The actions and arguments of the Recording Industry Association of America and some of its most powerful members exemplify a complete and utter disregard and contempt for the interests and behavior of musicians, independent record labels, and, most importantly, the music-buying public. The RIAA seeks to regulate the behavior of consumers and actors in a free market via unreasonable means and at their expense, financially and otherwise. Its claims of supporting "creative vitality" and "artists' rights" are disengenuous, as the RIAA represents the corrupt and exclusionary oligopoly of major record labels, Hollywood film studios, and corporate entertainment media outlets. That certain "indie" labels have membership in this association is not indicative of an RIAA looking out for their best interests.
Among our grievances...
-
The assault on legitimate free market consumer
behavior, including fair use "ripping" of digital
files for individual portable electronic music players
and laptops, (See: "RIAA
Says Ripping CDs to Your iPod is NOT Fair Use",
Electronic Frontier Foundation, February 15, 2006)
- The shameful practice of suing music fans and their
families (particularly when the target is underage)
for unreasonable punitive sums so as to make examples
of them (See: "Internet
activists help get lawyer for woman accused of
piracy", Associated Press, January 26, 2006)
- The "copy protection" schemes of major record labels,
antithetical to legitimate consumer behavior and
supported by the RIAA, that go so far as to violate
the privacy rights of our citizenry (See: "Sony,
Rootkits and Digital Rights Management Gone Too Far",
Mark Russinovich's Sysinternals Blog, October 31,
2005 and "Are
You Infected by Sony-BMG's Rootkit?", Electronic
Frontier Foundation, November 9, 2005)
- The criminal "payola" scandal, perpetrated by major
record labels in collusion with corporate
entertainment media entities, where artists received
unfair preferential treatment on public airwaves (See:
"Sony
Settles Payola Investigation", Press Release, Office
of New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, July
25, 2005
- The exorbitant and near-extortionary pricing
strategies of major label compact discs, which in and
of themselves facilitate so-called "bootlegging" (See:
"Poll
Examines Music Buyers and Their Needs", Associated
Press, February 2, 2006)
- The vendetta against hip hop "mix tape" culture, which includes bullying producers with threats of legal action, as well as facilitating raids and arrests of retailers and other actors maintaining the integrity of this time honored musical tradition and promotional tool (See: "Untold Story of Mondo Kim's Raid", The Village Voice, June 16, 2005 )
The RIAA and the aforementioned colluding oligopolists
are enemies of music and of consumer rights, therefore
we at Brainwashed.Com call for the immediate
dismantling of the RIAA.
- We call for all recording artists and independent
labels that are currently members of the RIAA to
immediately separate from this group in an act of
protest, hopefully to form a more progressive association that
better represents their interests.
- We call on music lovers worldwide not to purchase the
products of major record labels and to ask others to
do the same.
- We call on individuals who own stock in the oligopolists cited above, in mutual funds or otherwise, to divest immediately and refuse to invest further.
- We call on the United States Congress to halt all ruling on DMCA
until there are more organizations at the table deciding these laws
which apply to the entire music industry.
The undersigned individuals agree with these
statements and stand with Brainwashed.Com in
solidarity against the RIAA.
To sign the petition, email us
with your name, email address, city, and zip code. This
information will not be made public NOR will it be used in a database
NOR will you be contacted by Brainwashed.com and its affiliates NOR
will you be added to ANY "spam" email lists. We guarantee that.
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