In an apparent contradiction to the RIAA's stance, Bill Gates acknowledges the problems with DRM, and instructs people to just buy CDs and rip them to stay legal.

The RIAA wants to reduce artist royalties. Says RIAA executive VP, "We hope the judges will restore the proper balance by reducing the rate and moving to a more flexible percentage rate structure so that record companies can continue to create the sound recordings that drive revenues for music publishers."

I sure wish that the RIAA would take a chill pill and read this article.

A new kind of marketing approach.

One of our forum users (TheByrus) posted an RIAA interview/article in our forums and I think it's a pretty interesting read. Check it out here.

Question: Do your view your lawsuits, even ones where you sued a 12-year-old girl or a Boston grandmother, as a success overall?
Sherman: Yes. We're feeling pretty good.

According to PhillyBurbs.com, the RIAA will be specifically searching for CDs and DVDs for sale at street corners, flea markets, family run shops and even mainstream record stores in these 12 cities: Atlanta; Austin, Texas; Chicago; Dallas; Houston; Los Angeles; Miami; New York; Philadelphia; Providence, R.I.; San Diego and San Francisco.

The RIAA is recommending that certain students drop out of college to pay their settlements.

Submitted by: ACA

A Canadian Record Industry Association study says that downloading doesn't hurt business.

From MTV.com: "Nettwerk Music Group, the Canadian record label and artist-management company that is home to Avril Lavigne, Sarah McLachlan, Barenaked Ladies and Sum 41, is taking on the RIAA on behalf of Elisa Greubel, a 15-year-old Texan whose father was sued by the recording industry trade group in August 2005 for owning a computer that allegedly shared more than 600 music files." You can read the rest of the article here.

Submitted by: spagator

You gotta love when the RIAA sues people who don't even use computers or know what "file sharing" is.

Because I have seen this kind of illegal activity in my local area records stores, here is an article about the RIAA cracking down on retail stores selling these pirated copies. What do you think?

Here's an informative article for anyone interested in how the RIAA lawsuits work.

RIAA Lawsuit Article

At the core of the RIAA lawsuit process, is its initial lawsuit against a group of "John Does". Here is how it works: A lawsuit is brought against a group of "John Does". The location of the lawsuit is where the corporate headquarters of the internet service provider (ISP) is located. All the RIAA knows about the people it is suing is that they are the people who paid for an internet access acount for a particular dynamic IP address. The "John Does" may live -- and usually do live -- hundreds or thousands of miles away, and are not even aware that they have been sued. The case may...

The RIAA dropped 751 copyright-infringement lawsuits in the mail today, bringing the total number of legal actions this year against alleged peer-to-peer (P2P) infringers to more than 7,000.

Submitted by: brodudeman123