Please let us share your views and experiences as "digital consumers". Send us your comments!

First Name
Last Name
Are you …	consumer artist politician other
Message

Olaf Beckman	consumer	2006-01-25
Hi, How about stressing the fact that record and movie companies are actually MONOPOLIES as a single movie or song can only be purchased from one single vendor. How about coming up with some ideas for breaking this monopoly by, for example, forcing them to allow any company to resell a song or movie.
Malcolm Powell	consumer	2006-01-17
It seems that music and film distributors are either highly inefficient or they are profiteering. Downloaded material should be very very much cheaper than the same content on physical media as there are much lower manufacturing and distribution costs. Of course, the same should have been true of DVDs verses VHS tapes. Tapes are much more expensive to produce and, at about twice the weight and volume of DVDs more expensive to distribute. The industry has a lot learn from P2Ps about how to be more efficient and/or less greedy.
Lynn	artist	2006-01-04
Hi I'm a music producer/record company who has already started my own small campaign against all the draconian issues that you have highlighted on your site. I have explained a way that can solve all of the current industry problems, such as copyright, plagiarism and piracy in an article on the home page of my site.. www.wobblymusic.net There is a link at the end of the article to my petition. I have considered DRM in the protection of the music I record for my artists. At the moment I don't use any form of DRM or protection on the music I sell. Consumers of my music are free to do whatever they want with it on a personal or non-commercial level. The only use I can see for DRM within my own business plan is merely to reduce the number of times a free sample download can be played. However, until an all-platform standard file format is agreed for global use, I probably wont use any form of DRM. Furthermore, the artists signed to my label are not restricted by exclusive binding contracts. They are free to help with the promotion and sale of their records, including making deals with other publishers, distributors, and sub-contractors. I am also in complete opposition to the use of territories. My releases are distributed on the internet only, making them a global release from day one. What's more, they are available at the same price, wherever in the World the consumer is buying from. Also, I have no intention of restricting sales from my catalogue. Once a recording is officially released, it will be available online forever. Please visit my site, or feel free to email me for more information. I would very much appreciate being involved in some way with your campaign. Kind regards, Lynn Wobbly Music "Supporting the Mature Artist" ============================= http://www.wobblymusic.net Latest Release... "Friends" by John McKeon Order your copy now and get 2 FREE bonus tracks! http://www.johnmckeon.wobblymusic.net
what? yeah??	artist	2005-12-26
well iam not with riaa like me there are other artist , stop buying riaa cd;s they looking at you as thieves and slaves why slaves? because you work to pay for some thing that is crap u has no right of buck ups, u can make as many buck up for you is something u pay for it right? stop feeding those bus+++ stop buying sony music products and all other staff from them , look for alternatives thanks
Esa Laitinen	consumer	2005-12-02
I agree with you in most parts, but this one means I cannot sign: "That industry desist from legal action against P2P downloaders to allow the market to find solutions for the on-line development of audio/visual distribution that takes due account of the public interest and the interest of artists, creators and performers; " p2p sharers indeed distribute already vast amounts of music and other copyrighted content. This has nothing to do with individual's right to copy the content he has bought. True, industry should (and probably will) develop methods to benefit from p2p explosion, but this kind of wholesale distribution is stealing.
Mike Sheppy	consumer	2005-11-26
If Internet music download and copying is only for personal consumption then it should be made legal. Let the recording companies go for the 'big boys' who copy music for commercial gain and leave individuals and file-sharing websites alone. Their 'bully boy' tactics are a desperate measure to protect their highly profitable market which has 'ripped off' consumers for decades.
roman picha	consumer	2005-11-25
von einem freund habe ich ihre cd „der verbraucher in der digitalen welt“ bekommen. im zugehörigen booklet ist unter punkt 4 zu lesen, dass es derzeit nicht möglich ist, ein musikstück bei itunes zu erwerben, ohne über einen ipod zu verfügen. mir gelingt es trotzdem ohne ipod problemlos, musikstücke über itunes (mit windows- und apple-computer) zu erwerben, am computer abzuspielen und auf cd zu kopieren. hingegen erfordert die benutzung der msn-plattform ein windows-betriebssystem und weitere microsoft software, wovon in ihrem booklet aber nichts zu lesen ist. schöne grüße, roman picha
alistair corr	consumer	2005-11-19
I think people should be legally allowed to copy cd's purchased by them to give to their friends. It should be legal only if the individual is making no profit from it. It is a great way to share music with friends and then most people will buy an "official" cd i they like it anyway.
