"Boycott" comes from an ill-fated Irish estate manager. Captian Charles C. Boycott was a land manager in Ireland in the 1880's managing real estate for the Earl of Erne. Unforunately for him he was chosen by Charles Parnell for a new form of protest. Parnell was the president of the Irish National League, a body which was dedicated to providing the Irish with fair housing, something that had been removed by an inordinate amount of British control of Irish land. ¹

Parnell and his group arranged that all of the landowners and masters should charge less rent to their tenants, or charge a lower and fairer rent, and anyone who chose not to do so would be given what amounts to the cold shoulder. They would be ignored and otherwise disregarded in all social and political circles, removing any kind of power or authority they held. When Boycott refused to lower the rent for his tenants he suddenly found himself without friends, or holdings, servants and apparently even mail delivery. ²

In other words, it was effective, and alas for Mr. Boycott his name became a household word for refusing to serve or otherwise aid a group or person.

America itself has a fair history of effective boycotts. The Boston Tea Party kicked off a boycott of British tea that eventually helped to begin the American Revolution, and later in the 20th century Dr. Martin Luther King helped to organize the incredibly successful Montgomery, Alabama bus boycotts which resulted in numerous changes to the civil rights of African Americans.

Boycotting is essentialy a form of protest against a company or person which acts in a way that the boycotting party sees as being morally or socially unacceptable. It is protest against mistreatment, and it can be very effective when done correctly and with support of a large number of people.

Now, what is the RIAA? I know that they have been getting a lot of press lately but there is still some confusion as to who or what exactly the RIAA represents. The RIAA is the Recording Industry Association of America which was founded in the 1950's to help oversee the production and sale of recordings. They began with the distribution of 78's and later helped to engineer and produce 45's, LP's, cassettes, 8 tracks, and CD's. The association was originally developed to help standardize the way recordings were produced to bring higher quailty and fidelity to sound. Over the years the organization has become the body that controls almost all production of music in the United States.

To quote the RIAA's own statements:

"The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is the trade group that represents the U.S. recording industry. Its mission is to foster a business and legal climate that supports and promotes our members' creative and financial vitality. Its members are the record companies that comprise the most vibrant national music industry in the world. RIAA members create, manufacture and/or distribute approximately 90% of all legitimate sound recordings produced and sold in the United States." ³

The means that almost anything to do with music in the US has something to do with the RIAA. This creates another problem in that because the RIAA is the primary music distributor it has the ability to shut down many groups and bands whose music might become popular or well liked. By controlling distribution they essentially control what the public hears. They can contract an artist, produce a CD and then in effect shelve that artist and prevent them from producing or performing music until their contract expires.

Now, why do you care about all this boycotting and the RIAA and what not? It doesn't really affect you, you don't listen to mainstream music so why should you care? Well, here is the kicker.

The RIAA believes that it is responsible for musicians and for copyright protection. They are opposed to anything that infringes on their collecting money for the material they produce. If you buy less music, and less music related items they lose money because they control the distribution of those items almost universally.

Thanks to the advent of the internet the RIAA is having a great deal of difficulty maintaining their hold on the music. Although the RIAA has been to court several times in the last decade they have continued to be ineffective in limiting the size and scope of technology and it's advances to prevent the average user from becoming essentially a music pirate. ⁴

The RIAA does not like music pirates. It describes them as such:

" Today's pirates operate not on the high seas but on the Internet, in illegal CD factories, distribution centers, and on the street. The pirate's credo is still the same--why pay for it when it's so easy to steal? The credo is as wrong as it ever was. Stealing is still illegal, unethical, and all too frequent in today's digital age." ⁵

The RIAA sees any Peer to Peer (P2P) file sharing as stealing. Not that pirating music is a new thing. It used to be that you could find a good pirate music stand at any organized flea market. Pirates used to be twelve year olds sitting in their bedroom making a shitty dubbed copy of Tiffany's first album.⁶ Thanks to the net, however, pirating has become a practice that is almost limitless in scope, and even more difficult to trace. Also, the production of high quality pirated copies has really cheesed off the RIAA which has lead to some astounding moves on its part.

As a goth-fearing music pirateer you probably sit at home trading music on Kazaa or other music P2P networks never once feeling guilty about downloading the latest from Sisters of Mercy. The RIAA has been losing a lot of sleep over it, though. According to various musical polls and estimates music sales are down about 20% since the begining of the 90's, meaning less people are buying CD's and therefore the amount of money going into the pocket of the RIAA is being tampered with. If you don't have to produce more cd's, if you don't have to distribute them, then the RIAA is missing on out money it could be earning.

