Silicon Insider: Music Downloads Won't Disappear
Sept. 11 -- — Give the record industry credit: It has shown far more creativity and imagination in screwing up this music download business than it has in the popular music it's produced over the last 10 years.
I mean, is it possible to blow a PR campaign worse than this?
It's been a long time since I was a corporate flak, but even I know that when you're searching for a good, high-profile case as an example to scare off everyone else you don't pick a 12-year-old honors student from the projects — Brianna LaHara of New York City — and you don't bust into her room while she's doing her homework.
"I am sorry for what I have done," Brianna said in a statement that showed absolutely no adult influence whatsoever, "I love music and don't want to hurt the artists I love."
Sheesh. Why not shoot her too, and claim she was resisting arrest? Or maybe put handcuffs on her little wrists next to her charm bracelets? What genius thought of this? Yeah, this'll put the fear of God into every MP3-dealing junior high school cheerleader in America.
But that wasn't enough. Having made complete idiots out themselves, the powers that be at Recording Industry Assocation of America then tried to do damage control by announcing that it was "settling" the potential $90,000 fine with little Ms. LaHara for just $2,000. See, we're not as hard-hearted as we looked. Great, so now the message is: we crush children, but don't worry Mr. Professional Downloader, we're not really serious about all this. We're just bluffing. Meanwhile, the technology news Web site slashdot.org has started a fund to pay Brianna's "fine."
A Bankrupt Industry
That was Tuesday morning. By Tuesday afternoon, the RIAA had taken a new tack. "Look! Look!" It screamed, "There's child pornography available on the peer-to-peer download sites."
Yeah, no kidding. When you drive a billion-dollar industry underground, don't act surprised when it's suddenly populated by predators, perverts and all the other denizens of the demimonde. But what's most shocking about this latest announcement was that the record industry was able to make it with a straight face.
