RIAA Now Blames Journalists For Its Piracy Trouble 367
adeelarshad82 writes "RIAA executives have written a letter to PCMag expressing 'deep disappointment' for publishing an article on Limewire Alternatives. While the article includes a disclaimer from PCMag that it does not condone the download of copyrighted or illegal material, RIAA executives believe that 'PCMag is slyly encouraging people to steal more music.' The letter goes on to ask PCMag to retract the article from their website. PCMag's Editor in Chief has responded to the letter by stating that music industry's charges remain groundless and that it reeks of desperation. He points out that PCMag covers all aspects of technology, which includes the products, services and activities that some groups and individuals might deem objectionable. He defends publishing the article by saying 'We covered these Limewire alternatives because we knew they would be of interest to our readers. We understand that some might use them to illegally download content. We cannot encourage that action, but also cannot stop it. Reporting on the existence of these services does neither.' PCMag has also refused to retract the article."
What is limewire? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:What is limewire? (Score:5, Insightful)
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i have heard it said
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we are interested in destroying the RIAA (Score:2)
not just proclaiming our geek cred by poopooing poor p2p client choices
therefore, we need slashdot wisdom on THE filesharing client to use, for those reading this who are not in the know, and to generally get to know what everyone else is doing
thusly:
1. eMule for hard to get and nonessential downloads
2. bittorrent for easy pop stuff. use the Opera internet browser as a bittorrent client
disagree with what i just wrote?
then respond, with your own pointers to expand on our group wisdom
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2. bittorrent for easy pop stuff.
I purposely put some indie stuff on BitTorrent (as well as obscure/alternate releases from major-label artists); this kind of behavior would work towards addressing the "can't find $obscure_stuff on BitTorrent" problem this comment of yours refers to.
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Re:What is limewire? (Score:5, Insightful)
I personally would prefer we just stop using grammar. If the intention is clear then does it really matter?
Yes, yes it does. Intent is not sufficient to assure good communication. The Devil is in the details.
Re:What is limewire? (Score:5, Insightful)
Grammar is like ECC.
ECC? (Score:3, Informative)
Looking at Urban Dictionary and Wikipedia, WP's mention of "Error Control Coding" seems to be the only definition of the acronym that fits the context.
Re:What is limewire? (Score:5, Funny)
I personally would prefer we just stop using grammar. If the intention is clear then does it really matter?
I don't know.
From your original post:
...your still using limewire ...
My still is using limewire? Dude, what are you distilling? Some sort of lime tequila?
I kid! I kid!
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What a brilliant sig you have.
Re:What is limewire? (Score:4, Funny)
Wel, akshualii, thiss iz a bout spling, not gramer. Butt I undorstand wie sum pepol dont kair fore standerdiz'd spelingh; Samuel Johnson rilly set uss bak centuryes.
Re:What is limewire? (Score:5, Funny)
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Longcat and Tacgnol at Tenagra.
Sometimes I wonder just how much of a conversation we could have, using nothing but memes. What was once the least-comprehensible (until the secret was revealed) ST:TNG episode of all time has now become reality.
Re:What is limewire? (Score:5, Funny)
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Charlie Brown and Lucy, at the Football Field.
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Re:What is limewire? (Score:5, Insightful)
Obvious bad grammar is something that flags comments as potentially uninformative. If a person gets the "easy to fix" things wrong (e.g. you're, it's, could've), it negatively correlates with the care that person takes to make well-informed statements. If you want to keep using bad grammar, go ahead. Just realise that it will mean your posts are less likely to be read in depth by me.
Re:What is limewire? (Score:4, Funny)
"Would you convey my compliments to the purist who reads your proofs and tell him or her that I write in a sort of broken-down patois which is something like the way a Swiss waiter talks, and that when I split an infinitive, God damn it, I split it so it will stay split, and when I interrupt the velvety smoothness of my more or less literate syntax with a few sudden words of bar-room vernacular, that is done with the eyes wide open and the mind relaxed but attentive."
Re:What is limewire? (Score:5, Informative)
Umm...so when you say that people should just "realise" it will mean that their posts are less likely to be read by you, does that mean that because you spelled "realize" wrong, that your posts are as badly written as theirs?
My guess? The GP writes using the Queen's English. If you're going to communicate with people using variants of English, it helps to recognize those differences.
