Today I want to talk about some specific legal issues in the
music industry. These are recent issues that affect people on both the business
and creative side of the industry so pay attention and feel free to share your
thoughts with me.
The first issue is copyright law in regards to sampling and
remixing. It is a common misconception that sampling is legal as long as the
length of the sample is only a certain length. I’m here to tell you that there
is only one way to legally sample music for commercial purposes and that’s with
written permission. You must obtain permission, in writing of course, from
whoever owns the rights to the music BEFORE you use it. Believe me the RIAA is
a vicious machine and it will tear you to pieces if you give it an excuse to do
it. So, I personally recommend getting permission even if you don’t think your
use of a musical work is “commercial”. A Harvard law professor named Larry
Lessig, points out that the way copyright law was originally put on the books
makes even re-mixers and samplers who give their creative works away for free
are technically “pirates” the same as people who do profit off of illegal
music. The Lessig’s TED talk on this issue is below.
On to issue number two. The RIAA’s fight against piracy.
Remember when people used to tell you as a kid “pick your battles”. The RIAA
has sued children, dead old ladies (yes they actually tried this and claimed it
was an accident), and parents. We all know what they are trying to do. They are
trying to make examples to use as scare tactics. They want to deter future
illegal downloading by crucifying a few harmless citizens in front of the
national media and leave their rotting corpses up for display. Well does it
work? Do you want to download music more or less when you read that they RIAA
began trying to sue a mother and her two children for 1.92 MILLION DOLLARS for
downloading 24 songs back in 2009? That’s enough songs to make up about two
albums, which would cost roughly $20 at the I-Tunes store. Can anyone say
bully, witch-hunt, and psychotic over-reaction?
The point I’m making here is that you have to fight for your
rights, but when you are fighting the consumers, pick your battles. You will no
doubt have venues, sponsors, promoters, etc, who will breach the terms of their
contract or harm you in some other way. And sometimes, I said sometimes, legal
action is the appropriate remedy. Just remember to learn from the RIAA’s
mistake and don’t burn any bridges you’ll need later. And above all else, don’t
alienate your fans by making yourself look like the bad guy. You catch more
flies with honey than vinegar. Give your fans a reason to pay for your music,
not a reason to steal it.
Legal issue three. For the second time in the last decade
and a half, the major record labels are being sued for price fixing. Last
January, the U.S. Supreme court upheld a NY judge’s decision to allow the case
to go forward. This time the major labels are accused of colluding to price
fixed digital downloads where as last time they were accused to price fixing
CD’s. (Link below). The last time the major labels were sued for price fixing,
they were found guilty. By the way, in case you don’t know, the RIAA we talked
about in the last part represents……wait for it……..the major record labels. Does
anybody else see a problem/pattern here?
I see it. I see an industry that has been price gouging for
decades. An industry that forced people to pay growing prices on a technology
that was getting cheaper to manufacture (recorded CD’s) by the minute. The
people fought back and sued them.
The labels learned nothing and began more and more to fill
the CD’s with 12 crappy songs, one good song, and forcibly sodomize people for
the price of an entire album. So, when the labels refused to meet the consumers
demand to buy just one song at a time, people found a way to fight back again
and get just one song anyways…for free.
Then, the labels decide to come back and punish these rebel
pirates, who are usually children with no income, by suing them for millions of
dollars. Now, the people are accusing the labels of price fixing again. Now do
you see the pattern?
Does this sound like a good business relationship to you? If
it were a marriage, somebody would be dead by now.
Something has to change right now before this problem continues to escalate.
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