According to Forbes.com, the RIAA is going to target homemade CDs.
Is the RIAA really so stupid to think this is as big a problem as downloading?
First
off, who the HELL is burning CDs these days. If you don’t have an iPod
or other digital music player, you have missed the bus my friend. Take
a ride on a NYC subway and look at somebody with a portable CD Player
and tell me that they don’t look “out of the loop.” Sure, people will
say that CDs sound better than mp3 and all that other crap, but I’d be
willing to bet that most young people using that excuse are doing so
because they’re jealous they don’t have an iPod or other digital music
player.
The thing that amazes me most about this article is the
RIAA’s examples of artists being hurt by CD Burning. Among some of the
names are: 50 Cent, Green Day, Eminem, The Beatles and Mariah Carey.
I find it very funny that the RIAA doesn’t go on to mention these facts, which I present to you.
In 2003, 50 Cent’s Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ was the #1 biggest selling album. It’s currently 6 times platinum (sold over 6 million copies.) His latest album, The Massacre, is already 4 times platinum. Those two albums alone have sold over 10 million copies.
Green Day’s latest album American Idiot is currently 3 times platinum on the RIAA charts. Their breakthrough album Dookie has sold over 10 million copies with Nimrod and Insomniac each selling 2 million a piece.
Eminem’s latest album, Encore, is at over 4 million copies sold. The Marshall Mathers LP has gone 9 times platinum, and The Enimem Show has sold over 8 million.
This past April, The Beatles 1 compilation was recently certified by the RIAA as Diamond (selling 10 million+ copies.) In 2001, The Beatles was certified at 19 million copies. It’s on pace to be certified Double Diamond before the end of this decade.
Mariah Carey’s latest album, The Emancipation of Mimi, is already double platinum, having been released April 12, 2005. Her last album, Merry Christmas, released in 2004, has sold over 5 million copies.
After understanding these facts, doesn’t it make the whole argument that the RIAA is presenting quite pathetic?
Fresh off the heels of Black History Month comes what Gizmodo hopes will be “Boycott the RIAA” month. Rather that copy and paste their whole mission here, I urge you all to head over to their site and read what they have to say. Upon reading, boycott the RIAA and their evil ways.