Gizmodo passionately boycotts the RIAA with a manifesto

Gizmodo, one of the most popular technology and gadget sites on the interment, publicly bans the RIAA in a manifesto, uncovering the wrongdoings of an association who has claimed to be wronged itself. This is one of the first times any media agent has openly called for action against the RIAA. An excerpt from the maifesto (which can viewed here: http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/home-entertainment/gizmodos-antiriaa-manifesto-239512.php ) features two distinct muckraker-esque articles which have “hit the nail on the head” in regards to sentiments on the music industry in its entirety. This is the except from the article itself which has featured the two pieces from Courtney Love and Steve Albini.

“Rescuing Artists From Those Claiming to Support ThemAs we're a technology website, we're most in touch with the RIAA's actions in response to music downloading as opposed to their history of poor artist management and unfair retail tactics. However, it's worth noting that issues such as the underpayment of artists and album price-fixing are quite serious and should be considered as good a reason as any to keep your money from going to their pockets. Two articles worth reading to study up on how major labels screw over the artists they claim to represent are Courtney Love's speech to the Digital Hollywood online entertainment conference and The Problem with Music by Steve Albini. Both are written by artists who have first-hand knowledge of just how badly major labels take advantage of musicians, and both are guaranteed to change how you view the music industry.”

In these articles, Love and Albini roughly calculate how much of money made from an album is directed towards an artist and how much of it goes to the record label. The article from Steve Albini is highly acclaimed, offering insight to how funds for a band are spliced apart, leaving virtually nothing for each of the band members, even though the band itself sold 3 million copies of their album. The article definitely raises eyebrows as to how much a labels are looking out for the welfare of their dancing monkeys/artists. Exactly how well do labels take care of their artists? If you take away superstar artists and calculate income from an average joe/indie band, are they better off working at a 7 eleven? Is it the band's fault that it never recoups? Hopefully both the record labels and the RIAA will listen to the public outcry for change in the music industry. Things need to change.