Posted on 12/10/2002 6:31:32 PM PST by new cruelty
UNIVERSITY PARK - As electronic file-swapping keeps playing its illegal jingle, the recording industry is upping complaints against universities nationwide -- possibly including Penn State.
Mike Negra, president of Mike's Video Inc. in State College, said compact-disc sales in college towns in 2002 are "probably down somewhere between 50 and 60 percent" from 1999.
"Stores such as mine, and other stores in college markets across the country, were the first to see the potential impact of file-swapping," Negra said. "Business, generally, in that group of stores in the second half of 2000, was down about 40 percent," he said.
Writing "we no longer feel that we can afford the luxury of infringements," industry executive Cary H. Sherman last week alerted Penn State President Graham Spanier to the toughened anti-piracy effort.
Sherman, president and general counsel of the Recording Industry Association of America, wrote that CD sales have dropped dramatically this year while electronic piracy has grown.
With "no relief in sight, and with the critical holiday retail season upon us, we are planning to increase the number of notices we're sending on (electronic) piracy," Sherman wrote in an e-mail to Spanier.
The communication, he noted, will go to Internet service providers and organizations responsible for online networks. The Chronicle of Higher Education reported the development earlier this week.
Several recording-related associations -- including the RIAA -- sent a letter to more than 2,300 college and universities in October and asked for help halting the illegal file exchange.
"It is costing the industry billions of dollars," said Steve MacCarthy, Penn State's vice president for university relations. "And it's a major impact on a major industry in America."
But many colleges and universities across the country also have a more practical concern: The near-constant downloading of songs, movies, games and software is overwhelming many campus networks, slowing their use in research and teaching.
MacCarthy said Penn State students know "that the university computer network is not to be used for any illegal purposes."
Though Penn State does not monitor the content of students' Internet use, it does keep track of volume, or bandwidth usage.
"There's not a big-brother role," MacCarthy said, although "we can and do flag excessive bandwidth use. Students who exceed their bandwidth allocation are warned.
"And, if they persist, their access to the university network is removed," he said.
Those violations "most often happen when they are copying audio and video files," MacCarthy added.
News of the RIAA's increased complaints, the latest effort to subdue such copyright violations, arrived as university and recording-industry officials plan to meet Tuesday.
Headed in part by Spanier, a committee will gather in Washington to find steps to stop the massive copying of copyrighted material -- while still giving university libraries the accessibility to copyrighted materials, MacCarthy said.
"Until now, we've been somewhat circumspect in the number of notices we send and to date have sent a relatively small number of (peer-to-peer network) notices compared to the large number of infringements we're finding," Sherman wrote in his e-mail.
Each month, for example, more than 2.6 billion files are downloaded illegally, according to the Web site www.musicunited.org.
"I think the hope is, by having this committee to look jointly and collaboratively, there can be agreement on both sides," MacCarthy said.
Technology has rendered you obsolete.
You are in the business of manufacturing buggy whips.
Find another line of work.
Remember, the Beatles don't own their own catalogue of songs--Michael Jackson does. So when consumers buy the Beatles Greatest Hits, they're putting money in Jackson's pockets, not giving it to Paul, Ringo, and the estates of George and John.
Maybe it's a result of people's being fed up with music-industry actions against Napster et al., or with people who are unwilling to buy music without listening to it first.
Some interesting articles on www.janisian.com [linked here previously]
I don't doubt that file sharing programs like the now-defunct Napster and Kazaa are hurting these stores sales, but notice what group of stores this is: the college stores. Now, I know at my school, the store of this type here at UB has a much higher markup than Amazon.com, so many of my CD's from Amazon.com.
So, basically, the guys squawking here would be in trouble anyway, since any reasonably savvy consumer could find a cheaper (legal) source of music.
I still buy a CD from time to time, but I am much more selective. It has to be a damn good CD for me to spend the money. (I do sample CDs online before buying).
I have enough CDs from previous years (nearly 1,000) to keep me making my own compilations for years to come. Another thing I have done recently is record CDs right off the radio. So when there is special programming that appeals to me - such as a Wagner opera or a Led Zeppelin profile on some oldies station, I stream the audio right onto CD. A blank CD is now done to about 20 cents for 80 minutes of music. What a bargain. This is even 10 times cheaper than cassette tapes!
I am a record collector and used to buy a ton of CDs, but lately, the only things I've bought on CD have been independent releases and some reissues like Louie Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald. Mostly, I've been buying old vinyl and extending my already immense LP collection. You can get them cheaper, and there's actually music on them worth listening to.
But, CD sales of Contemporary Christian Music is up 13% over the past year. Hmmm....
Buck forty I'll pay!
(By the way, at my local record store I pay not much more than that for brand new CD's by out of favour, or new artists, CD's which had been sold (dumped) to the store by newspaper reviewers, DJ's and distributors.)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.