Surely as college students, the decision to support or not support RIAA labels is a choice that we make weekly, and maybe even daily without even knowing. Spend your scare money on that album or find a link to illegally download it? Unfortunately, the former, legal, choice funds and supports an extremely greedy and unethical American corporation called the Recording Industry Association of America or RIAA. The RIAA was established in 1952. Originally, its intentions were to work with unions and to administer copyright fees. According to its website now, the purpose of the RIAA is to protect the intellectual property of artists and music labels, conduct research and review state and federal laws, regulations and policies (riaa.com). The RIAA is also responsible for certifying record label sales. This would be fine if the RIAA didn't use its mission as a smoke screen to cover both avarice and unethical tactics. The RIAA does not truly care about artists. Boycotting RIAA labels would force the association to make changes or even dissolve altogether, allowing artists to create more freely and fans to obtain music on more platforms.
Most, but not all of the RIAA's poor ethics are derived from the issue of piracy or 'theft' of music. The RIAA states that the cumulative effects of music theft are disastrous, listing the number of jobs and money lost as a result of the rise of the Internet. The RIAA and it's supporters would remind people that piracy is illegal and that the association take proper action against it "to support and protect" the artist. These losses could be looked at the product of structural change to the market. This is the type of change however, that doesn't want to be accepted because it involves the loss of money. The idea that the RIAA is only functioning to protect the rights of artists is false. While piracy is illegal, the RIAA's actions against it are absurd and more beneficial to the association than it is to artists or listeners.