Mats Elfving	consumer	2005-11-18
Hi! How about a counter showing how many people there is currently supporting the campaign? Best regards /Mats
Jack Sparrow Captain	other	2005-11-16
please don't use the term "piracy", when you mean the violation of copyrights. because piracy implies the use of weapons against people. copying cds (even in large numbers) will nerver kill or cause any injuries. using this term is criminalizing a lot of harmless people.
dan golan	consumer	2005-11-16
here in israel, i have to pay a little extra on cd-rs but then i can burn for my own use. its okay if i burn for my self. but if i burn to a friend and give him music/dvds and he reports on me, i can sit in jail for a long time! thats dumb. plus, we have a new idea. 1 shekel = 1 mp3 song! so cheap , i actually use it. only from israeli artists. its gr8. and i can make as many copies as i want. that rules
Subioli Paolo	consumer	2005-11-15
In the 70s I purchased records of artists like Pink Floyd, Clash, Talkin Heads and so on. So I paid their intellectual propriety rights to them. Now I can listen their music only in digital format. Why have I to pay again?
Randle Michael	consumer	2005-11-15
I'm relieved to find that someone is mounting a challenge against the big corporations who seem to be able to do whatever they want. Corporations that bend laws or influence the making of new laws, in order to gain advantages over the consumer. For example, listening to a copied CD is a more serious crime than than assaulting someone's person. Corporations that install virus programs on your computer and justify it by claiming that they need to because their customers are thieves. Unfortunately, I doubt very much whether the corporations can be made to behave ethically. They have far too much of a foothold in governments around the world. I, myself, am taking action as a consumer. I used to be a dedicated Sony purchaser but, due to that company's recent underhand antics, I will now never buy anything Sony, including electrical equipment and audio-visual software. No hardship really; their product quality has declined significantly now they seem to be concentrating their energies on worldwide litigation. I wish you luck. Michael
van den Hurk Ansje	consumer	2005-11-14
I think the ideal solution is simply to put ALL music that was/is/will be made on the internet for people to buy (at different prices) and without the restrictions as the ones mentioned on this site. Maybe the musicians should be selling their music themselves this way if they'd want to.
Donati Gigi	consumer	2005-11-13
Finally ... ... someone concerned about the rights of the consumers and the citizens rather than the paychecks of the multi-nationals CEOs! We seriously need something like the EFF in Europe. You should have a simple direct way to become a member / donate (via credit card) to support your efforts. I'd do it right now if I could find how to do it. Keep figthing
Timan Marten	artist	2005-11-13
Hi my name is Marten Timan, also from the Netherlands. As a musician I always wanted people to hear my music: the more the merrier (check it out by the way on www.wevsdeath.nl). But as it is now it is illegal to share music since it is fully copyrighted from the moment you created it. I setup this "database" what Jack was talking about earlier this year. It is a place where ANY musician can upload their stuff (just has to be his own and not somebody else's) under a Creative Commons license, stating that anyone can freely download and spread their music. Check it out on www.simuze.nl. Right now it's only dutch but will be translated early next year. Hope this helps a bit. For a bit of background on how and why I started Simuze read my thesis on the subject of 'Open Content and the music industry' on this link: http://simuze.nl/live/media/docs/mtiman_thesis.pdf It's in english and if you like it you can use it in your docs section (just mention my name or link the site). Keep up the good work! Cheers, Marten
Elfving Mats	consumer	2005-11-13
Remove quantification! An artist isn't twice as good just for selling albums in two countries instead of one, yet, the reward becomes doubled! Easy duplication of information is the media buissiness advantage but also it's disadvantage. One way to remove the quantification is for the media industry to sell one master copy to the consumers. The copy is then free to copy for everyone! The price will become a couple of millions for every song, but it's split among interested consumers in a yet to be invented manner. Best regards /Mats Elfving
Andersson Anders	artist	2005-11-13
I don't earn any royalties on my "artistic" or "literary" creations, but I still consider copyright important to everyone, not just the entertainment industry. Even as the sole author of this short comment, I enjoy the legal rights to it, and I won't benefit in any way from whatever DRM system is invented by the industry to "protect" their creations alone, while mine are available for any reader to dissect. If I ever produce anything to be distributed by others, even a mere interview, I'll demand (by force of my copyright) that it NOT be encumbered by any kind of "copy protection" whatsoever, since that would violate my moral rights. I guess that may rule out a number of TV channels using scrambling techniques to keep out non-paying viewers, but so be it... I don't even own a CD player, but merely an old (vinyl record) grammophone! Thus there is little chance I'll "violate" any modern CD copy protection mechanism even by accident. Now let's see what I can do when digital TV arrives in my cable!
