One of the problems with the RIAA’s constant complaints about piracy and how it hurts the artist is that it’s an advocacy group for an industry that its own artists aren’t necessarily big fans of. For some insight into this, read the former frontman of Too Much Joy’s account of how his band gets ripped off (“In five years, our three albums earned us a grand total of… $62.47. What the f*ck?”).
On the other hand, at least the RIAA tries to disguise the way it loads the deck in its favor, and rarely flat out steals. The same cannot be said for the Brazilian copyright group ECAD:
“They were caught basically appropriating money that should go to the artists to pay the directors,” Lemos told us. “They were losing money even with all their fees. In spite of that, they voted to take money that was retained in the collecting societies and pay the directors a bonus.”
It gets better: they also stand accused of price-fixing. So, take heart. As bad as the American music industry can be…elsewhere it’s a whole lot worse.