Journal MsGeek's Journal: I want to make sure this post is easy to get to
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=71087&threshold=0&commentsort=0&tid=141&tid=188&mode=nested&cid=6439618
For further reading on the subject of the recording industry and its thievery, check these links out:
The Problem With Music by Steve Albini
The Internet Debacle by Janis Ian
Just as you suspected, the RIAA is NOT your friend. Neither is it a great friend of musicians. It is not even a friend to small indie record labels and musicians who put out their music outside the "star-making machinery." If anything, the RIAA has been trying to throw a huge spanner into technologies like digital recording and home studios that take away from the monopoly power the Five Families Of The Record Business holds. Read, and learn. Then rip, mix and burn, baby, burn.
Afterword: Here's another post I found when meta-moderating, which says a lot with humor but is dead serious about the realities it describes:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=70795&cid=6422846
