And You Believed It?

September 24, 2003 6:08 PM

In a movesure to please independent record store owners and further alienate everyone else, music giant Universal has scrapped its to lower CD prices to a MSRP of $12.98. Just when you thought they might be getting it.
posted by keswick (25 comments total)

It's my first FPP. Be gentle.
posted by keswick at 6:09 PM on September 24, 2003

28058.
posted by kickingtheground at 6:15 PM on September 24, 2003

one word : RICO
posted by MrLint at 6:16 PM on September 24, 2003

I don't get it, kickingtheground... why did you link to the post that keswick linked to? This is a reversal of the news that was first announced in 28058.
posted by jonson at 6:22 PM on September 24, 2003

That's what i get for not paying attention.
posted by kickingtheground at 6:24 PM on September 24, 2003

Y'all are still buying CDs from Universal Music Group? Why should it matter how low they make the price or how low they don't make the price -- WHY are we still supporting them?

They are suing your fellow fans of music. These are not people who steal recordings to turn a profit. They're fans of music just like you, and you could be next.

If the album comes from any label on this list stop buying their merchandise. It's the only way they'll get the message. They can lower the price all they want. Play publicity and advertising all they want. It won't change the fact they are treating us, their own consumers, as if we were criminals.

We're not pirates. We love music. That's our only crime. Please stop supporting them.
posted by ZachsMind at 6:38 PM on September 24, 2003

Why does this concern anyone?

Didn't you all stop buying CD's and listening to 'commerical' music? The same applies to going to movies or buying DVDs/tapes.

Giving money that goes to the RIAA/MPAA only encourages them to take your money, buy a stick, and beat you with the stick you bought.

If you don't buy their crap, they can't exist. Its all about the Bengies...
posted by rough ashlar at 6:48 PM on September 24, 2003

Bengies? Is that some sort of Frech desert or something?
posted by spilon at 7:29 PM on September 24, 2003

rough ashlar, my approach is to keep track of the money spent on such things (DVDs, CDs, movie tickets, etc.) and match it with donations to the EFF. I figure that I ought to value my freedom as much as my entertainment. And show it.
posted by NortonDC at 7:43 PM on September 24, 2003

Averaging $1 a song maybe?

How much would people be ready to pay for a CD? I'd like to be able to buy 4 for $20. That's $5 a piece. And oh, I'd like the artist to get paid $1 per CD I buy; decreasing as volume goes...
posted by NewBornHippy at 8:23 PM on September 24, 2003

I'd like to be able to buy CDs, 100 for $10, with all of my favorite songs on them.

Or I could accept that making an album costs real money, and most albums never make that money back, even without evil accounting tricks.
posted by mosch at 8:35 PM on September 24, 2003

Why should it matter how low they make the price or how low they don't make the price -- WHY are we still supporting them?

Well, perhaps because we like the music, and perhaps because we think the worst the record companies are actually guilty of is making some bad publicity for themselves. Suing people who like your product is stupid marketing, but they have the perfect legal and moral right to do it. If I boycotted every company that made bad marketing mistakes, I'd not be able to buy anything at all, so why not?

They are suing your fellow fans of music. These are not people who steal recordings to turn a profit. They're fans of music just like you, and you could be next.

No, they're not just like me, as I don't publish my entire music collection for millions of complete strangers to make illegal copies of. So, no, I won't be next.
posted by kindall at 9:14 PM on September 24, 2003

Oh yeah, almost forgot:

It won't change the fact they are treating us, their own consumers, as if we were criminals.

You arrest criminals. You don't sue them. The people who are being sued for "sharing" their music are in fact criminals, and technically they could be arrested, but the RIAA is treating this as a civil matter, not as a criminal one. So far as I know, not one person has been arrested for "sharing" music.

Let's stop the FUD, shall we?
posted by kindall at 9:20 PM on September 24, 2003

Folks, I believe that NPR has garbled the hell out of this story. It does not mean what they or you think it means.

Universal is still cutting the wholesale price -- they're just not going to apply specific price stickers, because that was pissing off retailers who would be getting their margins cut.

Read this carefully:

Less than a month after Universal Music Group said it would try to lure music buyers back to stores by placing $12.98 stickers on most of its compact discs, the company acknowledged yesterday that it would not specify a price, bowing to pressure from major retailers such as Best Buy.

Instead, Universal Music -- the largest of the music industry's five big companies and home to acts such as Nelly and U2 -- will put stickers on CDs saying they are priced lower without stating a price, though Universal Music believes that retailers will price them near $13.

Understand the difference? Apparently NPR couldn't.
posted by pmurray63 at 10:36 PM on September 24, 2003

You arrest criminals. You don't sue them. The people who are being sued for "sharing" their music are in fact criminals, and technically they could be arrested, but the RIAA is treating this as a civil matter, not as a criminal one. So far as I know, not one person has been arrested for "sharing" music.

