SIDENOTES: This means customers of ISPs (Comcast, Cox Communication, Time Warner Cable, etc.) that are mp3 hunting can count on the speed of the service to slow down a bit OR (at worst) expect their internet service to be cut altogether.

I take it that RIAA are unaware of customers getting their internet services via satellite.

http://tech.yahoo.com/blo...rson/31678

At last, the music industry admits what we've known for years: That filing music-swapping lawsuits against teenagers, little old ladies, and corpses is a fool's errand (not to mention an expensive headache for the defendants). But don't worry—the RIAA has something new up its sleeves.
The new strategy (as reported by the Wall Street Journal): If the music industry finds out that you're swapping music files online, it'll send an e-mail to your ISP (agreements have already hashed out agreements with "some" unnamed service providers, apparently), which will in turn forward the message to you—probably with a little "P.S." asking you to stop. [Update: CNET has a copy of the RIAA's form letter to ISPs.]

If you don't stop, well ... your service provider probably won't sue you, but it might slow down your broadband connection, or cut off your service altogether.

So, why has the RIAA changed the play? Well, maybe it's been looking at reports like this one from the NPD Group, which shows that U.S. CD sales continue to slide, while the number of tunes shared via P2P sites continues to increase, despite all the litigation.

And then there's the disastrous headlines, as the RIAA relentlessly tracked down and sued tens of thousands of alleged music pirates. Among them: Kids, octogenarians, and a few dead people.

Reaction to the news? Mixed. Engadget's headline reads (in part): "RIAA finds its soul," with the story noting that while the RIAA reserves the right to go after "heavy uploaders or repeat offenders ... it appears that single mothers are in the clear."

All Things Digital has a darker outlook, speculating that ISPs—which "care about the cost of moving lots of data around … [and] want to make money by selling, renting, or just offering up Hollywood's movies and TV shows to subscribers"—might be more than content to "cut off file-sharers … [or] simply [charge] heavy file-sharers a lot of money."

And here's another possibility, courtesy of yours truly: Say your ISP catches you sharing tunes via P2P. No problem—download away! But when you get your next cable bill, you'll find the itemized songs added to your monthly charge, kind of like an iTunes bill.

Call it the "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" strategy.

P.S. Make no mistake—just because the RIAA has stopped filing new music-swapping lawsuits doesn't mean that it's dropped the existing ones, according to the Journal. Quite the contrary.

Timmy84 said:

Yes, those idiots (RIAA) think their new master plan is going to work.

TonyVanDam said:

Yeah, the RIAA is at its last legs still trying to hold on to the ring floor after being knocked out.

It amazes me that everytime the RIAA does this and its research, the people that write the article never look at the "biggest elephant in the room" that is BIGGER than downloading for free, and sharing files (i mean sure that is a big factor) but its not the biggest. CD sales are down, because you shut down 75% of the stores, taken away the "selection" of cds in the stores and chains that remain, i mean Best Buy is talking about removing music catalogs totally from certain locations next year! Everyone assumed that the transition from CDs to digital downloads would be simple and sales would not suffer, well guess what, you have lost tons of music buyers in this transition, and right now the only ones holding the cd buying together are the older crowd and the disney kids. Switching from CD to digital is not like going from cassettes or vinyl to cd, why is different? well the main reason is "downloading" and the process is NOT the same for everyone, some have slow computers, some have fast, some dont have one, and many just dont want to be bothered. Going digital is a convienance of nothing more than shelf space and being able to carry more with you, after that, its been a headache to many.

I rather hear music on YouTube, that said, CDs will continue even in small quantities. Digital downloading (iTunes) is a waste.
[Edited 12/19/08 15:46pm]

lastdecember said:

Last week walmart sold more CDs then all the other retailers combined.CD format will not be the dominant form of music in the next 5yrs . This yr the album sales r down another 14% and CD sales r even harder hit maybe +20% down which was the same as last yr.

lastdecember said:

Unless we're talking about artists that actually play instruments (ex: Stevie Wonder, Prince), it no longer makes any sense to make albums all the time. Why not make hit single-driven artists (ex: Britney, PCD) settle with make singles & EP releases only?

TonyVanDam said:

Exactly. I don't understand how dumb those music industry pricks are, lol. The singles are doing hot but their albums hardly sell over 500,000.

asg said:

Its easy for walmart to do because everyone else is eliminated at this point with the exception of Best Buy and even they are treating cds like "reheaded stepchilds" right now, in some of the nyc locations they arent even in order, new releases are empty and sometimes not put out right away because its not an importance to them at this point, and really never was. As for the other retailers, there arent any, circuit city is dead, Virgin is non existent and not even relevant with only 10 stores and 2 closing and the liquidation of the chain not far off. Target is really the only competition but its locations are like looking for a needle in a haystack, and for someone that loves the traditional music stores and little shops that only sell music, I REFUSE to buy music in a store where i can also buy socks at the same time.

Timmy84 said:

honestly thats a US issue. I mean take a group like Girls Aloud, they NEVER have had a release in this market and yet they are touring with Coldplay and are a huge "singles" group (20 top 10's in a row). The US just doesnt know how to market, it has no market ideas, the well is try, the execs have no clue, and now the artists see this and just take their tours and product to every other market because they know that the "money" is there and not here.

Keep file sharing motherfuckers, share on! Make those fuckers go broke!

vainandy said:

To hell with the music industry.

vainandy said:

Yeah! Let see the RIAA beg the U.S. Congress for a bailout.

Fuck 'em in the ass with a diseased mule dick.

I'd love to see them begging for a bailout. And they better not get one under any circumstances because new music isn't a necessity. Hell, I've been doing without it for 15 years.

TonyVanDam said:

they're still gonna fail .. there are boat loads of servers (not torrent sites) where people DO NOTHING BUT file share.. and the RIAA haven't caught any these people yet and more than likely won't ever ..

vainandy said:

DAMN!!!! Now tell us how you really feel.