The MPA and other people’s money
14 Dec 2005Like the RIAA, the MPA has the logical reaction to disruptive forces: send out the lawyers.
Suing file-sharers is apparently so 18-months-ago that the music industry, in dire need of something new to justify their hefty legal retainers, has taken aim at sites that offer �unauthorized� lyrics and unlicensed song scores. The Music Publishers� Association (MPA), which represents US sheet music companies, said it will launch its first campaign against such sites in 2006. MPA president Lauren Keiser told the BBC that shuttering websites and imposing fines aren�t quite sufficient, saying if authorities can �throw in some jail time I think we�ll be a little more effective.� Ho, ho, ho.
from google.weblogsinc.com
The main issue here seems to be that because of music lovers exchanging/downloading lyrics from websites, there is no market anymore for selling books with lyrics, a market that had already suffered under the evil influence of the Xerox photocopy. I have two words for that: buggy wips!
Lawrence Garfield: You know, at one time there must’ve been dozens of companies making buggy whips. And I’ll bet the last company around was the one that made the best goddamn buggy whip you ever saw. Now how would you have liked to have been a stockholder in that company? You invested in a business and this business is dead. Lets have the intelligence, lets have the DECENCY to sign the death certificate, collect the insurance, and invest in something with a future.
from Other People’s Money, by Danny DeVito
Again we have to look at the Electronic Frontier Foundation to talk some sense into the big guys with piles of money but no clue how to adapt.