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Maybe you do not realize that realise is the correct spelling in the Queens English unlike the bastardised version used in the United States of America. American English spelling was the invention of Noah Webster. Coincidentally, "Politician Daniel Webster was Noah Webster's cousin. As a senator, Daniel sponsored Noah's proposed copyright bill. The first major statutory revision of U.S. copyright law, the 1831 Act was a result of intensive lobbying by Noah Webster and his agents in Congress."
So it seems tha
Re:What is limewire? (Score:4, Interesting)
I personally would prefer we just stop using grammar. If the intention is clear then does it really matter?
But often the intention is not clear.
If you are trying to achieve a higher level of communication (way higher than "want eat") then being precise and accurate is important, because it then allows you to more easily talk about very diverse topics with less confusion and greater efficiency.
Slashdot used to at least be a site where people could talk about a very wide range of things, not just "beowulf cluster" jokes.
If spelling (including capitalization) and grammar is ignored, it just makes it harder to talk about uncommon stuff. People would have to assume the common case, even if a rare or fringe case was intended.
If you can only "bark once for yes, and bark twice for no", don't be surprised when people assume you aren't very smart, or a waste of time when discussing more complex topics.
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Sorry, noone agrees with you.
PCMag (Score:5, Interesting)
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I'll have to check out PCMag and see if it's worth subscribing to.
It's not.
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just because a company does one thing right does not = they've turned over a new leaf.
PCMag has generally been shit, that hasn't changed.
Re:PCMag (Score:4, Insightful)
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membership of that site required tho
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What's Next? (Score:5, Insightful)
Countersuit: (Score:5, Interesting)
RIAA artists slyly encouraging ( underage sex | adultery | drive-by shooting | etc... )
You get the idea. Interesting how a certain media group displays a shocking ignorance of their own industry and the industries immediately adjacent to it.
What about CD to .mp3 converters and so on? (Score:5, Insightful)
Shouldn't the RIAA be going after them for reviewing CD burners that can burn copied files? Or for reviewing software that rips .mp3 files or .wav files from audio CDs? Shouldn't PC Mag and all other publications be restricted from writing about anything that could potentially assist in copying music?
Re:What about CD to .mp3 converters and so on? (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes. They should also be prohibited from reviewing Garage Band, CakeWalk, or any other music production software. After all, if a bunch of hippies can make "demo tapes" that rival professionally produced records in production quality, then bands might just start recording their own music, releasing it directly to fans via the internet, marking it themselves via social networks, and promoting their own concerts. Then what would all of the untalented people do to get their cut? What would the radio DJs do for money without their payola? WON'T SOMEONE THINK OF THE PARASITES?!
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IAARDJ (I am a radio DJ)...
The vast majority of us don't give a rat's ass about payola. We're not the ones who determine what goes into rotation. That's done by the program director, and in many small to mid-market stations, they simply follow the charts to determine what gets airplay. The operating budget for our stations comes solely from advertisers who we write/record/produce spots for. Only the biggest of the big-market stations are in any
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Hear, hear! If that happens, Nickelback will have spent all that time getting good at sucking for nothing!
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the bands are irrelevant... it's not like many pop stars get rich.
they do one album, all the costs come out of their cut of the sales, then they're never heard from again. the bands split up, maybe some of the members make it bigger with something else, but usually they just go back to normal jobs and doing pub gigs.
happened to a friend of mine. his band's tunes were all over the radio, TV, etc, he toured with some massive acts, yet all through it he was using his mate's phones because he couldn't afford
Re:What about CD to .mp3 converters and so on? (Score:5, Funny)
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Let the market decide (Score:5, Interesting)
Wrong channel (Score:5, Insightful)
The RIAA is correct. (Score:5, Insightful)
Speaking of which, I am hereby putting everyone on notice who has ever mod'ed me down, that they have cause me emotional distress and based upon the mathematical formulas that the RIAA uses, I will be suing you for
One hundred billion dollars for each moderation. But, we can settle now for just $50,000.
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One hundred billion dollars for each moderation.
Generally, it's best to use non-existent units. That way, you can make anyone owe you anything you want. For example, "One hundred gazillion dollars for each moderation." If anyone asks what a gazillion is, you tell them it's a legal term for "every penny you will ever earn so long as you and your family lives, and after that if there's anything left in your estate when we get through with it."
Blame Canada (Score:2, Troll)
Southpark got it correct. They might as well blame Canada.
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It's ok, buddy, we can take it!
Good for them! (Score:2)
PCMag has also refused to retract the article.
+5 Doing the Right Thing
Be Fair (Score:3, Insightful)
I wish Slashdot was a little more objective in reporting the news, instead of just spinning the story in a sensationalist way to confirm what people want to hear.
