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RIAA sues Youtube users

tech.moneycontrol.com — It seems our friends over at the RIAA just cannot get enough.

Who dugg this? Made popular Jun 21, 2006

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  • TimmyGUNZ, on 10/12/2007, -2/+155Exactly. Who needs to buy the album when I can stream the song I want to hear on YouTube!?!?

    Could they be any more out of touch?
  • IHaveIssues, on 10/12/2007, -1/+126From TFA:
    "...cease-and-desist letters to Youtube users who have dared to put up videos of things such as themselves dancing to music they haven%u2019t licensed."

    That's just too funny. At first I thought this was legit and they were targeting people that uploaded the actual artist's music video but noooooooo......
  • masamunecyrus, on 10/12/2007, -7/+120C'mon, guys. I have to side with the RIAA, here. I mean, would YOU buy a CD if you can just watch a 16 year old idiot dancing to your favorite song that is being played off a low-quality CD player, that is then being recorded through a computer microphone, and is then compressed using a lossy codec, and is then lowered in quality for YouTube? I, for one, wouldn't.
  • phpirate, on 10/12/2007, -2/+111Yeah. Because a 13 year old dancing to a piece of music is sure to make sure that they'll pay for the licence the music. I mean, the RIAA is missing such a great way to make money.
  • Klisk, on 10/12/2007, -3/+66What happened to fair use? No youtube USER is making any money off of their youtube videos. Likewise, who in their right mind is going to actually believe that the music industry can lose money over low audio quality videos that usually SKIP anyways?

    America: Land of the deceived.
  • MattL920, on 10/12/2007, -0/+55What does the RIAA stand for? Recording Industry Association of AMERICA. It's an american organization whose jurisdiction, tenuous even in this country, only extends as far as our borders. This was an operation in a foreign country orchestrated by an organization with no authority there. It was enacted by the government in sweden, but was still at the behest of the riaa.
    Put aside the legality of piratebay for a minute... isn't is troubling that an american trade group representing a very small portion of this country (i.e. those in the music industry) can basically order police raids in foreign countries at will?
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+58@mikeazorin - there may have been a tiny bit of sarcasm in masa's post.....
  • evilTak, on 10/12/2007, -0/+49"What happened to fair use?"

    It hasn't existed in the United States for years.
  • KyleRayner, on 10/12/2007, -3/+48"Screw artists--demonize the RIAA so everyone forgets about the artists you're making sure don't get paid. You and I both know it's true. "

    What I know is true is that these music "artists" are still making millions of dollars for putting out ***** music. Pirate Bay hasnt stopped em from driving Hummers and blinging now has it?
  • VyRuZ, on 10/12/2007, -5/+50@bonchbonchbonch

    Technically, under Swedish law, Pirate Bay is legal. Now get your head out of your ass plskthx
  • ArcusOfSV, on 10/12/2007, -0/+42So sueing a someone who uploaded a video of them dancing to a song is ok by you? No one needs to demonize the RIAA , they do a dam good job of this themselves.
  • rderveloy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+38"Screw artists--demonize the RIAA so everyone forgets about the artists you're making sure don't get paid. You and I both know it's true."

    From what I hear from various artists, the RIAA screws them over with recording contracts. Weird Al only makes about $.30 per album and $.04 per iTunes download. With an album costing $15 and an iTunes download costing $.99, it seems to me that the RIAA gets a bit too much off the top.

    Some artists give away CDs or let people record their concerts because they make a ton more money from concert tours via ticket and merchandise sales than they would ever hope to get from CDs and digital downloads.

    When artists give their recorded music away for free, you then realize that it's not the pirates that are hurting the artists the most, it's the RIAA. Ironic isn't it?
  • TimmyGUNZ, on 10/12/2007, -1/+36And where would one exactly go to get a synch license for these homemade videos?