The internet has also affected the RIAA in another way. Technology has given people who would have had no way in to distribute music before a venue for doing so. A musician or group no longer needs a hefty recording contract to record, produce, print, and sell their own music. They can do it at home, or online through various free services. ⁷ This cuts out the RIAA, an organization that proudly declares that it owns over 90% of the recording industry. Solving the problem of a band being bought and then shelved until it's contract is expired, essentially crippling them from becoming artists.

Okay, you think, so the RIAA produces music and they don't like P2P, so who cares? Well, as you may have heard the RIAA launched a historical lawsuit and subpoena filing storm last week targeting users of the Kazaa P2P system and suing users for up to $250,000 dollars for each infringement against a copyright owned by an RIAA artist. Let's say you have downloaded 50 songs from Kazaa and they are all from groups on the RIAA artist list, or listed with a company owned by the RIAA. If they come after you, a fine of $12,500,000 could be what the demand. In most cases the RIAA appears to be settling suits for between $2 and $3,000 dollars, however, several students at college institutions have been fined up to $15,000 dollars.⁸

Alright, you think, but you said something about boycotting? Indeed I did. The RIAA is, through the organization's various actions, targeting their own customers. They are saying to people who listen to music that they cannot share the music they love with others unless they buy it over and over again.

One particular scenerio, which I don't believe ever panned out, was the RIAA being willing to let someone purchase a song to download and store for up to 1 month (at $1.50 a pop) which would become unusable after one month. A user could purchase something but not own it for longer than a fixed amount of time. I do not believe that this has manifested yet, but it was on a list of potential solutions. ⁹

By boycotting the RIAA and artists associated with it you are taking money out of their pocket. This will hurt them only if done in numbers. Currently Kazaa hosts more than 4 million users, and the combined numbers of those using P2P and filing sharing programs could well be in the 10's of millions. So, a boycott by all people who enjoy file sharing and trading will be effective if contined long enough.

How to boycott, though, that is tricky. You must first determine if an artist or label is associated with the RIAA. Fortunately there are some handy ways in which to do this. If you want to buy music, or go looking for an artist, check them out on the web. The RIAA Radar Search is an excellent tool for finding out if an artist or label is affiliated with the RIAA. You can also view and print this list of RIAA associates to take with you when music shopping out of your home. This is longer, but it is worth it.

If you buy music online you should be able to check out the Band's label by running it through the "RIAA Radar. Some bands have albums that are not distributed with the RIAA and albums that might be distributed through the RIAA. Loreena McKennitt for example produces and distributes most of her albums directly through Quinlan Road, her own music company. However her last two albums have also been distributed by Warner Brothers, an RIAA affliate. So, you have to be careful what you buy and where. Generally you can view the label for a band on an online purchase before you buy it and check it against the list.

If you are not at home or near a computer, however, it might be a good idea to print off the list to take with you. It is a big long nasty list, and I'm going to do my best to compile a more friendly pocket size version but that will take a couple of days. When you go music shopping look at the CD label and the artist and refer them to your list. If they are on the list don't buy it, you'll be supporting the RIAA. However if you want to steal it, that is all fine and good. If you get caught it's on your own head, though.

Also, visit your local used CD store. Most CD stores carry merhandise that has already been purchased, and as far as I know they do not send money back to the labels or the artists, and in reality buying used CD's is another form of piracy, and a fun one at that.

And, while you're at it, download music. There are always going to be new P2P engines and groups popping up that will allow you to download more safely and securely. If you absolutely must have the latest from Smashing Pumpkins then download their album in protest of the RIAA.

Also, write letters to artists that you do like who are on the list and let them know that you are opposed to their membership in the RIAA. The artists cannot ignore their fans indefinately, and although they don't hold a lot of power, they do hold some, and if nothing else, can refuse to record until the RIAA changes its policies.

And you can vote and help support P2P companies that are currently in the process of lobbying Congress against the aggressive actions of the RIAA. Grokster in particular seems to be interested in this avenue and they will certainy need support over the coming months if they are going to be affective. ¹¹

Finally, there are a lot of independent labels out there that produce fantastic and high quality music that could use support so they don't fall into the hands of the RIAA. Support these labels and bands and let them know you are buying their music in protest of the RIAA. Encourage them to protest against the RIAA, and to encourage their fans to protest as well. Writing letters can work, if everyone is doing it.

Continue to boycott and refuse to buy music and merchandise from artists and labels listed on the RIAA's list.

Boycotting is an effective tool, and it does work. It also happens to be one of the principles that America was founded upon. We as a people do not need to support groups and organizations that are essentially oppressing our rights and liberties as to what we want to listen to and be allowed to share. This issue goes beyond music, it effects music, books, and almost everything being traded on the web. The RIAA is simply testing the waters of restriction and if successful other groups will follow suit. This is not an issue to ignore, but a serious infringement upon our rights as the public.