Incoming students beware: A scourge far mightier than chlamydia and alcohol poisoning is heading to a campus near you. Its fire-breathing ferocity has already left college administrators trembling and grateful for being spared, and they are now slaves to the beast that is the music industry.
It has been a good year for the Recording Industry Artists of America, the organization responsible for the creation and distribution of 95 percent of America's music. According to RIAA's Web site, the association recently sued four college students on the East Coast for using Kazaa and other Napster-like Internet services that offer MP3 music sharing. The students were fined between $12,000 and $17,000 each. An additional 800 students have also been ordered to appear in court over this "piracy." Since then, the RIAA has trained its sights on colleges and universities. Demoralized and crushed by the RIAA's not-so-veiled threat of billion-dollar lawsuits, colleges nationwide have folded under pressure and have begun a scared-straight program for incoming freshman to deter them from downloading music. Administrators have communicated that they are ready to help the RIAA identify and bankrupt the lives of young college students in order to protect the poor, fledgling music industry.
Educational institutions across the country are defenseless. According to a recent article in The Washington Post, even the prestigious Naval Academy in Annapolis has raided dorm rooms and robbed 100 of its students of their provided computers. Sorry fellas, we know that you are learning the finer points of naval warfare and one day might die protecting your country's interests, but Metallica and Dr. Dre need our help in fighting this menace.
Even former Mickey Mouse Club angel Britney Spears, distraught over impoverishing revenue loss, has turned to providing adult services with older women for depraved onlookers.
The RIAA, in its crude one-page Internet manifesto, declares that it isn't fighting this war for selfish reasons. The battle must continue to protect not only themselves, but also the "honest brokers" and "consumers" that fall prey to the evil of music swappers.
According to the RIAA, honest brokers, such as Best Buy and Wal-Mart, are losing money because they can't compete with illegal vendors who sell pirated music.
Who would ever think that the energetic rag-tag army of downtown hustlers who sell burned copies of Jennifer Lopez and Eminem CDs could grow to be such a threat to our way of life? And the notion that the music industry wants to help and protect consumers is absolute nonsense. The price of a compact disc, unlike every other commodity or service, has stayed the same, and in some cases, risen since its introduction to the market. Why is that?
The RIAA is more than capable of making money, with or without music swapping. Its decision to terrify college administrators into submission was sinister but smart. Wonder if they had to go to school for that.
Christian Palmer is a journalism senior. Reach him at christian.palmer@asu.edu.