Napster Users Arrested In Belgium

Australian students arrested and charged in MP3 raid

Oklahoma student arrested and charged with "unlawful advertisement or offer to distribute sound recordings." (and more!)
posted by Jairus at 11:26 PM on September 24, 2003

Thanks, I missed those, especially the US ones.
posted by kindall at 11:33 PM on September 24, 2003

kindall - "You arrest criminals. You don't sue them. The people who are being sued for "sharing" their music are in fact criminals, and technically they could be arrested, but the RIAA is treating this as a civil matter, not as a criminal one. So far as I know, not one person has been arrested for "sharing" music.
Let's stop the FUD, shall we?"

kindall, you're nitpicking, zacksmind said the they were treating people as if they were criminals, which they are. People swap music all the time, and always have done; with friends & family. In fact people do it so much, that it is, in UK law, at any rate, considered nolonger illegal.
Similar activity done on the internet, is getting people landed with lawsuits with potential fines of millions of dollars.... just for being a music fan and trading bootlegs for no profit. And there's good anecdotal evidence to say that people who bootleg in this manner, still buy music CDs, maybe even more than before.

In attacking zachsmind's relatively innocuous comment, you're simply adding to the FUD that the RIAA et al, vomit forth, rather than reducing it.
posted by Blue Stone at 9:17 AM on September 25, 2003

Whoohoo, Metropolis, Projekt, Cleopatra, TVT/Waxtrax and Warp are not affiliated with the RIAA.

Unfortunately, 4AD, Green Linnet, Release and Rykodisc are... feh.
posted by Foosnark at 12:20 PM on September 25, 2003

Whoohoo, Metropolis, Projekt, Cleopatra, TVT/Waxtrax and Warp are not affiliated with the RIAA.

Time to leech the new VNV & Funker Vogt & KMFDM then? Feh, not even worth the download time....
posted by starscream at 12:51 PM on September 25, 2003

Time to leech the new VNV & Funker Vogt & KMFDM then? Feh, not even worth the download time....

Heh.

Also not affiliated with the RIAA, but much better and more relevant industrial/noise than our aforementioned has-been labels:

Ant-Zen, Hymen, Ad Noiseam, Frozen Empire Media, Hands, World Serpent, Hushush, and Subconscious.
posted by Jairus at 7:12 PM on September 25, 2003

The only music I've bought this year (other than the Dixie Chicks, sorry I love them) has been local musicians who burn their own recordings onto CD. I pay 8 dollars on average for each of them and I like the vast majority of the songs on those Cds instead of one or two songs of the average CD.
posted by SuzySmith at 8:47 PM on September 25, 2003

People swap music all the time, and always have done; with friends & family.

That's a far cry from sharing them indiscriminately with everyone.
posted by kindall at 10:14 PM on September 25, 2003

That's a far cry from sharing them indiscriminately with everyone.

Agreed, but as a DJ, promoter, and sometimes-musician, I prefer the way it is now, to be honest.
posted by Jairus at 10:46 PM on September 25, 2003

Nope, I'm not likely to be sued or arrested any time soon since I'm not a criminal and I haven't stolen any of my music. Just because it's for personal use doesn't make it right. I doubt you'd say it was ok for someone to walk into a store and steal a copy of the cd if they were only going to listen to it themselves.

People will continue to pirate as long as they feel that they can get away with it. If people realize that their actions have very real consequences to them then maybe they'll stop breaking the law. No matter how you slice it they ARE breaking the law and that DOES make them criminals. Whining about getting caught doesn't make it alright.

Wanna really stick it to the RIAA for putting out shitty acts (ok, the put out some good stuff too, but there isn't nearly as much of it) and overcharing? Don't buy it. Don't consume it at all. Find free sources online (I highly suggest Epitonic and learn about new bands, buy stuff from local bands if your area has any that are good (I live in a shitty town and the few local bands suck), support smaller labels. As long as you continue to steal all you're doing is saying that you just don't want to pay as long as you think you can get away with stealing it... whether that's the impression you intend to give or not.
posted by Belgand at 1:07 AM on September 26, 2003

Sweet Jesus, can we please stop with the stealing/CD-off-the-shelf analogy? Copyright Infringement =/= Theft. That's why they have two different definitions.

The act of copying MP3s has nothing in common with the act of stealing a CD. One involves deprivation of physical (not potential) property, and the other involves unauthorized duplication/distribution.

Equating mp3s/divx downloads to theft is the greatest PR coup the media industry has ever pulled on the public.
posted by Jairus at 2:27 AM on September 26, 2003