Record
industry files suit
By
Sean Orfila
On-line Forty-Niner
The
Recording Industry Association of America
filed 261 lawsuits last Monday against individuals
who downloaded music illegally through the
Internet. The RIAA offered an additional
amnesty program for people that admitted
to downloading music illegally.
An
article on CNN's Web site reports that before
last Monday, the RIAA had settled four claims
against college students accused of making
thousands of songs available on campus networks
and is now pursuing subpoenas at universities
around the country.
Another
article in Thursday's New York Times stated
that last week's scare from the major record
companies had not slowed peer-to-peer trading
on the internet.
Record
companies, particularly Universal, have
come under scrutiny in the past months because
of exorbitant CD prices. According to a
recent Associated Press article, Universal's
current CD wholesale prices are $12.02,
with a markup leading to a suggested retail
price of $18.98. A new policy, released
by Universal, aimed at getting CD buyers
back into the music stores, will drop that
wholesale price to $9.09.
"We're
poor college kids, I can't throw down $20
for a CD," said CSULB student Brad
Bowers. "I think if they lowered the
prices of CDs, I'd slow down."
Students
at CSULB, such as sophomore Daniel Schisler,
grapple with the guilt of downloading but
continue to copy the music they want to
hear. Schisler said that he had recently
bought a CD burner and hadn't bought a CD
in months.
Bowers
said that if he really liked a band that
he would go out and support them by buying
their CD or going to one of their live shows.
The
server in the dorms was changed recently,
making file swapping the lowest priority
of all Internet activities. That means files
that took three seconds to download last
year can now take up to 10 minutes to finish.
Universal
may or may not file suit against music fans
in the future. The company has released
a 'Clean Slate' legal affidavit for file
sharers that agree to delete their libraries
and throw away their recordable CDs, freeing
them from the threat of legal action.
Music
producer Joe Iemola from Carson said he
only downloads music to preview it. "I
like to get the sleeve with the pictures,"
said Iemola.
Although
student Joanna Carter feels a tinge of guilt,
she said she would still download some songs.
"Yeah,
it's wrong, but I'm not making any money
off it," said Carter.
Carter
said she purchased two CDs last week. Music
fans like Carter are what Universal, a company
that is responsible for about 30 percent
of the world's record sales, hope to bring
into the stores to buy more albums under
the lower price policy.
According
to a press release by Universal, the price
slash should kick in on Oct. 1. Universal
is the only record company that will attempt
the price drop, hoping to get file swappers
back into the music stores. Meanwhile, the
threat of legal action looms.
"I
could care less," said student Zac
Albert, "I don't do it enough. I figure
I'll make it under the radar."
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