RIAA Kills Sirius Satellite Radio, Destroys Value of Consumer Product

Since the beginning of Radio's inception, no one has dared to arrest people who copy songs from the radio.

RIAA, the Recording Industry Association of America, now dares. They have banned Sirius from allowing more than one downloadable song per download. The only reason for this is because the Satellite radio songs are just as good quality as MP3, thereby eliminating the need to buy the MP3's.

RIAA has now pushed legislation through the house "to protect content delivered through high-definition (HD) radio receivers". What that means, is anyone using a HIGH QUALITY method to copy a song is in violation of the law. But if you use a low-quality method; say, a cassette, then it's okay.

Where is the logic in that? Aren't laws a reflection of moral values? So it's moral to copy a song onto cassette, but immoral to copy it onto a MP3 player?

Something is insanely illogical about that concept. RIAA claims musicians can't make money if their songs are all downloaded illegally.

Only a century ago, there wasn't a police force that prevented anyone but the original composer from playing their music in the streets. If Beethoven wanted to make money, he had to play in a concert for the people. He couldn't just kick back and earn money every time a fiddler in the street played a tune from his concerto.

So what holds water about the RIAA argument? Very little in terms of historical legitimacy, and even in modern times, musicians are pulling in record numbers from concerts. The Rolling Stones pulled in over $162 million in 2005 from tours. Green Day pulled in $39 million, and Dave Matthews raked $31 million, with significantly less touring than the Stones. Is that not enough?

Even Paul McGuinness the manager of U2 said, "Our recording income is not insignificant, but it's less than we make from touring. The figures used to be closer together." U2's 2005 tour pulled in $139 million.

So with concert income rising grotesquely, does the RIAA even have the right to push its legalistic agenda? Ironically, the spread of free music has encouraged music listening far beyond paid music: the increased availability of music has lead to increased concert-going fans as the record-breaking tours indicate.

With concert rates rising, and the income disparity from concerts and recording sales, perhaps RIAA should consider their nefarious designs at deciding what is Right and Wrong. Like a master teaching his dog manners, RIAA tells the consumers: Record radio on a cassette, good. Record radio onto MP3, bad dog, Sirius gets a time-out, and the critically acclaimed S50 is the first casualty in the war for consumer rights against RIAA.

In so doing, since the Sirius S50 was owned by hundreds of thousands, the RIAA has essentially destroyed the value of a product that did not belong to them. Without a moral basis for doing so, that is where the true immorality lies.

Maybe if the public starts downloading satellite radio music onto CD, then RIAA will help get CD recording of radio will be banned too.

Jonathan Baldwin, is the creator of a XM vs Sirius comparison website. You can find a copy of the article here: RIAA Kills Sirius S50