The wonderful RIAA is at it again. Sending out subpoenas right and left. This time to students of the UMaine System. The UMaine site reports that the RIAA has sent the school letters to forward to 23 students informing them of their option to settle via online website p2plawsuits.com for an apparently lower cost as opposed to taking it to court. UMaine is not the only school by far. The RIAA has notified hundreds of schools and thousands of students of their intent to pursue those who download copyrighted music with subpoenas and lawsuits. UMaine has stated they will not hand over the names of the students to the RIAA nor will they deliver the notifications to the students. This is AWESOME! It is in their very right to declare such. Student information is protected underneath FERPA [Family Education Rights and Privacy Act]. UMaine has no responsibility to be the RIAA’s messenger. However, looking out for their students, they have made the notifications available for pick up if the students so desire to. Righteous! Good for you, UMaine! Stand your ground, privacy is gold!
In this day and age, BUYING music is close to unheard of [at least in my circles]. You never hear, "HEY, did you buy so-and-so’s new cd?". Its all about, "Have you downloaded such-and-such song?". The implications of downloading music are few and far between. Sure, the artist doesn’t receive that percentage of your sales anymore and the RIAA may try to sue you; but what is wrong with downloading copyrighted music? The artist I would say is in quite the position. Their music which costs them money and effort to produce and create is now being spread freely on the internet. They are not getting paid for what they do. This is clearly a problem. The solution is well, far from perfect. Artists must partner with online music sites to provide downloads for a price. 
This reduces their profits as well as sufficient information to market their music.
I will leave you all with a simple question for this post. What, if anything, can artists do to gain their source of income back? Should they put an emphasis on merchandise? L-P’s? Marketing? What would be a good base to fall back on [besides getting another job]?
I will continue this post and possibly even start a series, "Subsidize Privacy?"
What will be illegal next? I suppose letting you borrow my DVD is a no-no. Or how about letting you photo-copy a book of mine?
It’s SHARING not STEALING. These morons try to use the latter in their mission.
Stealing is slipping a CD into my bookbag at Barnes and Noble. Stealing is breaking into a house and taking a watch. Stealing is not taking something that someone shared with you.
If we are going to go after those who download music…it’s really time to go after libraries. Libraries buy a book and maybe hundreds then use that book.
This is such a stupid argument. These money-hungry morons in the RIAA should shut their faces and focus on libraries–that’s if they really cared about the “cause” at its heart.