cygweb

According to this story, the Recording Industry Association of America is suing several major Internet backbone providers for allowing users to access a site that is hosting digital copies of songs. I'm more than a little tired of hearing about the RIAA's promotional stunts every week. If they spent half of the energy they've expended attempting to fight online song swapping on some of their core business issues, perhaps they might be able to grow their business instead of continuing to watch it slide.

My take: how about some honest A&R scouting to find undiscovered talent and let them record their music the way they want to? (American Idol doesn't count, but it's entertaining.) How about growing the regional side of the market with respect to what's promoted on radio? How about acting as a conduit for the recording artist instead of as a cocoon or a coffin? How about just taking your unearned CD-R royalties and shutting up about how the growing CD-R market is theoretically reflective of growing music "piracy"?

I buy the CDs of the artists I like, period. If an artist is unknown to me, I have no problem borrowing digital copies of their music to see if it interests me. I have no problem with one-to-one, non-anonymous song swapping. The business model which dictates that you can't return a CD you end up disliking for a full refund is overdue for a replacement.