H F	consumer	2005-11-12
As a person not running Windows, Linux or MacOS I can't play any DRM-protected music or watch DVD's. Open formats is the only way!
Voogt Jack	consumer	2005-11-12
There is a club called SONT in The Netherlands. They want extra author rights on MP3 players and harddisks. This could make the price of those machines higher, up to 55 Euro per item. To keep SONT alive they keep 40 % !! The other 60 % goes to the record company. Most artists have a contract that they earn 5 % of every sale. So, of each 100 Euro only 3 Euro goes to the artist, who is in fact the owner of the author rights. Why not do the following ? Like in the coffee and banana trade, in The Netherlands we have eliminated the in-between-trade. This is called the "Max Havelaar" principle. Fair trade between artist, record company and consumer. Why not install one big database where really every artist has its music ever produced. Consumers can download the product from the internet and burn it on disc, or do that in a shop. Everything for a reasonable price. Since there is no "in-between-trade" 50 % of the money can go to the record company and 50 % to the artist. Besides: it doesn't matter wether a product is downloaded once evry ten years or once every ten seconds. Its available through the database, so there is no investment costs for making discs, covers, logistics, etc. Fair trade for artists makes consumers happy and willing to pay.
mooten pieter	consumer	2005-11-11
We pay royalties on blank CD and DVD disks, yet the RIAA does not want us to copy CD's and DVD's. So, either way, no royalties on blank CD's and DVD's or allow us to copy.
Biondi Morra Giacomo	consumer	2005-11-11
SIMPLY 1. do as for radio stations : a compulsory license so that everybody can license the whole catalogue easily for a determined price 2. do an all-including monthly/yearly fee of 5 EUR per month to allow consumers to use whatever music or video as they please in the format they like 3. do anonymous statistics on content usage so that royalties are paid fairly to artists and rights owners it is that simple and everybody will be happy "He who fights the future has a dangerous ennemy", Soeren Kierkegaard
Arkley Patrick	consumer	2005-11-11
I just want them to realise that we want their music and films but to an affordable prices and via any possible channel. This of course includes Internet as one of the primary distribution channels. Internet will probably be very cost-effective to them as well. Patrick Arkley www.say-no.se
Blom Remy	other	2005-11-11
Hi, I think this initiative is great! We NEED this! What about banners and buttons provided by the site to use to promote this site? As a webdesigner/webmaster of many sites I would love to include a link to this site.
Kine Daniel	consumer	2005-11-11
I would like to support artists directly just the way I support programmers of Shareware Software by donating money. If the artists would freely distribute their work and place hints to how I can donate, I would be able to express my appreciation. And the artists would be liberatet from "getting a record deal".
chino	consumer	2005-11-11
I buy cd games for my son and when those cds get scratch, guess what ? I have to buy the same cd again, just beacuse I can not copy it. Many people are in this position and that should be illegal too.
N Mitch	consumer	2005-11-11
It's ridiculous to me that the Music Industry will go about prosecuting anyone that downloads music saying that what they are doing is wrong, black and white, wrong; then they contend that the limitations and controls placed on media that we buy can't be labeled as restrictions on consumers' rights because it's not a black and white issue.
Fustinoni Alberto	consumer	2005-11-10
What you are doing is absolutely right. DRM and the fuss about copyright nowadays is NOT meant to give artists their revenue: is about erasing the notion of "fair use" itself and allowing media distributors to charge us multiple times for the same content. Needless to say, this is unacceptable and should be banned by law. If anything, I think you should add an "action center" section, like the one found at eff.org, with links and an easy way to mail our parliament members, both EU and national. I also think you should do whatever possible to get these issues covered by mainstream media, not only by tech/IT/"geeky" press, in order to rasise awareness. If the "general public" is made aware of the changes and laws pushed by the media industry and their true meaning, it will be much harder for governments to subsidize them at the expense of everybody else.
S Jake	artist	2005-11-10
It seems less and less now adays that DRM actually stands for "Digital Rights Management". They should change the acronym to "Digital Restrictions Management"
Evans W	other	2005-11-10
I'm a librarian in the US. This is a great site. I suggest you mention the uses of Creative Commons as well. http://creativecommons.org/ Thanks, W
Steen Andreas	consumer	2005-11-10
If you don't know about the issue I sincerely suggest reading up on the DRM SONY has used on the distribution of a lot of new products over in the states.. it's not in EU yet but it's horrible.. if you do a search on sony + rooktik I'm sure something will come up :) best regards
ali bengali	other	2005-11-10
i used to buy vinyl-records and occasionaly a vhs-tape until the industry started to criminalize their customers. now i'm not buying anything anymore but i enjoy stealing all the music and movies i'd like. i can really recommend it. if the industry says you're a criminal - go act like one and steal all their stuff. even the stuff you really like and you'd probably even paid for - if the money wasn't going to the real criminals. so my point is support your local dealer, support independant musicians and filmmakers but don't you ever give a dime to the industry that wants you in jail.
