RIAA

Why We’re Here

Boycott-RIAA was founded because we love music. We cannot stand by silently while the recording industry continues its decades-long effort to lock up our culture and heritage by misrepresenting the facts to the public, to artists, the fans and to our government. Our mission is to represent the position of the consumers and of the independent music artists against this nearly completely foreign-owned cartel which exhibits behaviors indicative of deliberate and outright contempt for the law, and of those whose job is to enforce it. (Simultaneously, they implore the government to persecute grandmothers and children on their behalf!!!)

We endeavor to counter misinformation with facts, and to make the public aware of the implications and dire long term consequences that our culture suffers when Congress bows to every demand that this illegal and immoral recording industry presents.

Our Goals

We really have only one true goal, that being the ‘take-down’ of the RIAA monopoly. Over the decades, it has become increasingly obvious that the industry cares nothing about our culture, the music, nor the artists that make it. To achieve our goal, several paths are available.

* Ongoing boycott of all RIAA products, including the free samples on radio, peer-to-peer and television. (The giant is very large and very hungry. This is the simplest path, which merely involves starving the giant.)
* Appeal to the media to report the facts surrounding this controversy, and to not merely echo the RIAA’s lie filled propaganda and press releases. We need to get them to discuss how our constitution requires limits, how Congress has changed laws for the sole benefit of the RIAA member labels in regards to their contracts with artists, etc., and to convey other facts which WE know …but that most people buying music today never consider.
* Reform of copyright laws to make them more fair to consumers and artists alike. (At the very least, we would like to see an affirmation that consumers have the same rights for private, non-commercial use of digital song files that they do with analog files under the 1992 Home Audio Recording Act AND an end to the record labels being able to contractually demand ownership of copyrights from the artists.

(Copyright reform will undoubtedly be extremely difficult to achieve due to the fact that the RIAA’s entire purpose is to lobby our government to change the law in their favor. Perversion of copyright law should not be allowed as a solution for the recording industry’s poor management, …but that is precisely why the RIAA lobby group exists!)

DRM and copy-protected CDs lock up the music forever, even after the work in question returns to public domain. Such was NOT part of the copyright bargain our forefathers struck, providing specific rights to the authors for a LIMITED TIME. These copyright protections were intended for the artist and creator, not the corporations. Also, copyright was never intended to provide income for the heirs of the copyright holder in perpetuity. Today, the major labels OWN virtually all of the sound recording copyrights that should belong to their artists. In its present form, copyright law has ceased to fulfill its true purpose for being.
* Achieve a level playing field where independents can compete with major artists and are not excluded from distribution or broadcast simply because they did not offer Clear Channel (and the like) a large enough payola check.
* Support for aspiring musicians, warning them of the dangers to their financial future and creative integrity should they ever succumb and sign a Faustian major-label contract.
* Aggressively urge the music-buying public to put their dollars into independent support where they will get more for their money. The major label monopoly continually puts out fewer and fewer increasingly homogenized offerings. Those who refuse to sign are free to create and express. You want more bang for your buck?

…Support Local and Independent Music!

(Our “mission statement” is “open source” in nature and shall continue to be revised in accordance with YOUR input. Please hit the contact button or post in the “Open Thread” with any updates/corrections/improvements that you would like to have implemented.)