Local Band eschews RIAA's illegal downloading policy
by Rachel Marder
Senior Editor
Music | 11/13/07
Posted online at 9:22 PM EST on 11/12/07
/ Last updated at 12:58 AM EST on 11/12/07
If the proposed royalty rate increase goes through, Cohen said, Internet radio stations would have to pay $500 for each channel they use, and a site like www.pandora.com, which uses a multitude of stations, would inevitably go bankrupt.
"Just because record industries are entering this new phase where they're going to have to start adapting and have to start changing how they create their revenue, doesn't mean they should get so scared and try and restrict new inventions and innovations," Kroll said.
Levine, 23, whose shaggy brown hair falls past his ears, doesn't think the exorbitant lawsuits are scaring people away from downloading files off peer-to-peer sharing sites. If anything, the suits just make fans more determined to download and come up with new methods of finding music.
To show their support for the Digital Freedom Campaign, Family Junction performed on the campaign's college tour Oct. 12 at Northeastern University, and they're continuing to advocate for user rights through their own work.
"It's in their business interest not to encourage us to succeed, and it's a shame. That's where it really touches us personally. People should be able to trade music. It really does affect us when the RIAA acts in such a way that restricts us from connecting with our fans," Kroll said.
The RIAA tracks Internet Protocol addresses on filesharing Web sites and then contacts the Internet service provider (in our case, Brandeis University) and orders the users to pay $3,000 or else face much more serious financial consequences in court. But whether the industry likes it or not, the Internet, largely unregulated, is drastically changing its fan base and the way the music market functions.
Since the RIAA can't seem to prevent college students, or anyone, for that matter, from downloading, it should adapt to the new environment and adjust their business model, bandmates said.
On their recent self-produced album, Running Trains (We're Huge in Japan) released this year, at $10, the disc comes with a movie they created, mp3s to download off a "FamJam Music-Stache" featuring music from 12 fellow independent artists. Free downloads are available on the band's website.
"Just because record industries are entering this new phase where they're going to have to start adapting and have to start changing how they create their revenue, doesn't mean they should get so scared and try and restrict new inventions and innovations," Kroll said.
Levine, 23, whose shaggy brown hair falls past his ears, doesn't think the exorbitant lawsuits are scaring people away from downloading files off peer-to-peer sharing sites. If anything, the suits just make fans more determined to download and come up with new methods of finding music.
To show their support for the Digital Freedom Campaign, Family Junction performed on the campaign's college tour Oct. 12 at Northeastern University, and they're continuing to advocate for user rights through their own work.
"It's in their business interest not to encourage us to succeed, and it's a shame. That's where it really touches us personally. People should be able to trade music. It really does affect us when the RIAA acts in such a way that restricts us from connecting with our fans," Kroll said.
The RIAA tracks Internet Protocol addresses on filesharing Web sites and then contacts the Internet service provider (in our case, Brandeis University) and orders the users to pay $3,000 or else face much more serious financial consequences in court. But whether the industry likes it or not, the Internet, largely unregulated, is drastically changing its fan base and the way the music market functions.
Since the RIAA can't seem to prevent college students, or anyone, for that matter, from downloading, it should adapt to the new environment and adjust their business model, bandmates said.
On their recent self-produced album, Running Trains (We're Huge in Japan) released this year, at $10, the disc comes with a movie they created, mp3s to download off a "FamJam Music-Stache" featuring music from 12 fellow independent artists. Free downloads are available on the band's website.
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