Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Making Criminals of Customers

Teenagers frequently think the world is out to get them, that everyone hates them, that no one understands them. Most often, this is a reflection of some other issue related to identity and uncertainty. Rest assured however, that like a true paranoid, sometimes they're right.

The RIAA, in fact, does hate them...and the rest of us as well. In fact, they're busy making criminals of customers right now.

I have a huge music collection, and when the time came to digitize it, I did so eagerly. I wanted to store all those CDs I bought, the vinyl and casettes and put everything onto my computer. Later, my iPod became the vehicle of choice to hold the more than 8,000 songs I wanted at my fingertips to listen as my mood shifted. I was under the impression the golden age of music had finally arrived.

To do so, I ripped my CDs using an MP3 encoder. To this day I still don't use iTunes or Media Player or Jukebox or anything else. I have a ripper written by a wonderful Spaniard that takes every CD I buy and converts them for use on my digital players.

But now...I'm a thief?

According to Jennifer Pariser in the article linked above, making a digital copy of music you purchased for personal use is stealing. Stealing one copy but stealing nonetheless.

Like most people I've spoken with, I've been operating under the assumption that because I paid for an album I can then convert the songs to a digital format for my own use on a digital media player, be that my PC or an iPod or other such player. I was under the impression that I was supporting the labels, the artists, the production and distribution companies, the support staff and so on.

Apparently purchasing the CD isn't enough. If I want to have a digital copy I have to also buy the songs in digital form. What I don't understand is the disconnect here.

Leaving aside that if I go to purchasing music solely through digital means that anyone working in the art or manufacturing part of the industry is left out of the profit equation, this looks like a thinly veiled ploy to get me to buy my music twice if I want to enjoy modern music players.

So who's the real thief here?

As a matter of ethics and support, I have been purchasing my music and converting it to digital format, under the impression that what I was doing was acceptable. After all, it is my media. I recognize that the labels and artists retain rights to the IP but that isn't what we're talking about here. What we're talking about is the method by which I enjoy what I've paid for.

It's none of their business what I listen to my music on because I've already paid for both the media (which I use for archival purposes) and the right to listen to the intellectual property contained thereon. This is not theft, this is fair use, regardless of how they want to define the term.

But the RIAA and its affiliates seem to want to treat their customers as hostile entities. Acting in good faith I am now, in their eyes, a thief. I am not a paying customer taking part in the time honored tradition of the exchange of value for value. Rather I am a predator preying on the poor exploited megacorporations that produce and distribute music. The act of making my music available to me, digitally, is taking food from the mouths of their children; violating their right to dictate the exchange exlusively in their favor; turning me into a slavering monster with no identifiable ethical framework as I devour the fruits of their labor by...using what I bought as is convenient for me.

I don't distribute music illegally and I buy the music I digitize. I am not an enemy of the RIAA and I am not a criminal...but that's the relationship they seem to want as they file John and Jane Doe suits with universities, label honest customers as thieves, and work studiously to avoid the 21st century and how it's changed the way we all do business.

Seriously, if they pursue this they will push people into piracy. If I can't use what I buy as I want, what's my motivation to give them what they want? If I'm a criminal either way, why shouldn't I save myself some money and aggravation and pirate my music? I've paid for the right/license to listen to my music. I refuse to allow anyone to dictate the way I enjoy my music.

The thing is, I want to be a good customer. I want to support the artists I listen to. I do not want to be told I'm a criminal simply because I don't use the product I buy exactly as the seller wishes. Threats are not the answer. If the RIAA insists on treating people as criminals, that's exactly what they will become. If the RIAA instead changes tack and decides to work WITH its customers in enabling freedom of format they may just find the market giving back to them.

So think about it, RIAA. You fear that we will take the path of least resistance and pirate our music rather than pay for it...and your solution is to make it difficult to digitize what we legally purchase by telling us you regard it as an illegal act. Where do you think that will end? I, for one, refuse to buy a song twice.

I think it's pretty obvious.

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