The RIAA Wants To Finger Your Kids
Hat tip to Wil ‘Yes, That Wil Wheaton’ Wheaton for bringing us this news from the music front lines:
The RIAA is sending [cease & desist letters] to kids who post videos of themselves dancing to music on YouTube, because the kids — who are giving musicians free viral marketing — haven’t paid a license fee.
Let me tell you something… if any other freaks were out there sending threatening letters to your kids, you’d have them arrested. It’s that simple. An industry conglomerate who goes after 13-year-old girls should be treated no differently than any other criminal.
The RIAA (Recording Industry Association of Asshats) has once again proven why the current system of licensing and control does… not… work. And, fortunately for those of us on board the revolution (not the spaceship), it’s yet another red-flag example of why independent music must be supported.
There is a fine line between fair use and stealing, and the RIAA seems to be on the wrong side of that line with every lawsuit they file. Obviously, I’m all for the protection of intellectual property, but there is an unclear threshold where piracy ends and kids having fun with a camera begin. It’s only going to get worse (or better, depending on your perspective): If you follow the philosophy behind podcasting, you understand that there is a trend toward consumer-generated media that the RIAA very clearly doesn’t get.
Kids in my day (God, did I just say that?) played with normal, healthy toys like lawn darts and bottle rockets. Even then, though, we made radio shows with tape recorders and movies with our 35-pound camcorder. If we had a means of sharing those videos and radio shows with the whole world, you can bet your aft we’d have done it.
And, in my idyllic reminiscing, I’d like to think we wouldn’t have gotten sued for lip-synching to Blame It On The Rain. Especially since we weren’t the only ones doing it.
In other, unrelated news, if you ever want me to get Wil Wheaton interviewed on this podcast, drop him a line at wil@wilwheaton.net and tell him he needs to get on board the Revolution (the spaceship). While you’re there, check out his podcast, “Radio Free Burrito”. Fun stuff from the Archbishop of Geekopolis.
June 16th, 2006 at 7:57 am
Thanks to podsafe music such as yours and others, the RIAA will become obsolete. Long live the Podsafe Army, Captain Ebel!!!
June 18th, 2006 at 6:19 pm
This, more than anything, is why the RIAA is on the way out the door. Not because they’re overzealous in enforcing copyright, or because their tactics are legally and ethically questionable - lots of professions fit that category (even mine, though thankfully not my company). No, the reason the RIAA is on the way out is because they fail to recognize a promotional opportunity even when it bites them on their bloated ass.
If there are any representatives of podsafe music organizations out there, or podsafe artists (hint), now would be a great time to open up “Music you can legally dance to on YouTube” with a Creative Commons license of some kind - attribution/non-commercial, probably - and hit all of these kids up with comments on their pages letting them know the music is out there if they want to legally use it. The conditions would be standard - non-commercial, full attribution, etc.
Don’t you just love it when your enemies hand you opportunities like this? Thank you, RIAA!