RIAA Sues Audiogalaxy

Frizzled writes "The RIAA has struck again, this time filing suit against Audiogalaxy's "Satellite" file sharing program. (Nevermind that Satellite is loaded with spy-ware ... good riddance)." News.com has a story. The RIAA's press release links to their complaint.

Control vs. Cash

They (record companies) seem determined to kill the goose that laid the golden egg. They'd rather have control than cash.

I think that they would rather have the cash.

Its more that they don't understand either the technology (which is probably unstoppable), or their own customers.

In particular, the major music labels don't seem to understand that:

1) Some people will pay money anyway for CD's if they like them enough.

2) Alot more people would buy the music if they sold them directly over the internet.

I personally believe that their sales would rocket up even at the same profit margins if they just dropped the cost of producing and distributing the CD's from the price of an internet download. This might only be a few dollars cheaper than what you pay to a major music store for the CD.

So what I think is happening here is the equivalent of what happened to encyclopedia salesmen with encarta. They were so locked in to a large existing sales network with high production costs that they could not bring themselves to cannibalise their own networks to maintain sales. This nearly destroyed the companies (such as britannica) before they finally did a U turn. People were happy to buy an inferior (M$ Encarta - not that it was bad, just less information) product because it was so much cheaper, and almost as good.

The analogy here of technology hitting an established high premium sales network is pretty tight. And I believe that the outcome will be the same. Eventually the networks will recognise this, and sell music tracks online for alot less than they currently do. They will prosper under this arrangement, although much of their distribution network will have to die in the process.

For the record, I can see the same thing ultimately happening with video, and a similar process of technological change is occuring with cameras and film. Our home computers will take on all of these tasks. We will still shop, but for production tools (printers, cameras) and 'raw' materials (blank CD's, DVD's high quality paper). Companies that get on this bandwagon will do well (ask Kodak), and those that pretend it isn't happening will go towards the wall (ask britannica!).My 2c worthMichael

Also Sues (non-audio) Galaxy

Claims background radio-band noise sounds too much like the new (insert popular shit band here) album. Claims damages worthy of galaxy submitting itself to RIAA Imperial Rule, wants cost of moon-sized battlestation covered.

Damn it - software is innocent

Yes...AudioGalaxy is out there stealing songs?

And Sears should be held responsiable for all illegal breaking&entering done with a craftsman hammer. And there has already been the Wincherster case. And Buck should be held liable for all knife crimes, and rap for all crimes of insanity, etc...

What's next - RIAA against Berkeley for creating FTP cause they found an FTP mp3 site? RIAA against DARPA for creating the Internet?

Good Riddance?

Sure, it's riddled with spyware, but every case the RIAA wins against services that could be used to share their songs, the more legal precedence they have to pull more of that bullshit in the future.

It doesn't matter how much spyware or other nasty stuff AudioGalaxy comes with, they are still on "our side" when it comes to the p2p issue as a whole. You'd better hope they win, though they probably won't.

Oh well...

Back to AudioGalaxy's FTP Search [audiogalaxy.com]. It doesn't even need Satellite. However, it might be RIAA's next target, right after other FTP search sites [oth.net].

Let them fight to the death!

This is almost funny. As soon as one file-sharing system goes down, another comes along. Will the RIAA simply continue to sue every file-sharing service? It's ludicrous, but this doesn't strike me as bad. Maybe it will give others time to figure out a new digital distribution system to supplant the old business model so fervently and pointlessly protected by the RIAA. Let them go down fighting for a hopelessly outdated system while others make progress establishing the new.

--Rick

Riaa suit of the week

RIAA's business model is starting to look at lot like rambus...

RIAA sues the galaxy

First time I read it I thought it said "RIAA sues the galaxy". Funny thing is, I didn't think it was strange.

I like AudioGalaxy

It's too bad... I like the program. I joined their "Gold" program for like $2.75 a month you get access to faster servers and better quality downloads. I've been happy with it. I always find what I want. A song pops into my head -- and 5 minutes later: I'm listening to it. I wish that all of these dying companies would open-source their code. Since they will be getting a new asshole from the RIAA and the US legal system anyway they might as well "leak" the source to the Net. That way a 1000 new networks could spring up in their place. The further we spread the RIAA the weaker they get! Muahahahahahahahaha!

