Tram Town
Thursday, February 10, 2005
| Category: Digital The RIAA has tried to sue a woman who recently died computerless at the age of 83. They allege she has made 700 songs available for download on the Internet. Her daughter, Robyn Chianumba does not expect her to front up in court: "I am pretty sure she is not going to leave Greenwood Memorial Park to attend the hearing". On Tech Central Station, Glenn Reynolds' article Toxic Botsuits suggests that this is a "'bot-based lawsuit". Like many TCS articles, this one is well worth the read. I have wandered off to some really interesting places as a result of my search for news on menace-to-society Gertrude Walton. Boycott the RIAA is an interesting one which discourages sharing of copyrighted files from members of the RIAA but encourages sharing of independently produced and distributed files. A TCS article on the same theme talks about the tail growing longer meaning that the main stream media is giving a lot away to the small media. I think this is also true of the music industry. The main stream record companies are losing control and the pulling power of the superstar, while still enormous, is on a shallow downhill slope. This discussion on Boycott RIAA has an owner of a plush studio with "chefs on staff that prepare home-cooked meals, housekeeping and laundry service, a gym, sauna, jacuzzi, billiards, comfortable, private guest rooms", etc., lamenting the fact that he is getting less bookings because there are less superstars being paid large amounts by the big record companies. Comments tend toward "the world doesn't owe you a living, buddy". All in all, apart from the lawsuits, the trends seem to me to be healthy, just don't go manufacturing buggy whips or you're going to go hungry. |
