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RIAA spent $2 million lobbying for tougher IP laws in 2007

arstechnica.com — All groups lobbying Congress and the executive branch are required to disclose how much they spent on the task each year. During 2007, the RIAA spent $2.08 million lobbying lawmakers for tougher copyright laws, among other things.

Who dugg this? Made popular Apr 22, 2008

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  • Soulprint, on 04/22/2008, -6/+43***** THE RIAA!
  • iceman0113, on 04/22/2008, -0/+22So that's where the disbursement money for the artists went.
  • sliksta, on 04/22/2008, -2/+22The new britney spears album isn't worth 5-10 cents. I would prefer a day in prison to listening to one hour of her untalented caterwauling.
  • yoshman, on 04/22/2008, -0/+13Si.
  • megaton, on 04/22/2008, -0/+12I hate the RIAA as much as the next digger, but $2M ain't ***** in the big leagues...
  • wexmajor, on 04/22/2008, -0/+11Only $2 million? All we need is a couple of non-***** millionaires to chip in and we can beat this.
  • Celeron, on 04/22/2008, -2/+12Burn in hell, RIAA.
  • rahamm, on 04/22/2008, -3/+12Lobbying is dumb the government should represent the people not a minority of people who have money to spend on taking the guys who make the decision out to dinner.
  • muslax27, on 04/22/2008, -2/+10¿***** THE RIAA?
  • megaton, on 04/22/2008, -1/+9Lobbying is, in fact, NOT dumb. Lobbying is very valuable for many under-recognized causes. The problem is that there's no reasonable cap limit on the amount that any organization can donate.

    Don't forget that the public is pretty ***** stupid, too. Ask your neighbor what they think about Net Neutrality...

    It's valuable to have a careful balance of both public opinion AND limited lobbying. We just have to work on the "limited" part.
  • blurrie, on 04/22/2008, -0/+6this actually seems low to me..
  • crapmatic, on 04/22/2008, -0/+5Wouldn't the headline more accurately be "RIAA spent $2 million bribing for tougher IP laws in 2007"? I think the overlap between lobbying and bribery is mostly semantics. I've seen some of my congresspeople's campaign contributions on Open Secrets from intellectual property groups and media companies, and I'm pretty disappointed.
  • infinitiesedge, on 04/22/2008, -0/+5Can I get her number?

    I can only wish my female friends had opinions on things other than the latest movies and shoes...
  • Risingashes, on 04/22/2008, -0/+5The industry isn't hurting bad- stop regurgitating their nonsense.
    People don't get in to music for the money, and if they do then they end up producing bad music anyway. >95% of the money from CD sales goes to people other than the artist, the largest source of income comes from live shows. Music makers will continue to thrive even as the outdated industries that used to have a stranglehold on artists begins to crumble.
  • inactive, on 04/22/2008, -0/+5Si se puede!
  • soupeh, on 04/22/2008, -0/+4Dugg for caterwauling.
  • diggerman32, on 04/22/2008, -0/+4***** the RIAA & the MPAA! ( I got a nice letter from em last week :[ )
  • skippyoh, on 04/22/2008, -0/+4yeah, because their drug control tactics are working REALLY well...
  • CyberSol, on 04/22/2008, -1/+5That's what she said.
  • MuZiKMafia, on 04/22/2008, -0/+4just a drop in the bucket...
  • univerio, on 04/22/2008, -0/+3This is why this ***** doesn't happen as much in Canada. We have laws that limit the money lobbyist groups are allowed to spend bribing the government officials.
  • AndrewDB, on 04/22/2008, -0/+3867-5309 ask for Jenny.
  • travis6690, on 04/22/2008, -0/+2Who the ***** hates Linux?
  • 9bpm9, on 04/22/2008, -0/+22 million is pocket change. For ANY lobbying group. They basically spent almost nothing.
  • stian, on 04/22/2008, -0/+2You can bet it's more than 2 million, remember that RIAA is just an umbrella corporation, shielding many other corporations (record companies.. etc.. ) from things like bad PR..