    Would the RIAA just go away already?!
  • b0wl0fud0n, on 10/12/2007, -4/+37here's a link to a cached version:
    http://www.duggmirror.com/links/RIAA_sues_Youtube_users/
  • Moocat, on 10/12/2007, -1/+32And the actual letter/email:

    http://duggmirror.com/links/RIAA_sues_Youtube_users/edb20eb91a9db2e4c8bf48310c99ea5f_fucriaa.jpg

    It does not say sue however, it merely states that the content was removed at the 3rd party request of RIAA. Whether the letter is real or not is up you to decide *shrug*. And just a quick note, these are the same letters Youtube sends out for just about ANY request to remove possible "copyright" material, RIAA is not the first to request this. There used to be (still is?) a big problem with random people claiming copyright on other peopes videos just to get their own up in rankings.
  • matthewsr2000, on 10/12/2007, -0/+30i think this is simply great!!!!

    now before you flame away, let me explain myself. . .

    as the riaa do stupid and stupider things, throwing their weight around more and more, the more people that they will piss off. now if we get a vocal majority of people that are pissed off in this country, THEN we finally have some power through votes.

    so, lets give them enough rope to hang themselves. and be sure to tell EVERYONE you know just how stupid the MPIAA and the RIAA really are, even your 98 year old grandma. if we get enough citizens here in the states concerned about this abuse of power, then we can get something done.
  • xjinn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+30And you mean taking legal action against tweenagers who probably already own the CD isn't self-demonizing?
  • Feanor, on 10/12/2007, -2/+30@mikeazorin: Meet my good friend, sarcasm.

    Edit: Give the credit to Genesee.
  • xenoNfluX, on 10/12/2007, -0/+26Since when is a Cease & Desist order a lawsuit? Last I checked it was a threat before a lawsuit. And I believe Cease & Desist orders from the RIAA to Youtube users have already been up on Digg. I'm too lazy to check, though. Sue me.
  • rabiddogma, on 10/12/2007, -2/+26No, YouTube has yet to announce a business model, and haven't sold a dimes worth of ads yet. They got some VC money but their burn rate is so high they probably don't have much of that left.
  • chrono13, on 10/12/2007, -9/+33mikeazorin:

    WOOSH!
  • joeshlub, on 10/12/2007, -0/+23Ever notice that US laws don't apply in other countries, and regardless of whatever ***** you want to spew out, they aren't breaking any laws in the country the web site is hosted in. THEREFORE a MPAA induced takedown is in fact illegal. But moreover funny, because they just went right back up with more users than before.
  • drunkinbda, on 10/12/2007, -1/+24seriously bonch... if the RIAA wants to go out and sue the people who have downloaded 50,000 songs and burn CD's and then sell them off the back of their trucks then no one would care about them cause you would almost never hear about them... but hell they have been gettin worse and worse every month.... sue a teen for having a song in the background of a home video?? WTF??

    what next? gonna start chasing down people with loud stereos because it offers the opporunity for it to be recorded? sharing headphones(the other person didnt buy the cd)??? hell dont forget all the live cover bands that need to get dealt with...

    the RIAA is getting desperate and rediculous...period.
  • NSMike, on 10/12/2007, -4/+24Wow... This guy is a shill.
  • rabiddogma, on 10/12/2007, -0/+17"Some people just *need* to demonize the RIAA because they know what they do is legally and ethically wrong. Screw artists--demonize the RIAA so everyone forgets about the artists you're making sure don't get paid. You and I both know it's true. "

    Since when does the RIAA represent artists? I thought that they represented record companies, who also screw artists on a regular basis themselves. Seriously no one needs a record company any more. The RIAA is just the death rattle of a dying industry. There were no record companies a hundred years ago and there won't be any in the next 100 years. Musicians can always make money they same way they've made money for the last few thousand years--playing music in front of an audience.
  • elnerdo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+16The MPAA did the thing with the Pirate Bay. Not the RIAA.
  • chicken101, on 10/12/2007, -3/+15Hold on, let me call the RIAA, they'll sue you.
  • JeffT1545, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10Does anyone have a link to an actual news story on this? I'm not putting it past the RIAA, but I'd rather see it from a credible source than some dude's blog with no links or proof.

    Edit: I found one myself, here: http://tech.monstersandcritics.com/news/article_1171145.php/RIAA_objecting_to_free_vid_sites
  • Atomic1fire, on 10/12/2007, -2/+12so i guess numa numas illeagle now
  • joeyjojo, on 10/12/2007, -4/+14"Screw artists--demonize the RIAA so everyone forgets about the artists you're making sure don't get paid."

    Screw artists--support the RIAA so everyone forgets about the artists you're making sure don't get paid.
  • PopcornDave, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9"The Pirate Bay facilitates copyright infringement by indexing metadata for copyrighted materials, and providing the trackers to connect users in order to trade those materials."

