April 1, 2002

Political LapDogs Backing Major Losers

Two recent bills introduced by politicians Ernest "Fritz" Hollings and Adam Schiff have exposed the recording industry and Hollywood types as the "cry babies" they are. Since both entertainment industries are getting their asses kicked all over the place on the internet, their solution was to run and bitch to their favorite political lapdogs.

Hollings' beauty is The Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Promotion Act (CBDTPA), which would require manufacturers of electronic devices to place copy protection hardware in their devices. This would prevent the copying of media files such as Mp3s.

Since the RIAA and Hollywood are too dumb and dumber to figure out how to protect their lousy content, their solution was to run and cry to an 80 year old politician who would have us all back in the Dark Ages if he had his way.

If we were to send Fritz a message using Morse code, do you think he

Is music industry playing

all of the wrong tunes?

would understand it? One thing is for sure, he would relate to it more than that gray plastic box and weird tv screen sitting on his desk. Ever figure out how to turn that thing on and off Fritz?

What the hell is an 80 year old guy doing involving himself in an industry he obviously is too old to know anything about? For that matter, most people over 40 years of age usually know absolutely nothing about the internet. Read this story and you will get an idea why phony "Fritz" is sticking his behind the times nose where it obviously does not belong.

And then you have this Schiff character, straight from the fantasy land of Los Angeles. Schiff is also following in Fritz' footsteps by kissing some major entertainment industry ass. Since he is from la la land, Schiff's ignorant and self serving actions are of little surprise to anyone. It is unknown if one day both of these political pawns will wake up and realize they are siding with the losing team.

Although we cannot speak for the film industry, more than a few people are of the belief that the recording industry will never recover from their financial slump. The industry was literally caught napping by Napster, as they were a tad slow to adjust to the internet. People were literally swapping millions of Mp3s prior to the "geniuses" in the music industry waking up and realizing what was happening. You snooze, you lose. And in this case, the industry lost it all.

In addition, the music industry pushing subpar talent down our throats for the past decade or so has not helped matters. After enjoying filet mignon during the 80's, the consumer was forced to digest burgers made of rotton meat during the 90's.

Quality music sells, regardless of file swapping or any other lame excuse given by the labels. Sadly, the people in charge of the music industry do not know what quality music is. They have been too busy scamming the consumer for a buck (manufactured boy bands and fixed CD prices anyone?).

From day one, promotion has been the lifeline of the music industry. The monopolistic powers in the music industry realized (again. too late) there are other people in digital media who can do a better job of promoting their music. Therefore, they became paranoid and proceeded to attempt to shut down music on the internet.

The insanely high proposed webcasting rates are one example of the industry's paranoia. Instead of rehashing this issue, here is a CNET story which explains how the record labels and companies like Yahoo have contributed to screwing over the little guy webcaster.

Getting ripped off by paying big money for lousy music web sites was another way the "bright" people in the music industry dealt with their promotional dilemma on the internet. Now they are stuck with useless web properties they cannot even give away.

How about the big bucks poured by the labels into those pathetic music subscription services? Another smart move there. Charge for a service that any music consumer can get for free at their friendly neighborhood file sharing site. Keep those layoffs coming guys - next stop: the dead pool at FuckedCompany.com.

And of course, let us not forget the money the recording industry dumped into CD copy protection. The only thing that did was piss off consumers, who correctly realized their right to copy music for personal use was being taken away from them by greed driven corporations. The public no longer buys regular CDs, so why should they buy copy protected ones?

One bonehead decision after another and you can see why the recording industry is a financial mess. Unfortunately, the industry will get little help from anyone of substance in the new media in trying to clean this one up. If anything, they will continue to be slammed because of their backward and selfish thinking.

Now you see why two modern day fossils like Hollings and the entertainment industry make the perfect DC couple? For next Christmas, maybe we can chip in and buy them matching rocking chairs with a built in radios so they can listen to all of the lousy music out there.

Unlike Hollings and Schiff, who are attempting to help big business and screw the little guy, well informed politicians Rick Boucher, D-Va., and Chris Cannon, R-Utah are trying to help the little guy. Boucher and Cannon have introduced MOCA, legislation that would stimulate competition in the online music environment. Of course, as we all know, competition is something that is frowned upon by the monopoly known as the recording industry.

Boucher has also been pushing for the consumer's right to copy music for thier own personal use. He is opposed to scams like copy protected CDs, which take rights away from the music consumer. The public should vote for more politicians like Boucher and Cannon, who, unlike Hollings and Schiff, appear to have the public's best interests in mind.

Ironically, the most reasonable comment in regards to the content piracy issue came from RIAA head Hilary Rosen. She stated a voluntary solution should be examined and agreed upon between the hardware manufacturers and the entertainment industries. The tech manufacturers have expressed a willingness and desire to work on such a solution.

Unfortunately for the little guy, until living dinosaurs like Hollings and the recording industry become extinct for good, we have to continue hearing their self serving cry baby bullshit, along with the shallow candy ass music they continue to release.

If you are interested in helping the little guy and preventing the internet from becoming just another shitty mainstream music source (like conventional radio), check out SaveInternetRadio.org.

You can also fight the unfair piece of legislation known as the CBDTPA by visiting StopPoliceWare.org. Now if you are really feeling adventurous, you can sign their petition here, which currently has approximately 76,000 signatures.

If you do not want to act now and be heard, you deserve to get ripped off and eat all of the crap they are feeding you.

Sphinx
"There's Only 1 Station"

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