Recording Industry Association of America:

The Recording Industry Association of America (or RIAA) is a trade group that represents the major labels of the recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of a large number of private corporate entities such as record labels and distributors, which the RIAA claims "create, manufacture and/or distribute approximately 90% of all legitimate sound recordings produced and sold in the United States".^[1]^[2]

The RIAA was formed in 1952 primarily to administer the RIAA equalization curve, a technical standard of frequency response applied to vinyl records during manufacturing and playback. The RIAA has continued to participate in creating and administering technical standards for later systems of music recording and reproduction, including magnetic tape (including cassette tapes and digital audio tapes), CDs and software-based digital technologies.

The RIAA also participates in the collection, administration and distribution of music licenses and royalties.

Company structure and Sales

As of April 2007, the RIAA is led by Mitch Bainwol, who has been Chairman and CEO since 2003. He is assisted by Cary Sherman, the President of the Board of Directors. The board of directors consists of 26 members of the board, drawn mostly from the big four members of the RIAA.^[3]

The RIAA represents over 1,600 member labels, which are private corporate entities such as record labels and distributors, and which collectively create and distribute about 90% of recorded music sold in the US. The largest and most influential of the members are the "Big Four":

The total annual net income from members of the RIAA is reported to be $11.5 billion^[4], reflecting a decline since a high of $14.5 billion in 1999.

Sales certification

The RIAA operates an award program for albums which sell a large number of copies.^[5] The program originally began in 1958, with a Gold Award for singles and albums which reach US$1 million sales. The criteria was changed in 1975 to be based on the number of copies sold, with singles and albums selling 500,000 copies awarded the Gold Award. In 1976, a Platinum Award was added for one million sales, and in 1999 a Diamond Award for ten million sales. The awards are open to both RIAA members and non-members.^[6]

The RIAA also operates a similar program for Spanish language music sales, called Los Premios Awards.

“Digital” sales certification

In 2004, the RIAA added a branch of certification for what it calls “digital” recordings, meaning roughly “recordings transferred to the recipient over a network” (such as those sold via the iTunes Store), and excluding other obviously-digital media such as those on CD, DAT, or MiniDiscs. In 2006, “digital ringtones” were added to this branch of certification. As of 2007, the certification criteria for these recordings are as follows:

Video Longform certification

Along with albums, digital albums, and singles there is another classification of music release called "Video Longform." This release format includes: live albums, compilation albums, "greatest hits" albums, and DVD releases. The certification criteria is slightly different from other styles.^[7]

Efforts against copyright infringement

Stance on home recording

The RIAA has asserted apparently contradictory positions both for and against home recording, such as transferring the contents of music CDs to portable players or making backup copies of music CDs.

In a 2005 argument before the Supreme Court in MGM Studios, Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd., counsel for the RIAA stated that "it's perfectly lawful to take a CD that you've purchased, upload it onto your computer, put it onto your iPod."^[8]

In 2006, the RIAA appeared to reverse its position, claiming that copying the contents of CDs or backing them up does not constitute fair use, because recordings transferred from CDs do not maintain controversial Digital Rights Management (DRM) to prevent the music file from being copied, and are therefore infringing under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, even though audio CDs (formally Compact Disc Digital Audio), by definition, have no DRM. They argue that there is no evidence that any of the relevant media are "unusually subject to damage" and that "even if CDs do become damaged, replacements are readily available at affordable prices."^[9]

Efforts against file sharing

The RIAA opposes unauthorized file sharing of its music. It has commenced high profile lawsuits against file sharing service providers. It has also commenced a controversial series of lawsuits against individuals suspected of file sharing, notably college students and parents of file sharing children. It is accused of employing techniques such as peer-to-peer network pollution to combat file sharing.

Selection of defendants

The RIAA names defendants based on ISP identification of the subscriber associated with an IP address,^[10] and as such do not know any additional information about a person before they sue. After an Internet subscriber's identity is discovered, but before an individual lawsuit is filed, the subscriber is typically offered an opportunity to settle. The standard settlement is a payment of several thousand dollars to the RIAA, and an agreement not to engage in file-sharing of RIAA music.

