F*ck me in the RIAAss!

[adam71 5,000+ posts]

I buy CDs from BMG Music club... last time I bought CDs from them I paid about 35 dollars for seven CDs, shipped to my door. To me, time is money, it would take me more time to get decent quality MP3s of those seven CDs than it is worth.

I to am a member of BMG but rarely order music from them. I usually only order when they are offering free shipping and handling since that is where they get you. Back in the 90s I probably bought 60% of my current library. In the past 5 years 90% of my new CDs come from used CD stores. Can't beat buying a CD for $5.00 that was sold at the mall for $17.99.//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/*******.gif.a649d21efc0d1fd4890a6428166586c1.gif

 

[Flipx99 5,000+ posts]

I bet that's a pretty good business.

Work for the RIAA, give them $100 per person the can bust.

Keep the rest as attorney's fees. Push things every now and again just so people know you are real. Seems pretty lucrative and easier than actually going to court.

 

[faulkton 5,000+ posts]

it is a great strategy.

 

[faulkton 5,000+ posts]

if you want to alienate your future customer base

 

[faulkton 5,000+ posts]

the RIAA just needs to realize that the majority of p2p downloading is done by people who are time rich and money poor.

When these currently poor individuals grow up and have more money and less time, they will buy CDs.

I am a perfect example.

 

[T9X 10+ year member]

..and I thought there was a whole "innocent until proven guilty" B.S. implimented in this country? Something about going in front of a jury of peers and arguing a case? They're not giving me the option to fight it in the letter or on the website. It's just "you owe us money".

 

[Relax 10+ year member]

Unless your mom signed for that letter I would not respond. Other then this thread saying you recieved the letter and your visit to their site they have no proof you ever read it. The entire process of sueing people for copyright infringment has more to do with mass mailings of extortion letters then actual legal processes. They make money on the few unlucky people with thousands of songs that put up a fight, the masses who settle out of fear, and basically anyone who responds.

You think they are actually going after you? They are going after every single person who used that p2p program- all at the same time. One or two lawyers work 40 hours a week sending out these letters to anyone remotely evident of copyright infringment and the 20 or 30% that settle immediately pay those wages and the loss of profit the thousands of millions of downloads cost Sony.

They say you DLed 8 songs and are charging you 4000$ thats 500$ a song. Or roughly 500 songs DLed legally. If even 1/500 or .2% of illegally Dled songs are prosecuted at 500 times the cost of a legal download SOny breaks even (minus the cost of lawyers and politicians and judges.)

Basically- ignore that shit, don't fight it- it will draw attention. Eventually at some point they will give up or you will be summoned to court. If the later happens, buy the **** CDs, loose the reciept and prove you own the songs already and your DLs were perfectly legal.

Thats what I would do- especially since there is no way for the RIAA or any agency or person for that matter to sue you without you going to court in person.

Also jeep in mind I have no experience in this matter, or anymore then a basic knowledge of common law.

 

[adam71 5,000+ posts]

Does anyone remember in the 90s when Sony Music was sued by a class action lawsuit for gouging the prices of their CDs. Once CDs became cheaper and cheaper to make the rest of the industry lowered the prices of their CDs except for Sony. They were later sued. Not sure how much they lost but maybe that has something to do with them going after downloaders with such a reckless abandon.

 

[T9X 10+ year member]

Unless your mom signed for that letter I would not respond. Other then this thread saying you recieved the letter and your visit to their site they have no proof you ever read it. The entire process of sueing people for copyright infringment has more to do with mass mailings of extortion letters then actual legal processes. They make money on the few unlucky people with thousands of songs that put up a fight, the masses who settle out of fear, and basically anyone who responds.
You think they are actually going after you? They are going after every single person who used that p2p program- all at the same time. One or two lawyers work 40 hours a week sending out these letters to anyone remotely evident of copyright infringment and the 20 or 30% that settle immediately pay those wages and the loss of profit the thousands of millions of downloads cost Sony.

