THE PEOPLE vs THE RECORD COMPANIES OF AMERICA


	Welcome to the ultimate pinnacle of selling out, my friends.  This article has
been forthcoming for a long time, but after hearing about Rage Against the Machine's
conflict with their own record company (the bastards sued Napster on RATM's behalf,
without bothering to tell them about it), it's time I put in my two cents.  Not that
anybody ever reads these stupid things, of course.
	Years ago, a new technology was developed, called MP3.  It allowed higher 
quality audio than the previous king of sound files, WAV, and was also much more
compact; several MP3 files could be fit into the space that one WAV file took up.
This technology made it not only practical to exchange song files online, but easy.
For years, "bootleg" trading went on, with fans exchanging songs or downloading them
off sites that had them available.  No longer did you have to buy an entire CD full
of crap just so you could listen to the one good track they did have.  With the 
invention of CD writers, you could even create your own CDs full of songs that YOU
liked, not what the record companies thought you liked.  Other than the occasional
smacking-down of a web site that carried these MP3s, the record companies didn't
react much.  They still had their fingers around the throat of American music, and
there was no major alternative.
	Then came Shawn Fanning.  Then came Napster.
	At first, Napster was a fairly small file-sharing device.  You typed in the
name of the song you were looking for, and Napster looked in the directories of all
the other users logged on at the time.  If Napster found it, you could download it.
What started out small almost immediately started spreading like a brush fire; 
thousands of college dorms were full of people downloading their favorite songs from
their fellow fans.  CD writers became cheap enough for many people to afford them,
and the days of mega-mixes began.  Truly, it was the Golden Age of music fandom.
	Then came Metallica.  Then came the RIAA.
	The RIAA was terrified of Napster.  Through the years, they'd been inflating
CD prices higher and higher (and they still are--how can you justify $18 for a piece
of plastic?), because they knew damn well that they had a monopoly on the media.  
Other than a few punk labels who kept their CDs to a minimum price (usually about $8 
or less), the record companies could charge whatever they wanted because they knew
we had no other choice.  When the other choice appeared in the form of Napster, they
panicked.  While people who had Napster still bought CDs, they could now be much more
choosy as to what they bought; if the hit single on a given album was the only track
they liked, they weren't going to buy it.  Considering that most bands seemed to 
devote all their energy to a hit single and not give a shit about the other 8 or 9
tracks on the CD, this lessened the RIAA's income considerably.  So, they did what
all other cowardly, rich assholes do in America; they sued.
	Now, the bands that were signed under the RIAA's labels had a choice to make;
they could publically support Napster, and possibly be retaliated against by their
companies, or they could perform the ultimate act of selling out and turn their back
on the very people who made them what they are today.  Metallica did this without
a second thought; well, Lars Ulrich and James Hetfield did, anyways.  Blink 182 did
so as well, which is the ULTIMATE in selling-out; a punk rock band SUPPORTING the
establishment.  Unsurprisingly, soon afterward they starting pumping out songs that
were nothing but sappy shit about their girlfriends.  Dr. Dre ... well, he just sucks.
Moving along, there were some who stood up for Napster.  Among these were Rage Against
the Machine, Offspring, and, though it pains me to say it, Limp Bizkit.  These bands
were met with minimal success, however; the Offspring's attempt to release their 
entire album online to prove that online file-trading doesn't hurt sales was nixed by
their label, while RATM had to issue a public apology after their label sued Napster
on their behalf.  
	And now, it seems that the RIAA and Lars "Evil Butt-Elf" Ulrich have won.  
Napster is turning into a pay service, most likely with a monthly fee.  Napster will
still be around, and it's still cheaper to get your music that way, but corporate 
America has taken its toll.  Thankfully, there are alternatives; MyNapster is the main
one right now, and you can be sure that there will be plenty more.  As for Metallica, 
Blink 182, Sheryl Crow, and all the other crybaby millionaires who sued Napster, we now 
know exactly how much they think about their fans.  We only exist to give them an 
adrenaline rush when they're on stage and line their pockets with our cash.  Reel Big 
Fish's words seem an appropriate way to sum up these "artists";

  "Sell out, with me oh yeah.  Sell out, with me tonight.  The record company's gonna
              give me lots a money and everything's gonna be alright ..."

      Fuck you, RIAA.  Fuck you, Lars Ulrich.  Fuck you, Blink 182.  And fuck anybody
who thinks they're better than the people that got them there.
	Stay Hungry.

---The Anarkist