Re:I like AudioGalaxy

One of the things I like the most is the Linux client. I doubt it comes with any Internet Explorer plugins, but just in case I run it under an ordinary account, so it can't do too much. It's a nice background client instead of those useless, slow and sometimes ugly GUIs that most clients have, and the web-based interface makes it very easy to find what you want and get a good copy. It also has send groups - I get every Essential Mix and new music regularly without having to do anything.

Big deal

Audiogalaxy, KazaaLite, aren't great compared to P2P Limewire. LimeWire and other true P2P (completely decentralized) software can't be regulated or banned. Not only that, but its getting better in terms of speed and reliability; also, its getting more users, and LimeWire's usually the place I go to find rare songs, like "Now You Suck," by the Yeastie Girls.

I still use KazaaLite in tandem with LimeWire, but LimeWire is becoming more and more my primary option. Not to mention, its RMS-friendly, since it uses the GNU GPL.

That of course doesn't justify the RIAA/MPAA's actions. Centralized services for distribution should not be held responsible for the content being distributed, not any more than ISP's should have to micro-monitor their users. File-sharing services can be used for many many purposes, most of which have nothing to do with sharing copyrighted works. Since the pattern seems to be like Wack-a-mole -- where RIAA/MPAA sue one file-sharing service, then another pops up -- perhaps eventually we'll get a SANE ruling from a judge who isn't paid for and owned by big money.

ISPs have the power

The RIAA can sue the tool-makers until they're blue in the face, and the MPAA can bribe congress for dinosaur-life-extention-acts until they're... extinct, but, the thing that scares me the most is the power that ISPs have that the XXAA's don't.

The best way to kill file-sharing -- along with the baby in the bathwater (i.e. VOIP, gaming, and other legit uses of broadband) -- would be if the MegaISPs (who don't have to play nice by sharing their lines) started capping and/or metering bandwidth at obscene overage rates to make serving anything extremely cost prohibitive.

For added "protection" they could also start blocking any traffic that doesn't look like "good consumer" behavior. e.g: "Dear Joe Suspect: Even though you paid our insane rates for the 1.4Gigs of bandwidth you used last week, we noticed that it was all encrypted. This simply won't do. Consider yourself on notice buster!"

Good thing wireless can't be monopolized...

--

My friends....

Been pirating from the RIAA since I was but ten and three, And I don't think I've missed single MP3, Just this old hard drive's space to lose, Now, I don't blame them cause they've gone and sued, But the stupidest thing they ever did, Was claim all their actions protected revenue.

Well, they must o' thought that is quite a joke, And it got a lot of laughs from a' lots of folk, It seems I've downloaded my whole life through. Some napster clone would die and I'd get red And some p2p'd openup and they'rd songs to multithread I tell ya, my life had nothing to do with their "revenue"

Well, I grew up quick and I grew up l33t, My hacking got hard and my wits got street, I'd roam backdoor to backdoor to hide my name. But I made a vow to the moon and stars That I'd search the databases and systems far And kill that connection before it got too lame

Well, just finished with a shell I had since mid-July And I just kissed my DSL connection bye-bye I just battled a round of security with big blue At an old cybercafe in case they pulled the lud's, There at a table, spewing FUD Sat the dirty, mangy dog that "protected" the RIAA's Revenue

Well, I knew that snake was a lawyer so bad From the way he jumped up and down so mad Cause Kazzaa Lite was installed on every rented PC, no lie.... He was big and bent and gray and old, And I looked at him and my blood ran cold And I said: "How dare you say you protect the rights and reveue of all the bands, they only see a cent or two! All he let out was a "sigh"

That pissed me off and Well, I hit him hard right between the eyes And he went down, but to my surprise, He come up with a lawsuit in hand, and the court date was in early next year But I called right back and marked him the theif, And he forced the conversation into the non-witnessed street Acronym'in and a' cursing, I finally made him leer

I tell ya, I've stolen identities of tougher men But I really can't remember when, He tricked like a mule and presented Pocket PC and filed Another suit as he said I'd pay for this fuss, He went for his digital pen and initialed first, He stood there lookin' at me and I saw him smile.

And he said: "Son, this world is rough And if an Association is gonna make it, their legal gotta be tough And they know you'll never help the Music Monopoly along. One by one we'll take away your songs, and give you enough time to say goodbye We work with the Telco's so you'll pay high And have no choice, our over-priced CD's you'll buy And from those sales the RIAA's goes on strong"

He said: "Now you just fought one hell of a fight And I know you hate me, and you got the right To report me now, and I wouldn't blame you if you do. But ya ought to thank me, before your case is tried, For the l33t circles, and coding skillz in ya eye Cause I'm the son-of-a-bitch that forces you underground when I yell "Sue.'"

