The RIAA and some of the top recording labels are in the news again, this time going against a lady who allegedly downloaded and share more than 1,700 songs.
The Recording Industry Association of America says she is, making her liable for perhaps millions of dollars in damages in the first RIAA copyright case to go to trial.
millions of dollars in damages. OK, now this is where I really start to get pissed off. Anyone familiar with Hannah Montana? I know those of you in the US with young daughters know who I am talking about. Anyways, she is the top, and when I say top, I mean the big dog this year for young children who not only love her TV show, but love her music. It is hard for me to love her music, when her father is the one who paraded himself on TV with a nasty mullet singing “Don’t break my heart, my achy, breaky heart.” OK, well this year she is doing her big US tour and every kid that I know of wants to see this concert. In the past, when a hot children’s star came to town, it was easy to get tickets and take the kids to the show. Well not any more.
Ticket brokers have purchased all of the tickets for her venues and are selling them for insane amounts of money. For instance, you can get nose bleed seats on eBay, 4 of them, for about $900. You want the good seats, so you can actually make out Hannah and see her, well you will drop around $1,000 per ticket. So, my question is this. If the RIAA is protecting the music companies, who is protecting us? Absolutely nobody! The great thing is this, when she comes to Chicago, she isn’t going to have many fans there, which I think is awesome. On a local radio station yesterday, parents were uniting to picket her concert. Does Hannah really care though? I mean it is a sold out show, sold out to the brokers that is.
This whole music thing is getting ridiculous. Artists aren’t making their money on albums sold, they are making it with their concerts and their merchandise. A CD to an artist is nothing more than a marketing gimmick to get money flowing into the record label, and producing a spark in consumers who will go to their shows. HERE is a decent write up on how royalty fees are distributed to the artist.
I enjoy listening to music and I used to enjoy purchasing it, but I will not any longer. I will listen to what I have in my arsenal now, and listen to whatever is on the radio. I will not purchase another album, and I have no plans on downloading music either. Actually, I take that back. I will purchase Sammy Hagar albums because he isn’t all about the money. I have been to a couple of his FREE, yes FREE, concerts that he puts on every now and then, I have been down to the Cabo Wabo and watched him play for FREE. I can’t sit here any more watching the music industry go after people who they think are screwing them, while ticket brokers get off free for screwing over the fans. If the music industry really cared, they would go after the people who are really screwing them, and stop putting on acts such as Brittney Spears, the female Milli Vanilli.