Re:Be Fair (Score:5, Insightful)
To be fair, the summary doesn't claim that "RIAA Now Blames Journalists For Its Piracy Trouble".
When it comes to organizations like the RIAA, fighting fair with fair just gets you burned. In this case, PC Mag is helping matters, so far as the general public is concerned, by getting a few facts out. The simple fact that the RIAA disagrees with them is sufficient indication that PC Mag is doing the right thing here. Kinda like the old saw, "When the competition threatens a lawsuit, you must be doing something right."
Helping the RIAA, from any reasonable perspective, serves no legitimate purpose.
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Kinda sounds like a variation on "Hitler was wrong about everything, therefore always do the opposite and you'll be right" fallacy. Did you know that Hitler was a vegetarian? That's a reason not to be a vegetarian, right?
Re:Be Fair (Score:5, Insightful)
"The simple fact that the RIAA disagrees with them is sufficient indication that PC Mag is doing the right thing here." Kinda sounds like a variation on "Hitler was wrong about everything, therefore always do the opposite and you'll be right" fallacy. Did you know that Hitler was a vegetarian? That's a reason not to be a vegetarian, right?
Yes, but the reason that Hitler is universally hated isn't because of his dietary choices, it's because was a warmongering, empire-building, genocidal maniac. Generalizing beyond that is, I agree, ridiculous.
Which I wasn't doing. Given the history and predictability of the RIAA on these issues, you can pretty much be sure that doing the opposite of anything they suggest is, if nothing else, probably ethical.
Hitler/Stalin (Score:3, Interesting)
It's interesting how one of history's biggest monsters (Stalin) was on the good side of a war effort against one of history's other biggest monsters (Hitler)
Better check your English parser, mate (Score:2)
And now the analysis by Epic Fail Records executive Brit74:
Re:Be Fair (Score:5, Insightful)
Bad example. If a magazine published an article on how to get a bomb past airport security they would improve security. Why? How?
Simple their exposure of an obvious "security gap" would force the airport security to be improved.
Not knowing about a security hole and not telling anyone about it is not security.
It's a kin to someone writing about a hole in the airport fence that's hidden behind a bush.
Security through obscurity is not true security.
Similarly PCMags discussion of lime wire alternatives is simply pointing at the airport and telling you there are other holes in the fence that would need to be fixed (or in this cant be fixed).
The truth is that for the past 50 years the technology to distribute music to a large audience was not financially accessible to musicians and artists except through record labels. The technology has changed and the artificial lock that record labels had on artists is gone forever.
It's called disruptive innovation. Any business that does not innovate or compete through innovation will eventually experience it from a competitor (eg. Death of the walkman, the end of photographic film, horse and carriage, steam engines etc...) and if they don't have another way to make money they will go out of business.
So sad too bad... one more middle man cut out of the equation.
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There helping by focusing on technologies that will be part of the future while the music industry is not helping or contributing to the process.
ORLY? (Score:4, Insightful)
I guess, by the same logic, that automobile magazines encourage drunk driving and gun magazines encourage murder.
This says it all (Score:5, Funny)
Blaming everyone but themselves (Score:3, Insightful)
The RIAA is acting like a toddler throwing a tantrum.
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Kind of like North Korea, wouldn't you say?
Not that I'm saying the RIAA is on the same level as those whackjobs (at least they haven't killed anyone yet... right?)
Did you say toddler? (Score:2)
US, imma only tell you dis once: You is stupid! (derp d'oh dat dat d'oh)
And for ya money I'm grabbin like I'm Keith Rupert! (Murdoch dat dat ho!)
Give me cash for my CDs
and aac's and crap mp3's
You're like a candy store
And I'm a toddlor
You got me suing more and mo- mo- more
For your dough, your dough etc.
-- RIAA
Why not blame google for makeing it easy for peopl (Score:5, Insightful)
Why not blame Google for makeing it easy for people to find info on how to download music.
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Why not blame Google for makeing it easy for people to find info on how to download music.
Google has the power to make the bands your label is promoting effectively "disappear" from the web by removing them from indexing. They could also ban your label from adwords, crippling your marketing efforts severely. No, it is best not to anger Google if you are in the music business (or indeed any business that relies upon Google services to connect with customers).
Uneducated Executives (Score:2)
Evidently one can become a recording industry executive in an English-speaking country without understanding the meaning of a simple word like "steal".
