The RIAA’s shot finally hits its target: its own foot!
The RIAA’s shot finally hits its target: its own foot!
I’ve tried to follow closely the entertainment industry’s war against its customers, because I think the story is an important lesson in Postmodern economics. Every Modernist institution is threatened by the cultural shift, which is fueled in part by technology. Courts in the U.S. and the Netherlands ruled against the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) last week, which keeps the story moving forward to its ultimate conclusion — that economic power in a Postmodern world rests with the consumer, not the institution. Silicon Valley blogger, Dan Gillmor, has been on top of this story since the beginning and has an insightful piece in his blog that’s must reading for anybody interested in this story. Dan coined the phrase “copyright cartel” to describe the many arms of the entertainment industry. Grok his perspective and your eyes will be enlightened, but in so doing, remember that this whole saga is incubating in a massive cultural change.
