AtomicInternet Archived News

As I stated earlier the RIAA is out of control. After failing to stop all swapping by suing Napster out of existence and bringing suits (still pending) against the other P2P networks, they decided to switch tactics and are now suing individual users. I secretly hoped some rich parents college kid would get served to help drain the infinite funds of the RIAA. Thankfully, an ISP that was served with one of the "give us your customers information" subpoenas returned it on jurisdictional grounds. This means the RIAA now has to go to each court in each state they sue in. In addition, there's at least one privacy countersuit from an actual user. While I'm overjoyed the RIAA won't be able to just waltz around and demand customer information from ISP's as easily as before, I'd be kidding myself if I thought this even makes a dent in their litigious crusade. Let's break down a typical CD purchase and we'll see exactly how much money the RIAA has to throw around, and why they will be filing lawsuits till long after we're all dead.

Typical CD Price:	$17.00
Cost to Manufacture:	-$0.75
Artist Royalty:	-$2.00
Store Markup:	-$5.00
Label Profit:	$9.25

Since the RIAA is funded from the music labels, it's not hard to see why they will NEVER run out of money as long as people buy CD's. I have personally refused to buy a CD for over 3 years for this very reason and will continue to listen to the radio for all my musical entertainment needs. I'm not giving one cent to the RIAA.