Video: RIAA Vs. XM Satellite Radio
August 1st, 2006 | Watch other videos
The legal struggle between the RIAA and XM Satellite radio has become a sad commentary on how far the popular music industry has fallen.
The Recording Industry Association of America calls itself a "trade group" that promotes its members financial and creative vitality by beating up puppies and bankrupting middle class families with children accused of file sharing.
Last May the RIAA-holes went after XM Radio, a company that already pays the RIAA royalties.
The lawsuit is over this little device Pioneer - Inno's new portable XM radio XM2Go. The lawsuit alleges XM2Go technology is a music service that should pay licensing fees because it allows users to record songs they listen to.
The XM2Go is a portable XM radio and MP3 player/recorder rolled into one. It's a well built little device, deceptively heavy. It's brushed aluminum surfaces, buttons the controls really make the XM2Go feel like good quality piece of equipment. And it should retailing at $400. But it is one of the few devices you'll find that offers true mobile XM Satellite radio reception.
XM2Go lets you record music you hear onto its 1 Gig hard drive, no different than an FM radio / tape deck combo.
I used to do years ago when I was a kid back in the 80s if you heard some AC/DC or some Ozzy, you might hit record and you had the song on a cassette tape for awhile. The XM2Go doesn't allow you to copy music and you only keep it as long as you're subscribed.
But the RIAA President Mitch Bainwol wants XM to pay distribution licenses the way iTunes pays for downloading music - or Mr Bainwol demands that XM pay $150,000 per song recorded with the device. In addition to the 150K per song the lawsuit also requires one unbaptized baby for the RIAA alter located in the darkest plane of the nine hells.
XM responded last week with a motion to of dismissal of the label's lawsuit stating the Audio Home Recording Act protects the Inno and a similar device by Samsung called Helix.
Meanwhile back at the U.S. Senate. TN - R Bill Frist is pushing for something called the "audio flag" bill. The bill is intended to stop the recording of any content over satellite radio. Is there any doubt about the boys club politics at work here - Mitch Bainwol president of the RIAA is Frist's former Chief of Staff and Frist is connected to the Country Music industry out of Tennessee.
It's sad really that in lieu of making money the old fashioned way, by providing a product or service deemed to be of some social value the recording industry is reduced to earning income through frivolous litigation - at your expense by the way.