    By your argument, doesn't a card catalog in a library also do that? Or do you consider that plagiarism if someone makes a photocopy of a book?
  • acurism, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10I thought things were "contained"
  • chicken101, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11The RIAA is drowning so much in their own greed, that they have lost all semblance of sanity. Protecting your business is one thing, but suing people for absolutely no rational, tangible or monetary reason is idiotic. The next thing you know, they'll sue me for making this comment -- because "greed" is the title to an obscure Neil Young song.
  • r00tus3r, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9One word ... pathetic. The day is fast approaching when noone will take them seriously. This kind of approach will only hurt them in the long run so I hope they keep up the "good" work.
  • jla1987, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8The RIAA just needs to be boycotted. Everyone everywhere should not buy any music. Let the RIAA bleed to death and have things go back to the way before it was conceived.
  • snipes, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10I may turn myself in soon...

    Not that I've done anything neccesarily illegal, I'm just helping the RIAA fill their quota of innocent people.
  • NSMike, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10C&D != Lawsuit.

    Come on people, get with the program. Misleading, sensationalized headline to generate diggs.
  • just_chris, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10People, READ THE DAMN LETTER, this is BS.

    THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE RIAA SUING ANYBODY. YouTube is simply asking a user to remove a music video (NOT a video they made - a fully produced music video by a band). There is nothing wrong with that.

    Geez, some blogger writes a riduculous rumor then everybody takes it as gospel. There is no conspiracy here.

  • RadiantBeing, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8"No, YouTube has yet to announce a business model, and haven't sold a dimes worth of ads yet. They got some VC money but their burn rate is so high they probably don't have much of that left."

    I stand corrected on that point.
  • tjordan90, on 10/12/2007, -4/+11Yeah I was going to go out and buy the Numa Numa single. Until. the. phenomenon. happened.
  • wilerson, on 10/12/2007, -9/+16@mikeazorin, irony. Irony, mikeazorin. Isn't the world nice now that you know each other?
    Edit: damn, too late.
  • joeshlub, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7No, your right. That was a week ago or so. No one could verify if it was really the RIAA or not though. But it does seem pretty likely, even though there was speculation it was just someone impersonating them.
  • JoeCool1986, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8You're right, it has been up before..... this title is inaccurate
  • evilTak, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Or buy and listen to Creative Commons (and similarly) licensed music:
    http://cchits.ning.com
  • Fladrif, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Can I still sing songs in the shower if I don't own the CD?
  • kirkio, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I think that one of the major points the RIAA is missing is that many viral videos cause more LEGAL song downloads.

    For instance, the NumaNuma song is still the 24th most popular downloaded song in the iTunes Dance category as of right now; it held the number one slot at the peak of the viral video's popularity. People wouldn't have downloaded the song so much if it weren't for the viral video (i know it was a flash video, but it's the same concept). These videos offer free publicity.

  • compu73rg33k, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6Yes they are heading to the path to hell very quickly. I can't wait till people besides computer geeks finally realize what the hell the RIAA is doing and they'll join us in being thoroughly pissed and refuse to buy their *****. Their days are really numbered.
  • oddmanout, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4The RIAA isn't looking for the 14 year olds to pay the liscensing fee, they want YouTube to do it, after all YouTube is making money from the ads surrounding the copyrighted material.... HOWEVER, YouTube probably won't do it, that would cost more than they make for the couple of cents per click they get from the ads. The RIAA is overlooking a huge marketing possibility, rather than make these kids stop, they should encourage them. What happens when one of them is hilarious and becomes a phenomenon (like the numa numa kid) i mean, thats insane publicity, they'd have to pay alot for that.
  • barakatx2, on 10/12/2007, -4/+8"It's like a taxi driver telling everyone where the drug houses are and driving people to them, then claiming they have nothing to do with the drugs."

    Actually it's like anyone telling someone an address to a house and saying it might have drugs in it, which isn't illegal. Taking a person to that house is what the bit torrent clients do so your example is kind of noobed up.
  • 1911wolf, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Whatever you do, don't record your wedding reception! Just think of the Billions of dollars the RIAA will sue you for if you share video of your family and friends dancing to some cheese head band doing a cover song.
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