The RIAA’s Karma Smells Like Ca-Ca
Karma score: 01/100
In a silly bit of propaganda posted on its website recently, the RIAA claims that persons who download the CD Hope for Haiti Now or the single “We Are the World 25 for Haiti” are undermining fund-raising efforts and virtually stealing porridge from the mouths of Haitian babies.
The aforementioned CD and single were recorded this year in an attempt to replicate the success of the original “We Are The World” single, which was released in 1985 and raised millions of dollars for humanitarian aid to Africa. Dozens of musicians and singers who participated in both projects waived their rights and performed free of charge.
The RIAA’s claim that downloading rips off Haitians is ca-ca on its face, but it becomes ca-ca squared when one realizes that charity singles such as “We Are The World” also raise heaps of money for the record industry and related businesses. Why isn’t this considered “stealing from Haitians”?
Columbia Records, for example, didn’t have to subsist on ramen following the release of the first “We Are The World” single, Besides, the performance rights to that tune, which still go cha-ching today, benefit the “copyright holders” not the people of Africa.
The RIAA isn’t saying how long the profits from the new Haiti single will actually go to Haiti, but we’d bet our karma against theirs that the music industry will get its pound of flesh regardless. Similarly, iTunes may give up its share of the profits for a few months, but it will profit from the single in perpetuity after that. As these examples demonstrate, reality is always more complicated than the RIAA pretends it to be.
The RIAA is also being dishonest when it equates every downloaded CD with a lost sale. Who can say that the person who downloads the entire Kenny G catalog in glorious FLAC was on his or her way out the door to buy those CDs when the devil appeared and said, “Don’t be a sucker. You can get that [stuff] of the Internet”?
Nevertheless, if you downloaded either Hope for Haiti Now or “We Are the World 25 for Haiti”—and your feelings are hurt because the RIAA called you a monster—donate the cost of the single or the CD to Doctors without Borders or to the REd Cross. Everybody knows that’s the most efficient way to help the Haitian people.
Today in Karma History
03/17/461
Saint Patrick, Christian missionary, bishop, and apostle of Ireland, died at Saul, Downpatrick, Ireland. Born in Great Britain, most likely in Scotland, Patrick was part of a well-to-do Christian family of Roman citizenship. At the age of sixteen he was captured and enslaved by Irish marauders.
Patrick worked as a herder in Ireland for the next six years. During that time he depended on a deepening religious faith for comfort. Following the counsel of a voice he heard in a dream one night, Patrick escaped and found passage on a ship to Britain, where he was eventually reunited with his family.
Some time later Patrick had another dream. This time an individual named Victoricus gave him a letter, entitled "The Voice of the Irish." As he read the letter, Patrick heard the voices of Irishmen pleading him to return to their country and to walk among them once more.
After studying for the priesthood, Patrick was ordained a bishop. He returned to Ireland in 433 and began preaching the gospel, converting thousands people, and building churches around the country. After forty years of living in poverty, teaching, traveling, and working tirelessly, Patrick died on March 17, 461, in Saul, where he had built his first church.
Much of what is known about Patrick's legendary life comes from the Confessio, a book he wrote during his last years.