PCMag has a history with me. . . (Score:2, Interesting)
I'm pretty sure that it introduced me to internet porn back around 1994/1995. My dad was a subscriber to the magazine, and while flipping through an issue I saw an article about recommended porn sites. Interestingly the one that caught my eye was actually amateur erotic fiction. Anyway, at the time it never occurred to me that it might be strange to see an endorsement for a porn site in a mainstream computer magazine. Thus, I can't find myself entirely surprised at an article about file-sharing networks
Yeah, thaaaat's how to get good press... (Score:2)
Yeah, that'll get you good press. Insult the media. Brilliant!
Or is that...
Profit!!
Dishonesty (Score:2, Interesting)
Oh how I hate dishonesty. I believe that the people behind this magazine published the article with the sole intention of pointing their readers to other sources of pirated material. Now when challenged, they play coy. Cowards. They should at least defend their action for what it was, rather than tucking their tails between their legs and pleading innocence. Journalists have died to defend the freedom of the press, and now these charlatans abuse that freedom by hiding their duplicitous actions behind the go
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Guessed I'd be -1 trolled to oblivion but so be it!
Who can you write to? (Score:5, Interesting)
I'd like to provide my feedback to both parties in this. I found the email addresses of a couple people at PCMAG that I could write to an express my views. So far, I have found NO email addresses of ANY of the executives who wrote that letter to PCMAG (as seen on Billboard).
My conclusion is clear. PCMAG has at least some interest in what its readers, and the general public, think about this. But the music industry executives clearly have no interest in what people think. They have their heads in the sand. They have some idea of what product they want to deliver, and all they want is to push it so hard that people will just accept it.
I really just wanted to ask them ... personally ... and that means NOT some secretary answering ... I want to hear directly from these executives themselves since they think their names are so important ... just where I can BUY music that will work for me (beyond what Magnatune [magnatune.com] has). Do they even consider me to be part of their target market? I have some serious doubts. And I bet a lot of people do, now.
Anyway, downloading is *not* necessarily illegal (Score:4, Interesting)
Who says downloading, or making copies for private use is illegal? It depends on where you are.
In many countries, people are forced to pay fees on blank CDs, on printers, on copy machines, even on the memory in MP3 players. Why? The justification for these fees is that people do, in fact, make copies of copyrighted media. Irritating: whatever happened to the presumption of innocence? More irritating: extraordinarily little of this money actually makes it to the artists.
A very few countries got it right: "if our consumers must pay these fees, because you assume they are copying, then they have paid for the right to copy, and this must then be legal". Two countries that I am aware of: Switzerland and Italy. As I understand the law in these two countries (IANAL), uploading is illegal, as is making copies for sale. However, making copies for private use is legal, and this includes both downloading and also making individual copies for friends. The claim that downloading is illegal is therefore disingenuous. The MAFIAA would like for it to be illegal, but it depends on your jurisdiction.
Does anyone know of other countries where downloading is legal? Or have more specific information on the situation in Switzerland and Italy?
The MPAA piracy site list is better than PCMags (Score:4, Informative)
http://www.mpaa.org/Resources/fdff7027-1a9e-46dc-9a80-7cf20aa1b686.pdf [mpaa.org]
Yes, it's real, and right off of the MPAA site, lol! Skip to page 3 for the list. There's honestly some stuff in there I didn't know about, like kino.to
Re:Shouldn't they be happy? (Score:5, Informative)
More illegal downloading = more lawsuits = more profit for the RIAA.
It cost the RIAA $16 for every dollar they collected with the lawsuits. 2009 sales were off more than 67% compared to 2000. EMI is on the edge of defaulting on its CitiGroup loan and being foreclosed upon.
Yeah, this "everyone is a pirate" angle is pulling in the big bucks, isn't it?
Re:Shouldn't they be happy? (Score:5, Insightful)
It cost the RIAA $16 for every dollar they collected with the lawsuits
I've heard a lot of different takes on that. Some attorneys I've talked to about it the say quite the opposite, that given the way their scheme worked, the probably turned a profit. Regardless, you're absolutely correct: the music industry is going down because of their own inability to manage the business in the face of anything even resembling competition.
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Some attorneys I've talked to about it the say quite the opposite, that given the way their scheme worked, the probably turned a profit.
I can't imagine how a few hundred people settling for less than $10K each could possibly offset the legal costs on even one of the high-profile lawsuits (none of which have resulted in any money actually being paid to the RIAA).
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Actually, I was understating by a factor of four because I have a crappy memory.
