Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
I think that's a gross exageration. Tobacco companies kill people. The RIAA (which I very much doubt that 1 person in 1000 has ever heard of if you consider the typical "man in the street") does nothing more than to prosecute criminals. You have nothing to fear from the RIAA if you are a law-abiding person.
You're not suggesting that criminals who download tens of thousands of songs illegally should not be prosecuted, are you?
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After all the headlines about RIAA I am not so sure that the average person that buys an Ipod or a CD does not know about it, and about their opinion, well...
Personally I could not care less about RIAA except for the bad example it gives to publishers, since I am not that much into music, but it's sad when an organization supposedly dedicated to promote a business, is one of the leading factors in said business alarming decline; strong arm tactics are not going to work when millions of people download music.
Some people are going to download tens of thousand of songs; so what, why do you think those people would buy most of those songs anyway; take it as a loss leader and move on...
The publishers are in a much better bargaining position so to speak with the public, since books are time consuming to digitize by the average reader from their "usual" print state; it's sad to see them squandering this with all these multiple drm'ed formats, posturing and all the crap thrown at us that I am not bothering to repeat...
Ebooks are happening and making them an affordable and easy to use experience, while similarly the authors reach to their fan base educating them on the economics of publishing ("I do not sell enough books I do not get a contract, so guys and girls better buy my books if you like them...") would do wonders for the business.
Some are starting to do that (it's instructive to see the growing list of authors who blog) and they will do fine however the business will shake up since people will still pay for their work...