RIAA Hits a Sour Note With Its File-Sharing Witch Hunt

The article:
http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/commentary/theluddite/2007/10/luddite_1011

For start, I would like to point out that this is a highly opinionated piece of writing. It is written about the RIAA's current state of affairs. It begins by talking about the latest case that has been covered numerous times on this blog. It talks about how the RIAA is trying to make this case a model for themselves, to show what they will do to illegal music downloaders. The author sarcastically comments on how easy it is to sympathize with the RIAA, and he makes it clear that he doesn't approve of their actions. He goes on to talk about the state of the industry, about how "bloated with executives and middlemen" it is, and how little profit is actually going to the artists, and he compares it to a Marxist system. After this, he looks on the metaphorical bright side, and talks about Radiohead's new method for selling its music. He then prophesies the future of music, and predicts that this "artist-to-audience business model" shows hope. After this, he concludes with a tie in to the beginning of the article.

In my opinion, he is exactly right. The RIAA is making cases with people like Jammie Thomas, and the countless others, including children. They think that this will make an impact on the people making illegal downloads. Instead of doing like Radiohead and others and responding to the public with better pricing models, they are using bully methods to try and get the copyright infringers to stop. In the process, they are beginning to eliminate other possible uses for file-sharing. How? By getting all of the file-sharing applications banned, like they did with Napster, KaZaa, and Morpheus. It is noted that Napster was originally only used for copyrighted music, but it could have been put to legal use. What they don't realize is that the more they bully the users, the more the users will turn against them. They do themselves no good in trying to scare everyone. Like the old proverb says, "You catch more flies with honey than vinegar." Is the RIAA thinking, "Why would we want to catch flies?"

Allen