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  • THURSDAY JUNE 15 2006 10:00 AM

RIAA Finds a New Way to Alienate its Customers

Submitted by WilWheaton

Edited by Rahodeb

Tags: RIAA, YouTube

Someone at the RIAA must have realized there were still a few music consumers it hadn't sued yet, so the organization is going after kids who post videos of themselves dancing on YouTube.

The RIAA is apparently sending out cease-and-desist letters to YouTube users who dare to put up videos of things such as themselves dancing to music they haven't licensed. It's difficult to see how the RIAA can make a credible claim of "losses" in this case. Clearly, some kids videotaping themselves bopping along to some song aren't going to pay a license fee -- and these sorts of viral videos tend to help build up more interest in artists. So what good does it do to go after these videos?

Kids who don't understand that the RIAA is a C&D-happy organization are just going to freak out at the artist they were dancing to, and those kids will tell their friends, "Hey, Outkast sued me because I shook my tail feathers and put it on YouTube! Fuck Outkast!"

By making kids -- who are just getting up and dancing to the music they love -- feel like criminals, the RIAA creates an entire generation of embittered consumers who will be inclined to steal music, simply as an act of rebellion. This can only hurt the artists the RIAA supposedly exists to protect.

This type of legal action may be smart, according to lawyers, but the publicity departments at all the major labels should be on the phones, screaming at the RIAA for this outrageous move.

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Comments
Lucidlyseen

Lucidlyseen

Olympia, WA
November 2003

JUN 15, 2006 10:09 AM

RIAA = Assholes

ummm, hang on someone is knocking on my door...

RudieCantFail

RudieCantFail

I'm lost
January 2006

JUN 15, 2006 10:13 AM

cunninglinquist

cunninglinquist

Quakertown, PA
November 2003

JUN 15, 2006 10:18 AM

Assholes is the perfect description, can't top that

MyNameIsJohn

MyNameIsJohn

Bellingham, WA
May 2006

JUN 15, 2006 10:21 AM

Jesus christ... A good portion of the comments on those videos seem to be related to the song... What is it, where can I get, yadda yadda... Free promotion!!! Where be these losses the RIAA is talking about???

stainedecho

stainedecho

Bloomington, IN
September 2005

JUN 15, 2006 10:34 AM

Their death as an organization cannot come soon enough.

FraktalP

FraktalP

Denver, CO
February 2006

JUN 15, 2006 10:50 AM

damn! all this time i was just logging into youtube and jamming to all my favorite songs in lieu of buying the products!

Man those guys are smart, they can even find vast infringement conspiracies where there are none. Now that takes talent!

I think the next crusade they should wage is the burgeoning "music coming out the car windows at a stoplight" epidemic. Those guys are getting away scott-free!

randy_geek

randy_geek

United Kingdom
April 2006

JUN 15, 2006 10:51 AM

I always liked how The Register mention the RIAA: Recording Industry Ass. of America, and always like that, with the cunning abbreviation.

Eiron

Eiron

Buffalo, NY
May 2006

JUN 15, 2006 11:06 AM

RudeBoy99 said:
Numa Numa!



The losses O-Zone suffered during those dark days must've been staggering.

YouTube videos of kids making asses of themselves has long since replaced iTunes as my music player of choice.

Idjit

Idjit

HOPEFUL

I'm lost

JUN 15, 2006 11:13 AM

Wow, you know.. I'm all for artists getting paid and find the whole I'm-entitled-to-anything-I-don't-actually-have-to-walk-into-a-store-and-shove-under-my-shirt crowd pretty reprehensible, but this is fucking ridiculous.

s5

s5

San Francisco, CA
OLD SKOOL

JUN 15, 2006 11:21 AM

Buster_Bluth

Buster_Bluth

Los Angeles, CA
January 2004

JUN 15, 2006 11:34 AM

I know that supposedly the "R" stands for "Recording" but I'm more and more convinced that it actually stands for "Retarded" and for the politically correct that winced at my use of "Retarded" I apologize and will gladly settle on "Ridiculous".

Morgan

Morgan

SUICIDEGIRL

Illinois, USA

JUN 15, 2006 11:52 AM

stainedecho said:
Their death as an organization cannot come soon enough.



Agreed.

whitepuma

whitepuma

Australia
March 2004

JUN 15, 2006 01:09 PM

as far as i can see an artist or group who doesnt want to be represented buy fucksticks with no concept of reality like all the do gooders in my fucked up country should turn around and sue RIAA for lost income due to the action that RIAA supposedly took on there behalf without informing said artist/group nor gaining consent. coz i am sure that if RIAA can argue a case against lost income due to theft the reverse can be done and more easily proven to take those fuckers for all their worth or some one could just blow them alll up and be done with it

bean

bean

STAFF

Los Angeles, CA

JUN 15, 2006 01:42 PM

whitepuma said:
as far as i can see an artist or group who doesnt want to be represented buy fucksticks with no concept of reality like all the do gooders in my fucked up country should turn around and sue RIAA for lost income due to the action that RIAA supposedly took on there behalf without informing said artist/group nor gaining consent. coz i am sure that if RIAA can argue a case against lost income due to theft the reverse can be done and more easily proven to take those fuckers for all their worth or some one could just blow them alll up and be done with it


I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that the RIAA, as lawyer-happy as they are, probably includes some sort of indemnity clause in their contracts.

vampiresoldier

vampiresoldier

Oakland, CA
March 2004

JUN 15, 2006 02:49 PM

It might because some of the videos in Youtube are actually better then the crap that passes for a music video today.

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