RIAA Mishandles Downloading Lawsuits

Over the last six years, the war between music-downloading consumers and the Recording Industry Association of America has become a stalemate. The RIAA threatens to sue consumers to ward off illegal downloading, but illegal music downloads still outnumber legal downloads by a 40-1 ratio.

Apparently, the RIAA is not reaching its publics about illegal downloads, despite its staunch stance against pirating. People continue to illegally download regardless of facing a potential lawsuit.

I blame this negative attitude toward the RIAA due to its mishandling of the illegal downloads. Just look at this case of the RIAA suing Tanya Andersen, a single mom living in Portland.

(Photo of Tanya Andersen courtesy of BusinessWeek)

Four years ago, Andersen and the RIAA began a bitter battle over illegal downloading. The industry group said that Andersen had to pay them about $4,000 dollars, or she would go bankrupt from court fees. Andersen contended that she never downloaded illegally. Eventually, the RIAA dropped the lawsuit due to lack of evidence.

Anderson fought the RIAA for three years; now, she putting legal pressure on them. She has filed a lawsuit against the RIAA for conspiracy laws and invasion of personal privacy. Her confrontation with the RIAA has produced a number of problems for the trade industry group, including that fact that the RIAA may have misidentified illegal music consumers up to 20 percent of the time.

For this case involving Andersen, the RIAA or the record labels wished not to comment. Why the secrecy? Why the rejection of journalists? By neglecting to respond to people, the RIAA is engaging in only one-way communication with its publics. To make matters worse, the RIAA forces its message of “piracy is bad news” upon people without any room for discussion.

To earn respect among people, the RIAA must steer away from guilt-tripping people and engage in more earnest arguments. Until then, people will continue abuse digital piracy and bypass buying music.

Twitter Experiment

Last weekend, our class conducted a 48-hour Twitter experiment. From Thursday to Saturday, each person in my class of 13 people posted to Twitter a minimum of five times. The micro-blogs accumulated, and our public relations class was highly connected for 48 hours. We all knew the published details of everyone else.

From this experiment, we were supposed to learn the real-time value of Twitter. As a micro-blog of 140 characters, Twitter is constantly updated and personal. I learned when people went to bed, what homework they worked one, and which movies they watched. Some classmates would update every few hours; others, like me, updated two or three times per day.

I remain unconvinced that Twitter will work for me. First of all, I have to want to read about the details of everyone else’s lives; I need to care. I try to be connected with my friends in the digital world; however, I strive to be not too connected.

Granted, sometimes the micro-blogs warranted my response. They truly sparked my interest. However, I wonder how much time I would accrue “Twittering” if I became attached to the social site.

Nonetheless, I see the potential of Twitter for the use of companies and public organizations. It provides organizations with an instant message that is viewable by all of its “followers.” The followers can then reply to the organization immediately, which is instant feedback for companies. Additionally, the organization’s publics receive an inside-look at the company. Thus, Twitter is more personal than a corporate Web site or email update. This fact gives companies an advantage when building brand identity or consumer credibility.

The Raconteurs’ Unconventional Promotion

No one knows how to promote music anymore. Fifteen years ago, the record industry had music promotion figured out. Artists like Sugar Ray, Linkin Park, and Usher sold millions of records. Music fans—young and old alike—eagerly bought compact discs. Then Napster happened, and the digital music revolution began.

The fallout after Napster led the recording industry astray. Albums sales declined. People now found new music online, using peer-to-peer networks and Web sites like Myspace.com. Recently, musicians have experimented with different manners of releasing and promoting albums, both in physical and digital form.

On March 25, Jack White’s band, The Raconteurs, unexpectedly released “The Consolers of the Lonely” across every distribution channel.

But how is the release of “Consolers of the Lonely” different from other music releases? The Raconteurs did not use any promotion for “Consolers of the Lonely.” Instead, the band depended solely on the mass distribution of a press release on March 18—only one week before the album’s release.

The band gave music news sites and blogs an opportunity to break the sudden news to the public. On March 18, popular news site Pitchfork Media made its headlining story about The Raconteurs, running the story with the press release verbatim. Other music news sites and blogs did the same.

Since its release, the album’s single peaked at 35 on the Hot Mainstream Rock Charts. The single, “Salute Your Solution,” has stayed on the charts for every week since its release. Furthermore, the album has stayed within the Top 10 on Amazon.com’s New Releases chart since its release.

For Jack White and The Raconteurs, this indirect approach to public relations and marketing worked. In many cases, the public read The Raconteur’s main message verbatim. Intrigued fans then acted upon the news and purchased the album.

Jack White’s famousness certainly lends credibility to the album’s release. He didn’t need to use promotional tactics to incite the public’s interest. But can this cost-friendly approach to marketing work for other bands? Will other bands follow The Raconteurs’ lead and release albums that lack traditional promotion?

Hillary Clinton to Appear on The Colbert Report

In another unexpected twist of political events, Hillary Clinton will appear on “The Colbert Report” Thursday night.

MSNBC’s “Hardball” host Chris Matthews leaked the news during his interview with Stephen Colbert last Monday. Embarrassed, Colbert responded, “There’s a possibility of that…We like to surprise people with certain guests.”

Colbert jokes about how candidates will experience a jump in popularity, dubbed the “The Colbert Bump.” Mike Huckabee did it himself in 2007, which set the stage for a fierce, brief competition for the Republican nomination.

Nonetheless, Clinton is likely to encounter a much harsher interviewer than she did with John Stewart last month. Colbert routinely interrupts his interviewees. When she appeared on “The Daily Show,” Clinton was allowed to speak mostly unimpeded. The day after the Jon Stewart interview, Clinton won the Texas and Ohio primaries.

Obviously, the Clinton campaign is reaching out to Comedy Central viewers. Days before the Pennsylvania primary, she is trying to woo the youth vote. So far, Obama has garnered the majority of voters between the ages of 18 and 24 in competitive states, according to exit polls.

Can “The Colbert Bump” give Clinton more voter support? Or has Obama already won Pennsylvania, regardless of Clinton’s last-minute appearance?

Welcome to Media Disc!

I refrained from blogging for years. I joined social networking sites, became dependent upon e-mail and kept tabs on multiple news sites. When my Internet connection goes down—either due to Comcast updates or user misunderstanding—I am suddenly lost and disconnected. However, as the real-work phase of my life looms, I will finally join millions of others and start a blog, a now-essential instrument in a professional’s toolbox.

I am a junior at the University of Oregon studying journalism, public relations and economics. I am starting this blog to record observations and occurrences within the public relations world. I plan to focus on public relations used by musicians and the record industry, but I am open to learning about any hip public relations topic. The dynamic nature of the Internet and worldwide communications keeps public relations and communications constantly progressing.

Media Disc will serve as a digital diary of my ideas about public relations and how it will change in the future. As a free source of media coverage, public relations’ applications cannot be underestimated. I hope to keep this blog updated after my departure from J452 and use it throughout my academic career.