It's like fans have no rights, besides being consumers

Looks like somebody else has grasped the principle of the modern entertainment buisness. Music is the worst about shooting their own fans, but the other entertainment buisnesses are nearly as bad.

The RIAA wants to control exactly what you will listen to, and charge you for the privlage at the same time.

Take CARP, which is the ruling that set the price that internet radio would have to pay in royalties. CARP set rates far higher then paid by radio stations, and sets a mininum fee of $500 to the RIAA even if you play no music they cover.

The CARP fees where set to a large degree based on a deal cut between Yahoo and the RIAA for rates and fees. Mark Cuban, the person that negotiated much of the deal with the RIAA has admited that the price was inflated by Yahoo's desire to cut out the little companies.[link|http://www.kurthanson.com/archive/news/062402/index.asp|Radio and Internet Newsletter]

For it's part the RIAA has decided to appeal the ruling, claiming the CARP rates are too low![link|http://www.riaa.com/PR_story.cfm?id=542|RIAA site] Apparently, shutting down 90% of the independent radio sites on the internet isn't enough for them.

Jay