Video Geeks Vs. the RIAA

Desolved, not re-organized.

Yeah. The US has one large industry instead of different large companies. Instead of companies into one industry.

said by l33t:

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Yeah. The US has one large industry instead of different large companies. Instead of companies into one industry.

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Wha?? How about trying that again in English?

He's a Macintosh advocate. He doesn't exist in the same dimension as the rest of us. It's not that he's not making sense, it's just that the dimensional distortion ruins the sentence structure.

lol

im surprise that the Dept. Of Justice has not taken the RIAA to court, they are a monopoly just like Microsoft.

I'm not sure that's too possible. The first "A" is "association." They have member companies (Sony, BMG, Warner Bros., Columbia, etc. I'm guessing), and as such are independent entities. It would seem similar in antitrust scope to VADI, Verizon the local service company, Verizon the long distance service company, Verizon Wireless, and so on. It might all be under the Verizon umbrella (likewise, the RIAA umbrella) but technically separate.

The RIAA was found guilty of price fixing. Price fixing is indicative of collusion by the member companies, which is the basis of a trust.

Also, their current sales and marketing strategies are geared at driving out non-member companies, not each other. This anti-competitive behavior is also the basis of a trust.

ahhh....thanks for the clarification.

That would be bad.

With the proliferation of the Internet, I'm not too sure how relevant they are anymore. It seems to me artists would have a much easier time publishing their music online (for example, via Magnatune)

Publishing their own music is one thing. Getting a radio station or MTV to play it without RIAA backing it is damn near impossible. That equals limited exposure and limited success.

said by Cyron:

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The RIAA was found guilty of price fixing.

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Me thinks you refer to the yr2000 conviction of 5 major labels & several large retailers for CD price fixing: the RIAA had nothing to do with that. Anyways the RIAA is too broadbased an organization (they rep for hundreds of companies) to likely be made privvy to a price fixing scheme. The 2000 conviction included:

Labels:
- Warner Brothers Music Group (owned by Time-Warner)
- Sony Music Entertainment
- Universal Music Group (owned by Seagram Co.. Yes, *that* Seagrams)
- BMG (part of Bertelsmann AG)
- EMI Group Plc.

Retailers:
- Tower Records
- Musicland
- Trans World Entertainment Group

said by y2julio:

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im surprise that the Dept. Of Justice has not taken the RIAA to court, they are a monopoly just like Microsoft.

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I heard a rumor that RIAA bought the DOJ...Just like they bought some members of the Senate and Congress...

Yay for cartels! Yay for price fixing! Yay!

I hope riaa loses, wait, what game are they playing again?

said by 53059959:

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I hope riaa loses, wait, what game are they playing again?

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Politics. And in this game all you have to do has have money. Money gets you more money. And more money gets you power. Seriously. Thats politics!

Correction: thats politics such as it is today in the united states
it doesnt have to be that way!

The RIAA is a front organization, funded and directed by Sony, Bertellsman, RCA etc. So, the only way to make a dent in this circus is to go after the Labels. If the record stores emptied out 1 weekend a month their loss of revenue would get the attention of the labels. Have the "weekend off" rotate so stores would not know when to expect zero sales. That means no media sales of any kind. Until the people do that the RIAA and their mouthpieces will continue their lobbying and other theatrics. Hitting them collectively in their revenue stream is the only message they can understand.

RIAA = ONE CRAPPY UNION . Cept they the treat everyone like crap.