The Recording Industry Association America (RIAA) formed in 1952 to oversee the business of recording artists and labels. Currently the RIAA is at the forefront of the global fight against music piracy and represents thousands of record labels in the United States and abroad. The RIAA continues to defend the interests of its clients of which the four biggest labels (Sony-BMG, Warner, EMI, and Universal account for up to 95 percent of the recording industry, holding that peer-to-peer network file swapping is illegal and amounted to piracy for basic copyright infringement. RIAA President, Cary Sherman believes that "the illegal distribution of music on the Internet is a serious issue for musicians, songwriters and other copyright owners, and the record companies have made great strides in addressing this problem by educating consumers and providing them with legitimate alternatives." (Sherman in McCullaugh, 2003).
The RIAA are presently involved in legal proceedings against thousands of file-swappers throughout the United States in a united front with record labels and music personalities to salvage the industry. The RIAA recognises the necessity for new technologies and the opportunity to facilitate legitimate downloading of digital music, and praises companies like Apple and Sony for their efforts to take up arms against offenders worldwide. "The iPod and iTunes store are a shining light at a very bleak time in the industry," says Cary Sherman, president of the Record Industry Association of America. “Since just about everybody feels that within a decade almost everybody will get their music from such places, this is very big.�
Efforts by the RIAA to deter file-swappers and users of illegal peer-to-peer programs have been well publicised including an incident involving a lawsuit against a twelve-year-old girl from the Bronx. A recent advertising campaign aired at the superbowl furthermore features a group of children from across the country who had been pursued for illegal downloading in a plea to reach out to young people and start from the bottom. Currently, RIAA members (record labels and recording artists) seek to protect their rights of copyright and intellectual property under United States legislation such as the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. (wikipedia.org)
File-Sharing Technology and Digital Creative Content
Chris Paine 10:59, 10 Sep 2004 (EST)
