being victimized by MP3 file sharing. The only people being victimized by file-sharing are the 'middlemen' whom Pinera referred to as 'horse-n-buggy' people no longer needed in the music business. If anyone victimizes the artists and copyright owners, Pinera said it's the CD cartel itself ... paying them pennies for their work (forcing them to tour to stay alive). And, he welcomes the MP3 file-sharing revolution and thinks that privately, most musicians do, too -- because it gives their music a wide distribution making it easier to 'pack houses' when touring time comes around. Also, he suggested that unbeknownst to music industry people, artists whose work has long since been pulled from the shelves of CD stores are THEMSELVES putting MP3s of their music online ... to keep their music alive and make 'reunion' tours successful.

That would be an interesting dilemma, hehe. Imagine if among the RIAA lawsuits, they end up taking a 'copyright owner' to court for releasing his own material on P2P networks because the music industry has ABANDONED his work or the work of his group.

Even i had to stop i cant. I am adicted to downloading songs. Why don't the RIAA go after kazza or liwewire first?

Hey Hey RIAA How many kids have you sued today??

Amusingly, D. Caster (who obviously cannot spell) assumes that sharing information itself is illegal. Actually, it is quite legal; for there are many artists who put their music on their websites free of charge. Additionally, there are some songs that are no longer released; and that music can only be found online. Furthermore, all references to "LORD GOD" are no more than failed attempts to justify a weak argument. Come back with something worth saying next time, Caster!

RIAA has managed to violate almost all of its customers' personal rights. It has also managed to instil more terror into the hearts of Americans than did 11th of September, 2001. Already it is a monopoly, and already it is hated by almost everyone. It won't last.

How about offering amnesty TO the RIAA? ;-)

Crazy, you say? Ah, but it's true!

Read about my kind offer (and contribute your own thoughtful offers) at:

http://www.riaaamnesty.com/ :)

People...Please do not arguing anymore
Keep downloading what you want...when you want...and as much as you want...
No one has the right to stop us doing so.
Stuffs people display for free to take away or is that what the RIAA called CRIMINAL or ILLEGAL or STEALING or all kind of bullshit !!!
I bought a CD of FULL PRICE, turned it into mp3 and put it on the Internet to give away to people around the world and you call me A THIEF ???
Bullshit !
I've already paid you and the copyright to the artists and you still call me THIEF ???
What a joke ! Shame on you RIAA!
People, happy downloading...
Ciao

I hope the seattle post doesn't give our IP
information to the RIAA everytime you post to,
this website isn't the ISP information recorded?

Anyway, if I borrow a cd from a friend, copy it and return it, am I not doing the same thing that is done on peer to peer sharing? are they suing anyone over that? or are they
discriminating against owners of PCs only?

underground artists , mp3s , underground writers and poets , uncsensored forums , every thing you want , all for FREE.