I got all choked up and I threw down my palm And I recognized his crooked law, and it was there that I saw That everytime he sue'd it's True. My skillz improve, and my knack gets better Every time I find a P2P that's l33ter, and in the end, even though I think I win, The RIAA gets stats, and make then facts to continue their evil daze... And if I ever have a son, I think I'm gonna teach him better ways... Like buying DVD's from George and software from Bill..

Nah, the RIAA can kiss my ass cause I'll continue to pirate over prized CD's and warez and start to use linux just in spite, and support local artists with all my might,
and maybe after a generation or two...

Their greed'll thin, and freedom will win, And we'll finally, finally, exhaust all their grounds to Sue.

-Yo Grark

*--Would read a lot better without slashdot telling me "Your comment had too few characters per line (currently 34.2)"--*

An Association Named Sue

That was so cool I had to make a recording [rootrecords.org] of it. If this pisses you off, I'll take it off the site, but what I'd really like to do is make it public domain. Nothing educates the public like a catchy song (one of the many reasons Woody Guthrie was the man). I'd also like to give you proper credit, of course. It could probably stand another take or two, and some more practice, but it's great for a few hours' work. I had to edit the words a bit to make them more singable. Here's my revised version:

Been pirating from the RIAA since I was ten and three, and I don't think I've missed a single MP3, Just this old hard drive's space to lose,
Now, it isn't just the fact that they sued, it's the stupidest thing they ever did, was to claim that their actions protected revenues.

Well, they must o' thought that is quite a joke, And it got a lot of laughs from a' lots of folk, It seems I've downloaded my whole life through.
Hell, I never even thought of it as wrong, cause I'd buy more CDs after hearing more songs, I tell ya, it had nothing to do with their "revenue"

Well, I grew up quick and I grew up l33t, My hacking got hard and my wits got street, I'd roam backdoor to backdoor to hide my name.
But I made a vow to the moon and stars That I'd search the databases and systems far And kill that connection before it got too lame

Well, just finished with a shell I had since July, I kissed my DSL connection goodbye and I battled a round of security with big blue
At an old cybercafe in case they pulled the lud's, There at a table, spewing FUD Sat the dirty, mangy dog that "protected" the RIAA's Revenue

Well, I knew that snake was a lawyer so bad From the way he jumped up and down so mad cause Kazzaa Lite was installed on every PC, it's true
He was big and bent and gray and old, And I looked at him and my blood ran cold And I said: "If you're defending your bands, how come all the money goes to you?"

I was so pissed off I hit him between the eyes And he went down, but to my surprise, He come up with a lawsuit in his hand
But I called right back and marked him the theif, And he forced the conversation into the non-witnessed street Acronym'in and a' cursing, I made my stand

I tell ya, I've stolen identities of tougher men But I really can't remember when, He tricked like a mule, brought out a Pocket PC and filed
Another suit, he said I'd pay for this fuss, He went for his digital pen and initialed first, He stood there lookin' at me and I saw him smile.

And he said: "Son, this world is rough And if an Association is gonna make it, their legal gotta be tough and you know, to keep the Music Monopoly along.
We'll crush independents until they die, we'll overexpose until you buy and from those sales major labels go on strong"

He said: "Now you just fought one hell of a fight And I know you hate me, and you got the right To report me now, and I wouldn't blame you if you do.
But ya ought to thank me, before your case is tried, For the l33t circles, and coding skillz in ya eye Cause I'm the son-of-a-bitch that forces you underground when I yell "Sue.'"

I got all choked up and I threw down my palm And I recognized his crooked law, and I saw that everytime he sue'd it's true.
My skillz improve, and my knack gets better every time I find a P2P that's l33ter, but in the end, even though I think I win, we all still lose

Cause the RIAA has got control over music, congress and America's soul and if you want to download, sample or even use
any music you've bought and paid for, without fail, you'll be fined and put in jail, all in the name of their goddam revenues

I think about him every time I see, a young coder writing stuff that's free, And if I ever have a son, I think I'm gonna teach him...

to fight the corporations from a legal and political standpoint, so he won't need to hack, and support free music with all his back, and maybe after a generation or two
Their greed'll thin, and freedom will win, sampling songs won't be a sin, and we'll have taken and farmed all their grounds to sue.

