Wow, what a intesting question… for me anyway because I dislike them both.
I hate the way the RIAA stages witch hunts on College campuses for students who participate in what is referred to as music piracy. I am not saying that students are in the right, however, I find it compelling to think that maybe if the RIAA embraced digital innovation, instead of defying it, they could have been the driving force behind this new market and could have capitalized on it and profited like no other. Instead, they spurned innovation and are now forced to fight their way out of a situation they created for themselves.
I also hate the way the RIAA cries about losing album sales… all I hear about is how consumer’s are paying for the intellectual property in the music each time we buy a CD. This is perfectly acceptable to me, BUT, in a fair world would I not be given some form of acknowledgment that I have bought (and own) the copyrights to that music. I think I have bought a physical copy of the Beastie Boy’s album, Paul’s Boutique” about 10 times in my lifetime. I have had to replace this disc so many times due to scratches and other factors that contribute to the demise of a CD. Therefore, I paid for the Intellectual Property on that disc 10 times.
So stop your crying RIAA, you have had a monopoly-type strangle hold on the music industry, musicians and consumers for decades and you are solely responsible for squandering your profits by ignoring the changing times.
Now the Press… I hate the Press because I have to always second guess what they write, and their motivation for writing. The biggest reason however, is that they recently made me feel compassion for the RIAA by writing a nonfactual column that mis-represented the RIAA’s stance on what defines music piracy. The Washington Post printed a column by Mark Fisher claiming that the RIAA considers copying a disc to a hard drive is illegal.
“…that it is illegal for someone who has legally purchased a CD to transfer that music into his computer…”
I don’t think any of us who hate the RIAA believe even they could go this far. However, some people were mislead and believed what they read in the Washington Post’s column. The RIAA never stated this, and it appears that the Post took one small segment from a court document and used it to write an article bashing them for going overboard. This faulty news story spread over the internet through bloggers and other new website in the time it takes new of a Britney Spears arrest to spread the web.
Realistically, most fans of music do not need more reasons to hate the RIAA… but I expect that when reputable news organizations choose to write and bash somebody, the facts should be just that…. facts!
So I hate the Press for making me feel compassion for the RIAA.
But I hate the RIAA more than the Press.
Who do you hate more?
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