The RIAA's policy and method of suing individuals for copyright infringement is continually criticized. Brad Templeton of the Electronic Frontier Foundation has called the RIAA's lawsuits "spamigation"^[11] and implied they are done merely to intimidate people. - - The RIAA typically seeks $750 statutory damages per song file. In the Brooklyn lawsuit UMG v. Lindor,^[12] the defendant argued that the RIAA's damage theory was unconstitutional, because it sought 1071 times the actual 70 cents reduction of profits per song (the prevailing wholesale price of a download). The court ruled that this defense was not frivolous, was based upon case law and legal scholarship, and deserved to be heard.^[13] - - The Electronic Frontier Foundation, American Civil Liberties Union and Public Citizen oppose the ability of the RIAA and other companies to "strip Internet users of anonymity without allowing them to challenge the order in court".^[14]^[15] - - The RIAA's criticized methods of identifying individual users has led to the issuing of subpoenas to a dead grandmother,^[16], an elderly computer novice,^[17] a woman with multiple sclerosis,^[18] and even those without any computer at all.^[19] Sometimes the RIAA continues to sue even in these cases, or seeks to discontinue without prejudice (and thereby avoid compensating the defense for legal fees).^[20]^[21]^[22] - - After learning that one alleged copyright infringer had died, the RIAA offered the deceased man's family a period of sixty days to grieve the man's death before they began to depose members of his family for the suit against his estate.^[23] - - The RIAA has also brought lawsuits against children, some as young as 12.^[24] - - As of February, 2007 the RIAA began sending letters accusing internet users of sharing files and directing them to a web site, (http://www.p2plawsuits.com/), where they can make "discount" settlements payable by credit card. The letters go on to say that anyone not settling will have lawsuits brought against them. Typical settlements are upwards of $3,000. This new strategy was formed because the RIAA's legal fees were cutting into the income from settlements. ^[25]

Settlement programs

In February, 2007, the RIAA launched an 'early settlement program' directed to ISP's and to colleges and universities, urging them to pass along letters to subscribers and students offering early "settlements", prior to the disclosure of their identities, which, if accepted, would save the RIAA the expense of litigation to procure the identities. The settlement letters urged ISP's to preserve evidence for the benefit of the RIAA and invited the students and subscribers to visit an RIAA website for the purpose of entering into a "discount settlement" payable by credit card.^[26]. By March 2007, the focus had shifted from ISP's to colleges and universities. ^[27]^[28]^[29]

Calculation of damages

In press reports, the RIAA makes the assertion that every unauthorized copy of a song represents a lost sale. ^[30]^[31]^[32] This claim is highly criticized due to the fact that a single download of a song may not correspond to the loss of a potential sale, and because this metric conflicts with the economic law of supply and demand^[33]. A large number of studies conducted since the RIAA began its campaign against peer-to-peer file-sharing have concluded that losses incurred per download range from negligible to very small.^[34]^[35]^[36]

Lawsuits against other recording, distribution, and search technologies

In October 1998, the Recording Industry Association of America filed a lawsuit in the Ninth U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco claiming the Diamond Multimedia Rio PMP300 player violated the 1992 Audio Home Recording Act. The Rio PMP300 was significant because it was the second portable consumer MP3 digital audio player released on the market. The three judge panel ruled in favor of Diamond, paving the way for the development of the portable digital player market.^[37]

RIAA has also filed suit in 2006 to enjoin digital XM Satellite Radio from enabling its subscribers from playing songs it has recorded from its satellite broadcasts.^[38] It is also suing several Internet radio stations.^[39]

On December 21, 2006, the RIAA filed a lawsuit against Russian owned and operated website AllOfMP3.com in the amount of $1.65 trillion ($1,650,000,000,000). This number was derived from multiplying 11 million songs with statutory damages of $150,000 per song. The Moscow court ruled in favor of AllOfMP3.com^[40]

On April 28, 2008, RIAA member labels sued Project Playlist, a web music search site, claiming their copyrights are infringed by the site's index of links. Project Playlist's website denies that any of the music is hosted on Project Playlist's own servers.

Legislation

The RIAA supports several pieces of legislation in the United States which it believes help it prevent copyright infringement. This legislation includes the proposed Digital Content Protection Act of 2006, which is being considered by the United States Senate. According to PublicKnowledge^[41] and the EFF,^[42] this would prevent new ways to use media content, and could prevent customers from recording music, even if covered by fair use. This would effectively create a radio broadcast flag rule. The RIAA has supported legislation in the past which also attempted to introduce a radio broadcast flag.

The "Work Made for Hire" controversy

In 1999, Stanley M. Glazier, a Congressional staff attorney, inserted, without public notice or comment, substantive language into the final markup of a "technical corrections" section of copyright legislation, classifying many music recordings as "works made for hire," thereby stripping artists of their copyright interests and transferring those interests to their record labels.^[43] Shortly afterwards, Glazier was hired as Senior Vice President of Government Relations and Legislative Counsel for the RIAA, which vigorously defended the change when it came to light. The battle over the disputed provision led to the formation of the Recording Artists' Coalition, which successfully lobbied for repeal of the change.

Cultural references

Recording Industry Association of America

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