"...over a three year period, the RIAA spent over $64 million on this lawsuit campaign... which brought in about $1.4 million in settlement money. We're talking about getting back about 2% of the money spent."
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100713/17400810200.shtml [techdirt.com]
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EMI is on the edge of defaulting on its CitiGroup loan and being foreclosed upon.
Can't happen fast enough!
Re:Shouldn't they be happy? (Score:5, Insightful)
EMI is on the edge of defaulting on its CitiGroup loan and being foreclosed upon.
Can't happen fast enough!
Actually, I would be sad to see them go down. Not because I feel sorry for a bunch of idiots who can't manage a business, but because I am sure that there is actually a good amount of music on EMI that IS worth listening to.
A much better alternative would be if EMI were actually able to market their products in a sustainable way. It is a shame that the music will suffer. I am not sorry that in this case a terrible company is going out of business, but that when they do go out of business, a certain amount of music will be lost to a degree.
Re:Shouldn't they be happy? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Shouldn't they be happy? (Score:5, Informative)
Actually, I would be sad to see them go down. Not because I feel sorry for a bunch of idiots who can't manage a business, but because I am sure that there is actually a good amount of music on EMI that IS worth listening to.
EMI actually does have a lot of good music. EMI is a large collection of smaller labels ranging from Blue Note, which publishes tons of classic and modern jazz, to Earache Records, which publishes many of today's best up and coming metal bands.
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A much better alternative would be if EMI were actually able to market their products in a sustainable way.
Uh, EMI doesn't make the music, musicians do. Musicians won't go away just because some dinosaur music publisher does.
Re:Shouldn't they be happy? (Score:5, Interesting)
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If EMI goes under, their assets (including copyrights) will be divided by their credors and assigned for a sale supervised by the credors and a judge. That is how banckrupcy works.
Now, whoever buys the copyrights will probably be interested on some revenue, instead of making music scarce so they can sell their latest trash. That is probable because the buyer probably won't be a studio (all of them are underwater) who has any latest trash to sell. Consequently, whoever buys the copyrights will probably work
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A much better alternative would be if EMI were actually able to market their products in a sustainable way. It is a shame that the music will suffer. I am not sorry that in this case a terrible company is going out of business, but that when they do go out of business, a certain amount of music will be lost to a degree.
When they go down, their assets will just be bought by another group.
I say we Blender EMI, buy their copyrights and then release them all to the public domain.
I'm in for $500, who's with me?
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Maybe it's time to start an exclusively online music label and distribution service?
Abandonware? | Better behavior? (Score:2)
A much better alternative would be if EMI were actually able to market their products in a sustainable way.
Yeah, if the major labels behaved better I wouldn't mind their continued existence. If they're selling stuff I actually want to listen to, that is in and of itself a sign of progress, and I'll buy that stuff from them.
"Warner, EMI, hear me clearly. Universal Music, update your circuitry" - MC Lars, Download This Song
If EMI goes belly-up, would we end up with a situation analogous to abandonware in the software world?
Sure, someone would make use of the cream-of-the-crop of EMI copyrights (including but certa
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Sales were down 67%. How much further down would they be if everyone knew for a fact that there would be no consequences to taking all the music they want for free? I would guess it's a much bigger number. The lawsuits make getting the free stuff a gamble. They're a cost of doing business, not a profit center.
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Re:Shouldn't they be happy? (Score:5, Interesting)
the problem is the music industry continually fails to cite any context for their lost sales, other than the idiotic claim that the pirates took all their music.
when was the last time you bought a CD?
when was the last time you bought a DVD?
consumers will typically not buy both. if you're buying a movie, you'll use your "entertainment budget" on that, and skip on the CD for next time.
CD sales have dropped consistently since the late 90s. guess what happened in 1998? DVDs hit the market.
let's compare and contrast with CD player sales. see how they correlate with CD sales? now let's pop DVD and DVD player sales on the same graph. i wonder whether as CDs dip, DVDs increase?
i'm not saying piracy doesn't exist, but i think there's a much bigger culprit for lost CD sales in the mix here.
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Sweden is the only country with sustained physical sales; it's also the cradle of some large websites related to this "piracy" thing, and where using them is pretty safe.
Oh, though large labels are still whining about Sweden of course - because they don't really see those sales. They think in terms of (their) "superstars", while it's a case of lots of new, great music made by many indies. They are obsolete, the world where you are be either with a label or don't exist is over.
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They make more from one person forced to settle than thousands of buyers on itunes
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Maybe you mean fatwa.