Murphy David	other	2005-11-10
You should make a little graphic that links to the petition, like the "support this campaign" picture to the left, and provide the html so people can copy-paste it into their websites and blogs.
Eggert Denis	other	2005-11-10
Companies should finally start building business models to bring added values to the consumer instead of spending vast amounts of money on DRM. The consumer, not the content, should be king ;) Digital Music Services, Digital Rights Management & Alternativen: Bestandsaufnahme, Analyse und Perspektiven des Deutschen Marktes" (ISBN: 3897331330)
van Gennip Serg	artist	2005-11-10
As an artist I encounter several problems: Many vendors have technologies hostile to other vendors technologies. In fact MS was found guilty on illegal practices but this resulted not in a real change of the situation. As an artist I try to distribute video files that runs on several platforms and I am hindered by these hostilities. The European Copyright Directive defines levvies on blank media to compensate artists for their copyrights. The current situation is that organised members in the industry, that have an almost 100% monopoly, exclude independent artists from their fair share of these levives. With 2500 hours of downloaded music a month for wich I own copyright, I think I am entitled a fair share of these levvies. Regards, Serg van Gennip http://www.serg.vangennip.com
Luyten Tom	consumer	2005-11-10
What about copy protection schemas who prhobithit you to install some legal software on your pc? Likea download manager (getright) or Daemon Tools? Who are 'they' to say what you can or can't install on your pc? I bought F.E.A.R. weeks ago and I can't play it without some major uninstalling or using some illegal tools. Or I uninstall a lot of 'legal' software, or I disable my virtual drive (Daemon tools) in device manager, hide it with some (illegal) securom hiding tool), disable getright and run F.E.A.R. in a win2k comp. mode. Who about that? Since when do these companies make it easier to download an illegal game than buying it and try to play it legally? Kind regards, Tom
Gröver Christoph	consumer	2005-11-10
Finally ! I have waited for consumer right orgranizations to react to the industry trying to limit what I can do with the products I have paid for. It's really strange. If I buy a book I can read it at home or in a public library or in a bus. I can even read it to many people or lend it to all my friends. Also I can set fire to it to warm me up in winter. The music industry should in my opinion not be allowed to limit the ways I use my CDs or DVDs. For me the usual way to use my CDs is: I rip the CD and encode it to MP3 or Ogg and use my laptop (running Linux) to listen to the music I have paid for. When I (accidentally) buy a CD with some copy protection on it, I return it to the shop. I have some CDs bought from Ebay/Amazon or from a shop in another town which I cannot return. I cannot rip them (and I am not allowed to do so) and cannot play it on my computers (which all run Linux). So they are of no use to me, although I have paid for it. The consequence of this is: I can better download the songs from the internet and not pay for them, because that way I _can_ listen to them. That's quite the opposite of what the industry wanted to achieve. I think the consumers should fight for a right that forbids any copy protection but that forbids any commercial copying. I have the examples of some french consumers: I was really pleased with the french judges decisions. BTW, I live in germany. Will there be a german version of the website ? Thanks for your efforts.
lehr oleg	consumer	2005-11-10
please make your site in german, i can so bad english. thx :)
Meister Jan	consumer	2005-11-10
Hello, First, sorry for my bad English ;) So I'm a Webmaster of Anime & Manga Sites. We wrote many articles and have many Informations about a serie. So many users ask for multimedia (example: Intro/Outro of the serie). So in Germany it was say that we don't allowed to publish this "fan-service". Is this true? Or give it some extra posibilities? Also we have a Community about AMV (Anime Music Videos). That is you have a Anime Footage and cut it with a song to a Music Video. Is this illegal to publish? We have now no downloads of this, but we would like to publish this files as Free-Webdownload. Is this legal or Illegal? Thx
Jens Meyer	consumer	2005-11-10
In GERMANY the GEMA organization collects enormous amounts of money from the consumers for every single CD/DVD writer, printer, CD/DVD writing medium (17 Euro Cent for a single DVD+R !!!) sold. And still they are crying and enforcing the prosecution of the so called "criminals". And our politicians only serve the industrial lobby instead of serving their people !