Superstars blast file swapping By Lisa M. Bowman Staff Writer CNET News.com September 25, 2002, 9:00 PM PT Got unauthorized MP3s? Record labels are launching a multimillion-dollar public interest-style ad campaign to make sure you don't. On Thursday, a coalition of artists and labels will start running print, radio and TV ads featuring dozens of major recording stars who compare file swapping with stealing. The ads, reminiscent of the American Dairy Association's Got Milk or MTV's Rock the Vote campaigns, are designed to shame people out of illegally swapping music. They feature big-name artists such as Madonna, P. Diddy and Sting. One of the ads contains quotes from a variety of singers, including Britney Spears. "Would you go into a CD store and steal a CD?" Spears asks. "It's the same thing--people going into the computers and logging on and stealing our music." Recording industry executives said they're trying to educate music fans and their parents that file swapping is illegal and is hurting artists and the business. CD sales have been declining in recent years, a trend that's coincided with both the rise of file swapping and a dismal economy. The ad campaign is the latest in an aggressive, multipronged approach by the labels to quash file swapping that's not industry-sanctioned. In addition to launching the ads, the RIAA has sued file-swapping sites out of business, threatened to crack down on companies and individual file-swappers, and pushed legislation that would mandate anti-copying technology in new products. On Thursday, industry executives will testify before a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee in support of a bill sponsored by Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., that would allow intellectual-property owners to use technical measures to prevent copyright infringement. But the new ad campaign, which coincides with the hearing and will appear in at least one Washington-based policy-focused newspaper, may send mixed messages to fans. However, it's unclear whether testimony from multimillionaire recording artists will garner much sympathy among fans, many of whom complain that CDs are overpriced or contain just one or two quality songs. What's more, the new campaign comes after a study by consulting firm KPMG that criticizes the recording industry's anti-piracy efforts. The report said the labels need to devote more time to developing new Internet business models instead of trying to lock down their content. ------------
Multimillionaire artest are gonna tell me to quit downloading songs, 98% of which I already paid for in album form, and to spend my measly paycheck on their overpriced, fluff filled CD's? Yeah, right.....
For me it is just to make sure I like the music before I buy it. Considering I haven't bought a CD in almost a year, that says it all. Music sucks now, bad.
if you are downloading Britney Spears for the Music then you deserve to get caught and punished severely!!!
I'll buy your damn CD if its got more than 1 or 2 good songs on it. I purchase CDs based on the feeling that the entire album will be good, or at least 2/3rds of the album will be listenable. If thats the case, I'll buy the CD.
I wonder if the recording execs kept a straight face when they said the above. Recording execs act like its their god given right that they be the only ones who get to b*tch slap the recording artists. A stronger argument can be made that the decline in record sales matches the decline of Napster. When Napster was at its peak, record sales were very good. Now that Napster is dead, music sales are declining. Coincidence??? (I am being facetious here. The decline in record sales is due to the recession that we are experiencing.) The p2p music swapping train has done left the station. The RIAA should better spend their money on making better product and on figuring out how to deliver the product digitally direct to customers, versus paying lawers to sue everyone in sight and running TV ads to guilt customers into better behavior. Independent surveys whown that 2 out of 3 music customers do not music swap. Of those that do, 4 out of 5 buy the same or more as they use to. Thus, 1 out of 15 music customers music swap and buy less. The record execs should be looking into why the 2/3 of their customers are buying less, versus the 1 out of 15 that are ripping them off.
As Sonny said...i just download the song to see if i like the CD. OR If i hate the CD that i just bought but like 1 or 2 of the songs, i'll burn them with other songs of that genre that i like. Either way - they STEAL my money by charging way too much for a CD. I buy at least 10 cd's a year...so shut the f*ck up when i decide that i wanna download a song or two.
There are only two reasons why I download songs. 1) New album..want to make sure it's worth my hard-earned money..case in point, Dio came out with a new album a couple of months ago..in the old days I would have just bought it and then found out it sucked..These days I pull it off the newsgroups and check it out first..good thing I did so I wouldn't waste my money on it. 2) Over the years I have owned many,many albums. I used to buy at least 3 a week from the time I was 12 till I got married(29).Thats alot of albums...over the years many of them have been worn out, stolen, warped..etc.. So when I see one on the newsgroups that I have owned and no longer have, I will download it..Most of these albums are out of print anyway, so who exactly am I hurting?? The artists? half of them are not even in existence anymore.. Bottom line: If I download an new album and like it...I buy it. another thing that happens with me that should make the industry happy. Because of the newsgroups, I have been introduced to a few artists that I would have never thought of listening to...Therefore, more albums bought... Bugger off you bunch of industry slime...if you think I'm gonna listen to Britney Whores or Pee Diddy..or any of them other morons...well JP said it best.. "You Got Another Think(g) Comin"
If the RIAA would make whole albums available digitally for download and purchase, maybe like, selling each track individually, I would buy that! Then you could buy the 3 songs on the CD that are good and get exactly what you want.
These ads should be just as successful as Rockers Against Drugs (RAD). When I say just as successful, I mean not successful at all.
Give me a CD for $10 plus tax that has 10 legitimate good songs on it and I will buy it. Otherwise, I am going to download the one good song you release and call it a day. Produce sh!tty records with one good song on it and you pay the price now.
Why not just not buy anything at all? That's what you'd do with tv's if they're crap, radios if they're crap, etc. or would you just go into the store and take whatever's best and walk out?
I've been converting all my cd's to mp3's and I run my home stereo through my computer. I've only downloaded about 10 songs I couldn't find on cd and now the record execs want to make it impossible for me to convert my CDs to mp3s. I will not buy any more if I can't convert them and I buy a couple a month (mostly used). I stash the cd and play the electronic files at home and on my ipod in the car. On a side note... Hey britney, I'll buy your cd if you don't put any music on it and you include numerous nude photos of yourself on the cd.
yes, and I've also bought several CD's over and over because people have stolen them from me (I've had Ill Communication stolen at least 5 times) welcome to the club, you b****y millionares
Just be thankful that she does not sing on her CDs, or at her concerts for that matter I boldly predict that Britney will be featured in Playboy in the next 20 years or so. When people stop buying her music (which has already started to happen), she will only be left with her T&A to sell. And sell she will.
This will surely work. Nothing symbolizes the spirit of rock and roll better than a bunch of rich pseudo authority figures telling you what to do so that they can get more rich. Those ads are going to make me want to start doing that stuff.
Thats the best idea I've heard. I got tired of spending 15 bucks for a cd and getting one to two good songs out of it.
How else are the poor folk going to know if they are being ripped off or buying a quality cd? Hey the recording artists aren't the only ones suffering in the weakened economy.
I steal! Mp3's are as much like walking into a store and stealing as me typing this: FIRE! is screaming in a crowded theater....byte me!
You know, they never stop to think that some of us may actually enjoy stealing from those rich bastards.