Not An Easy Case?

I have been using Audiogalaxy for quite sometime now and have actually been pretty happy with it. But I think its structure may make it a harder target for the RIAA than something like Kazaa or Napster. Audiogalaxy already has built in copy protecting. Audiogalaxy has and is preventing a user from downloading certain more main stream songs. You can't get alot of music off Audiogalaxy. This fact is poorly criticized in section 3 of the RIAA statement where it compares its copy-protection to a fishnet filtering water. Also many artists are hosted by Audiogalaxy and it provides the user with a link to buy the album. This is in direct conflict with the RIAA claim that Audiogalaxy has "the ability to download entire sound recording albums, cover artwork..." As well for a fileshare program Audiogalaxy has been one of the most supportive of underground bands and community exchange. Just look at the monthly columns to see why the RIAA is sueing. The bands that are reviewed and advertised on Audiogalaxy are usually ones that aren't controlled by major labels. Although I won't defend the spyware, to me audiogalaxy was the first filesharing that was starting to actually look more like an alternative to the major labels.

fenn

Re:Not An Easy Case?

Audiogalaxy is, as they say, da shit: contrary to your claim you *can* get a lot of music on it, just not of the regular, mainstream RIAA crap variety. So I don't see why the RIAA is trying to sue them: their songs are already banned! Sure, some users give creative names to their files to bypass the system, but that can't be worrisome - a creative name means the file won't be found.

Perhaps they're afraid AudioGalaxy is turning RIAA listening folks into indie heads? There's a ton of obscure electronica on AudioGalaxy ready for the taking. Get hooked on that and you'll never be buying a Sony CD again (interestingly enough, btw, even somewhat mainstream electronica, such as Aphex Twin, is banned).

Why AG?

It's odd they'd go after AudioGalaxy, considering other filesharing apps don't work to promote artists in the way it does. AG will (or try to) block you from downloading songs where someone has complained, suggest other artists and genres that may appeal and have a message board for discussing each musician. Seems better than just getting mp3's off napster.

I don't see how the RIAA can claim, with a straight face, that the copyrighted-song blocking was 'not as good as a first year CS student'. They've done the best you can realistically do with keyword blocking, without blocking others in the crossfire. For example:

The Cars, Drive = blocked.

According to the RIAA, if the band "Drive" releases a song called "Cars", it should be denied. Given the combinations of keywords, you'd be blocking pretty much everything that isn't obscure and unique, like "the Crucifucks", "Tumor Circus", "Cockmonger" or "Republican Buttocks".

They also have some light content-based filtering. I haven't researched this, but I think it goes by the ID3 tag. It seems to be used mostly to combat misspellings. Obviously, the RIAA's example was the worst-case scenario.

They've really done a fair amount of filtering, and enough in the other areas to show they aren't just a napster clone (which wouldn't be a bad thing by my standards). It seems they just want any type of music far away from computers, because it's easier to control than to just come up with cooler ideas and incentive for people to buy. I suppose it's also easier than releasing something better than the pussified swill I hear booming by from people's car radios.

--
PS: both AG for linux, and the other linux version called xsatellite are spyware free. The official AG linux binary is still supported.

Audiogalaxy is spyware free!

Audiogalaxy does not contain spyware, nor does it require the use of spyware. The "official" audiogalaxy client however, does contain spyware, but only from version .609 and on. I use .608W for instance. It is 100% functional, and contains no spyware. Here is a download link. [omicro.com.br] Furthermore, audiogalaxy is a pretty much open protocol. There are a number of 3rd party clients, for various operating system, which are spyware/adware free. Some are AGStream [ractive.ch], OpenAG [mac.com], and Sputnix [biggerplanet.com]. Quit complaining if you are too lazy to use google and/or download another client, so you can get free mp3s without the company making any money.

file sharing is effective advertising

Snipped from the latest bit of news on the weezer [weezer.com] site.

...a fan writes: "I flicked on Mtv this morning as I was getting ready for school around 7am and Mtv News came on, talking about how Eminem was completely against the use of the internet for the purpose of downloading free music. His argument was that it was taking money away from the artist. The announcer then went on to say that on the other end of the spectrum was Weezer, who released most of their songs from their new album (Maladroit) on their website many months before it even came out! They had a few quotes from Rivers too. Since Maladroit is doing so well (#3!), Weezer is living proof that downloading music online has actually helped record sales by getting their music out there and waking people up to their music." ---Melissa

It's anecdotal, I know. But I'd say that the RIAA spends more money on lawyers than the industry loses as a result of file sharing... They should probably cut Audiogalaxy in on the profits rather than sue them.