    You should add what the following companies gave:
    http://www.riaa.com/aboutus.php?content_selector=a ...
  • stubear, on 04/22/2008, -0/+2Jesus ***** Christ people....it's ***** L-O-S-E-R, not L-O-O-S-E-R. Learn to ***** spell already.
  • ScaredOfTheMan, on 04/22/2008, -0/+2it won't work... techcrunch has a nice write up about why it won't. the last thing you want is to take the free market out of the music. Its bad enough as it is now with very poor quality music warmed over and served up as popular. Imagine what it would be like if the RIAA and the record labels could simply sit back and collect lots of our $$ for putting out the least cost to produce music.
  • heystoopid, on 04/22/2008, -0/+2Our politicians such as people like Randy(duke) Cunningham truly sell out to the lowest bidder these days .:(
  • jmpeagle, on 04/22/2008, -1/+3no...government should represent any minority. We are a republic, not a democracy. The minority's rights nned to be protected more than anyone else's or else we simply have mob rule.
  • pintomp3, on 04/22/2008, -2/+4lobbyists, special interest groups, and political action committees are the biggest cancers in our democracy.
  • Tweekster, on 04/22/2008, -0/+2I am honestly shocked it is only 2 million, i figured it would have been a LOT more, by the truckloads of cash
  • Jaliyl, on 04/22/2008, -0/+2Don't forget Steve Jobs.
  • boxoman, on 04/22/2008, -0/+2yeah, worst idea ever!, do you honestly think the ISP will pay for that... NO, you will!
  • pigfister, on 04/22/2008, -0/+2The BPI Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, EMI.

    The RIAA Soundexchange Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, EMI.

    The IFPI Are: The same anti consumer lot as listed above!

    The MPAA Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, DISNEY, PARAMOUNT, FOX.
  • jmpeagle, on 04/22/2008, -0/+2government should represent the ultimate minority...the individual. This is the whole basis for the American government. An individual's right shall not be infringed no matter how much a majoirty may wish to take it from them. Just because a majority of Americans hate the speech of say O'Reilly, it does not mean that the government should have the authority to silence him. Have you no ethics?
  • Tweekster, on 04/22/2008, -0/+2i figured it would have been atleast 40-50 million when it is all told
  • revisedTORIN, on 04/22/2008, -0/+2NO
  • Murdats, on 04/22/2008, -0/+1no he is right, the distribution industry is hurting bad, and why wouldnt it be? it is trying to only use the old methods of distribution when we have a method that provides free manufacturing and distribution.
    the music industry however is only hurting because the distribution industry is abusing it so much.
  • glory, on 04/22/2008, -1/+2I'm backing you up on that one.
  • Reavie, on 04/22/2008, -0/+1Two million more than the artists have gotten?
    http://digg.com/tech_news/RIAA_Keeps_Settlement_Mo ...
  • dinostabOMG, on 04/30/2008, -0/+1Not my job - but just to toss some ideas around, maybe direct marketing by the artists, or smaller, leaner production companies that take a FAIR SHARE of profits and exact a reasonable price?
  • sliksta, on 04/22/2008, -0/+1Receiving an extortion letter does not make you a thief.

  • AvangionQ, on 04/24/2008, -0/+1What about in 2008 -- have the RIAA reduced its unethical lobbying practices ... after being spanked in most of Europe and having a good deal of Universities begin the fight against their antiquated business plan, have the RIAA and MPAA learned the lesson yet ... its time to stop relying on corporate bullying and lawsuits to correct for your problems and embrace the digital age ... to the RIAA & MPAA -- adapt or go extinct ...
  • cliffski, on 04/22/2008, -0/+1source or it didnt happen.
  • Jerky1312, on 04/22/2008, -0/+1They are probably trying to keep a low profile while doing so, but I don't know if that'll be enough to get the fat cats to change legislation. The article is not really about the dollar figure, but the act of lobbying for such changes with money in the first place. Most of these lobbyist are former congressmen and other former politicians with connections.
  • bdbr, on 04/22/2008, -0/+1This actually seems pretty typical of the RIAA to me...
  • dinostabOMG, on 04/22/2008, -1/+2Intellectual property is my bread and butter, actually. The problem is an obsolete business model. Caps lock doesn't get everyone as hot and bothered as you, by the way.
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