They say you DLed 8 songs and are charging you 4000$ thats 500$ a song. Or roughly 500 songs DLed legally. If even 1/500 or .2% of illegally Dled songs are prosecuted at 500 times the cost of a legal download SOny breaks even (minus the cost of lawyers and politicians and judges.)

Basically- ignore that shit, don't fight it- it will draw attention. Eventually at some point they will give up or you will be summoned to court. If the later happens, buy the **** CDs, loose the reciept and prove you own the songs already and your DLs were perfectly legal.

Thats what I would do- especially since there is no way for the RIAA or any agency or person for that matter to sue you without you going to court in person.

Also jeep in mind I have no experience in this matter, or anymore then a basic knowledge of common law.

That's my logic too but the Federal court thing sounds kinda messy..

 

[Scoobydoo 5,000+ posts]

Daaaaaaaaammmmmnnnnnnnnnnn!!!!! Sorry to hear that man. I can say when I used to use programs like Napster, Scour, Imesh, Bearshare....etc. that I never used to share because it always knocked down my bandwidth and I never had much people wanted in my shared folder to begin with. Now I'm glad I always did it that way.
Funny thing is, they're sooooooo hard up to catch you guys for downloading low quality, compressed songs and meanwhile they let what me and my friends do all the time. There's me and a couple of my friends who all like pretty much the same music. We all own over 500 CDs a piece and the libraries continue to grow. But it's very rare that we all buy a NEW CD. One of us will and then make 2 copies for the other 2. I'm pretty sure this is legal and CD is much higher quality. So I guess I don't understand why they don't go after stopping people like me and my friends instead of MP3 downloaders.

LOL you actually think that is legal? If so your wrong!

x2 on what relax said since i stated the same thing hours ago

 

[adam71 5,000+ posts]

LOL you actually think that is legal? If so your wrong!
x2 on what relax said since i stated the same thing hours ago

How is that any different than making backup CDs for myself?? It's not something they would be able to track online so I'm definitely not worried about it. Don't get me wrong atleast 95% of my CD collection is store bought but I see nothing wrong with owning copies too.

 

[Scoobydoo 5,000+ posts]

How is that any different than making backup CDs for myself?? It's not something they would be able to track online so I'm definitely not worried about it. Don't get me wrong atleast 95% of my CD collection is store bought but I see nothing wrong with owning copies too.

You can only make a backup if YOU own the original, not if your friend owns it

 

[adam71 5,000+ posts]

You can only make a backup if YOU own the original, not if your friend owns it

I understand that. But again, how would they track that?? I could see if I was making mulitple copies and selling them. But lets say for the sake of argument they tried to bust me for owning a copy. All I would have to say is that I lost (or had stolen) my original and this CD is my backup that I made a long time ago.

Like I said. I fail to see how they could prove this. Where as with downloading they would have a record from a p2p site.

 

[Scoobydoo 5,000+ posts]

I understand that. But again, how would they track that?? I could see if I was making mulitple copies and selling them. But lets say for the sake of argument they tried to bust me for owning a copy. All I would have to say is that I lost (or had stolen) my original and this CD is my backup that I made a long time ago.
Like I said. I fail to see how they could prove this. Where as with downloading they would have a record from a p2p site.

I'm not arguing whether or not they could prove it or if you can get caught. I am just letting you know it is illegal because you seemed confused on that aspect.

If you make a backup and then sell the original copy you are suppose to destroy the backup. They would probably tell you that if you were irresponsible enough to lose the original you should have bought another or destroy your backup since you no longer owned an original copy.

Anyway you twist it you aren't suppose to have any form of backup copy unless you are in possession of the original copy.

 

[Freelander 10+ year member]

**** em they aren't going to drag you to court over 8 songs. I've been hit with several threatning letters. Without a warrant I believe its illegal for your ISP to give out personal information so just forget about the letter and stop downloading.

Also if you plan on downloading look into a proxie so that you cannot be tracked.