Missing!

Name: Recording Industry Association of America
Alias(es): RIAA, Butch, The Enforcer, Mrs. Litiga T. Ion
Date Missing: 2010
Reward: $0.00

The more I see how the RIAA views and treats its customers, the more excited I am.

Let me explain:

People will put up with anything as long as there is no alternative.

For years, if bands wanted to be distributed widely enough to be noticed, they had to go through the RIAA. "Indie" was synonymous with "Hungry". To an up-and-coming band, it only made sense to sign your life away in return for a huge pile of cash. Production, marketing, distribution - all taken care of for you (never thought you'd get to be a rock star, eh?). And let's face it, you're an artist, not a business major. All best left to the professionals.

Now we're living in a different world. A digital world. Your fans keep tabs on you via your website. They listen to your latest tracks and buy your shirts and albums. News is instantly delivered to the people who matter most.

So you go see your label and have a chat.

"This Internet thingy is getting big," you say. "We should tap into this technology. There's a huge fan base out there and it makes marketing and distribution a snap. We can cut costs and increase profits."

"Ah, yes," comes the response. "About that. We looked into 'technology'. We found that we can use it, too. We can protect our content. That way, our customers cannot use the product they purchased in the way they want. This will make our content less widely distributed. And when supply is low, demand is high. High demand equals high prices. We'll make a fortune. See? You should leave the business thinking to us. We're professionals."

"Bwa?!?" you stammer in disbelief. "That makes no sense! You already distribute the content in another format that doesn't use this technology, so it's widely available for free. We have to make it easy for customers. We have to give them a reason to want to pay us for our product."

"Yes," they say. "They'll want to pay us for it or we'll sue them. We'll get their money either way - sometimes both, assuming we sue honest people as well. It's pure genius!"

Now if this were the old days, the discussion would end here and you'd simply be a misunderstood rock star, likely with bad hair. But this is the digital age. So you look around for alternatives.

You see this thing called 'iTunes'. Anyone can upload their content. Anyone. It's that simple. No contracts to sign - the store takes a cut and you take a cut. It's distribution and marketing all in one. Your customers get exactly what they want - no filler. So in order to make the most money, you're encouraged to make the best content.

Right now, this is where the story ends. There's still the problem of production. Until recently, Apple was not legally allowed to produce music under its own label. Now with that lawsuit settled, Apple has free reign. With more and more indie bands coming to iTunes, Apple is becoming a major player in the industry. If it wants, which I believe it does, Apple could be its own record label. No more ridiculously restrictive contracts between artists and labels. Apple can produce, distribute and market music at a higher profit margin, including for the artist, than any RIAA member ever could. And DRM could be optional - a simple check box when signing up for inclusion in iTunes. This security blanket would entice the bigger bands over. After a while, no one would check that box, simply because they will sell less music to the customer that wants to be allowed to say how he uses his purchase.

This is what I see in the RIAA's future. I no longer get as upset at the latest asinine and mind-bogglingly unfair or stupid thing the RIAA does. They're throwing it all away, one paying customer at a time. At this rate, they'll be done for by 2010.

Remember, Mrs. Litiga, Steve Jobs doesn't have to be the first, the smartest or the most likable.

He just has to be better than you.

Ahoy, Mateys!

So I was thinking the other day about the RIAA, MPAA and the current state of copyright. We've all heard the rhetoric back and forth about the medium, delivery and protection methods of copyrighted works.

Customers want freedom to use their purchases how they want to, regardless of medium or location. Copyright holders want to be paid for their work. These interests don't seem mutually exclusive, but the major copyright holders certainly disagree, and even go so far as to make the glaringly stupid assumption that everybody is pirating their copyrighted works (Key quote: "Each of these devices is used to store unpaid-for material."). They make no attempt to differentiate between honest consumers and outright thieves.

Let's analyze this using the terms the RIAA and MPAA use - piracy. Let's say these mammoth copyright holders are shipbuilders. The ships will be the MP3s. The honest consumers are the businessmen who buy ships and transport goods and people from shore to shore. The thieves who illegally download and distribute stolen copyrighted materials are the pirates who commandeer the ships on the high seas.

The shipbuilders are losing money because the pirates are stealing their ships. So they raise prices. This doesn't affect the pirates, because they're not paying for the ships anyway. As the costs rise, the businessmen lose money, so some of them become pirates.

Due to increased piracy, the shipbuilders are losing even more money. So they decide to line the bottom of every ship with steel (DRM). This makes it harder for a pirate to make a quick getaway. Harder, but not impossible. The pirates continue to steal ships and simply remove the steel linings. And of course, the slower and harder-to-use ships tick off the businessmen, so more of them become pirates.

The solution, of course, is to police the waters and sink the pirates. This is more difficult and time-consuming than taking proper care of your legitimate customers, so the ship builders don't bother. It's easier to whine loudly and use inflated and unverifiable numbers to show how much they're getting shafted.

Then the shipbuilders' best salesman (Steve Jobs) comes along with a brilliant idea - Build fast, quality ships that are easy to use. Then your customers will be happy to pay you for your excellent product.

And what do the RIAA and MPAA say?

Shut up, Steve, and help us make thicker steel.