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The RIAA, ever exemplars of infinite wisdom, has decided that the next threat to life, liberty and small fuzzy animals clearly must be The Ability Of Users To Burn CDs (caps are required, since it's such a scary thought).
Music copied onto blank recordable CDs is becoming a bigger threat to the bottom line of record stores and music labels than online file-sharing, the head of the recording industry's trade group said Friday.
"Burned" CDs accounted for 29 percent of all recorded music obtained by fans in 2004, compared to 16 percent attributed to downloads from online file-sharing networks, said Mitch Bainwol, chief executive for the Recording Industry Association of America.
For the record, Mitch, have you perhaps heard of the Audio Home Recording Act? You know, the one that specifically mentions copying a record at home for personal purposes? In fact, I'm pretty sure it says something like this: "...users may still make as many first-generation copies as they want..." Sounds pretty much like we have permission to burn CDs to our hearts content. I'm also reasonably sure that if I take three tracks off of one CD (that I own, naturally) and two tracks off of another CD (for which I have paid good money), it's still a first generation copy for me to compile them onto a single CD.
Thanks to Simon for the tip and who has a lovely little spot of sentiment:
Simon Wright, chief executive of Virgin Entertainment Group International, which oversees the Virgin chain of music stores, said he's in favor of labels releasing more albums in a copy-protected CD format, regardless of the potential for consumer backlash.
"If, particularly, the technology allows two-to-three burns, that's well within acceptable limits and I don't think why consumers should have any complaints," Wright said.
You don't, Simon? Well, how about this: I've paid for my CD, and I want to decide what to do with it, on the same basis that I've been allowed to for the last thirty years when I've been buying music and supporting your industry. If, all of a sudden, there are to be limits placed on what I can do with the CD, then I'd expect to see a substantial reduction in the price, in the same way that a disposable plate costs a lot less than a plate i can use many times. And when you say "acceptable" - to whom? I have songs which I put on every bloody compilation I make (I'm told the technical term for this is 'anal') - why is this unacceptable to you?
The big question is: does all this signal that the RIAA have accepted they've lost the filesharing battle, and are trying to move on to safer ground?
Now that's a much more interesting question....
Posted by Casper at August 16, 2005 12:36 AM