Cry me a river...

Did anyone happen to catch 20/20 last night (Friday)? They had a piece about how radio stations take payola through indy promoters, blah blah blah. The interesting part was seeing Hillary Rosens fat head up there crying about how it costs the record labels so much and that there should be new laws to make it illegal, I'm just bawling my eyes out for them. I wonder how much of a discount consumers would see if such legistlation was put into place.

To be fair most the focus of the segment was mostly about how it prevents smaller labels/artists from getting radio play regardless of how good their music may be, which is a bad thing.

Personally I think its great that the RIAA is taking a stance against this. Lets see, first the RIAA pisses of geeks, then consumers, now they piss off the radio stations, if we get lucky they'll shoot themselves in the foot and piss off the artists and labels too.

record labels r dumb

Like Napster, Audiogalaxy seeks to profit from its [music sharing :)] system by building an extensive user base to attract advertisers and investment dollars.

RIAA Exec #1: Bob, how's our new "file-sharing" service coming along, you know, the one that grants users the right to listen to a song on one computer for 30 minutes a day, all for $9.99 a month, and if you violate the terms of service, the FBI is notified directly?

RIAA Exec #2: *clik clik* Hmm, it's coming along okay Sue, three people have signed up in the past month alone. Not bad but we just can't seem to get volume of users we were predicting.

RIAA Exec #1: Actually one of those was me, and the other two were Hillary. We need to figure out what type of file sharing service people really want. If only there was some kind of "model" or "prototype" we could study. If only we could figure out some way to use the internet to profit from a music sharing system by building an extensive user base to attract advertisers and investment dollars. If only there was some way to do that.

RIAA Exec #2: I have no idea. To be honest I'm not even sure what the internet is, isn't it like a modem? I heard that once. Oh well, it's 1pm already, the work day is over, time to go golfing!

RIAA Exec #1: Good thing, my brain hurts.

Open Audiogalaxy?

Remember when Napster got into all the legal troubles that things like 'Open Nap' and Napagator became popular to access non offical open source servers? Why can't the same thing happen with Audiogalaxy? I know at least part of their code is open source, so that would help.

It would also be nice because AG blocked a lot of popular songs from being downloaded, and I'm sure the open servers wouldn't do that.

The software is innocent

I can share music and files in many many ways, and i can get it with different kinds of software, webbrowsers, FTP clients, etc etc. As I said in another comment... file sharing software doesn't violate copyrights, people violate copyrights. They have no right stopping this software or any other except viruses.

The lesson for *any* pure-play tech company

Follow Kazaa. Set up a shell company on some Pacific island, and when (not if, when) the Big Lawsuit hits, sell the name and assets, and fold the US operation. Rinse and repeat until there are no US based technology companies left.

Sad, sad situation, but when the [MPA|RIA|BS]A can buy (nearly) any law they like and change the rules of the game whenever they feel like it, the only way to win is not to play in their schoolyard.

Re:But what about the struggling artists...

Whoever modded the above as insightful or interesting is an illiterate idiot.

Read the rest of the thread. Even on 4+, there's at least two comments talking about AudioGalaxy's promotion and review system for independant artists. The parent post seems to rather conveniently ignore this. If your friend wants to make money off music, maybe she should try contacting them and see what they can do. Or try one of the other sites that does stuff like this. (Allowing artists to sell albums directly to fans)

Re:But what about the struggling artists...

Audiogalaxy was actually helping small artists sell stuff. People who *wanted* their stuff on it to get URL's known and for people to buy actual albums. That seems to me much more likely -why- the RIAA wanted to sue them.

After all if there are alternatives to the kind of contracts the big media companies push who is going to sign up with the big boys ?

Careful what you wish for

(Nevermind that Satellite is loaded with spy-ware ... good riddance).

They came for Napster, and I did not speak up, because I did not use Napster.
They came for Audiogalaxy, and I did not speak up, because it had spyware.
They came for Limewire, and I did not speak up, because I did not like the Java client.
Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak up.

Frivolous suits

I'm still trying to figure out why the judge didn't get mad and toss the napster suit after all BMG one of the plaintiffs owns Napster the defendent - which is almost exactly like suing yourself.