Keel over and die, already
Wired: “The electronics industry’s attitude toward the labels is summed up by an Apple slogan: Rip. Mix. Burn. Which, a music executive once told me, translates into ‘Fuck you, record labels.’”
RIAA and its ilk are certainly fighting an uphill battle. As mentioned in the article, the five record companies sold for $20 billion last year. Sony sold electronics and computers for $42 billion. The music mafia wants exclusive rights to DRM (digital rights management) in electronics, which has seriously started to annoy the computer industry. If the music industry goes too far, the computer industry can squish them under their left pinky despite the massive amount of cash the music mafia throws at their pet politicians.
Well, at least Hilary Rosen quit. Supposedly to spend time with her family, but I sense that she’s just a scapegoat for all the retarded “stomp them thar pirates”-plans the RIAA has cooked up lately.
Their latest idiocy was the notion of blaming the ISPs for piracy, and forcing them to fork over some money the RIAA could plug in the holes of their sinking ship. The ISPs were suggested to shift the cost to their customers.
I wonder how many who would think “gee, my ISP bills me on behalf of the RIAA who thinks I’m a pirate. I guess it’s OK for me to download songs now that I’ve paid money to RIAA.“