Free Robby

The RIAA’s lobbying and lawsuits all tell the same story: the industry fears its inevitable irrelevance.

In the early days, the recording industry played a functional role in the album-making process: they facilitated the recordings, and they paid for the production and distribution of said albums. Bob Dylan may have had the talent, but when push came to shove, he couldn’t go it alone because he didn’t have the means to distribute CDs across the globe.

But the times they are a-changing. Most artists can record in their apartments, or a friend’s apartment. And on those occasions when they need to go into the studio, they can do so without enduring as financial a burden as they needed to 40 years ago. And while recording has become cheaper, distribution has become all but free. With modern internet services, a nobody can record a song or a video, throw it on his blog, and have tens of thousands of hits. I know, because I’m one of them.
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A jury has determined that Jammie Thomas, single mother of two, has to pay the RIAA $225,000 for copyright infringement. There is no proof that she even had the alleged software on her computer.

I’m asking everyone to please consider pledging a donation to help her foot the bill. As the pledges come in, I’ll look for a reliable means to facilitate this. Please folks. $1, $10, $50, whatever you have. This is not only a good thing to do, but it’s the right message to send–to Jammie, to the RIAA and to Congress. There is power in numbers.

Please post your pledges as comments here until a better system is worked out.

I’m pledging $25.

edit: and please, do spread the word as you see fit.

Radiohead announced earlier this week that they would be selling their new album on October 10 for whatever price their listeners would like to pay. The mainstream media covered this so extensively that excessive traffic caused the band’s web site to crash.

But the idea isn’t so new. In fact, it’s nearly eight years old, and it came from the mind of yet another musical genius. In December of 1999, Jon Brion was asked, “As a musician, are you afraid of the internet?” His response was prophetic (emphasis mine):
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