Eliot Spitzer

Can’t they send someone to jail?  Maybe Donnie Ienner?  Or Charlie Walk?

Or how about a really big fish.  Clive Davis.  Operating like a Mafia kingpin, having all his henchmen do the work, making like he’s untouchable.

Ten million dollars?  A drop in the bucket?

Gonna eliminate pay for play?

No way.

Then again, everyone’s leaving the building but the major labels and terrestrial radio stations involved in this circle jerk.

I mean the RIAA talks about justice.  Put bootleggers in jail.  Sue file-traders til it HURTS!

I agree physical duplication/piracy is a crime that the perpetrators should pay for.  But, in those cases, the perps are put out of business, put in jail, made to pay so badly that they wouldn’t even THINK of running this scam again.  As for file-traders?  What’s $11,000 to a college student?  Well, the difference between having to drop out of school to pay the judgment or continuing to be educated so he can live a more fruitful life as a contributing member of society.

Ten MILLION?  What is that, gross on a Celine Dion album?  TODAY?  A mere FRACTION of what Sony made shoving Celine Dion albums down our throat?

There’s no personal liability.  Just a shrug of the shoulders and this miniscule payment.

I mean what’s more heinous.  Criminals duplicating the lame hits the major labels sell or these same labels changing the cultural landscape of our great country, making us listen to their crappy priorities?

Who’s gonna give me back decades of radio listening?  Who’s gonna pay for the worthless FM radio in my car?  Who’s going to compensate ME for enduring Sony’s negative impact on my life?  How can these people be STOPPED?

By making the time fit the crime.  Yup, send somebody up the river.  THAT’LL scare you.  How many famous people are trading on insider tips TODAY?  After Martha Stewart?  Sure, that’s not what she ultimately went to jail for, but they got Al Capone on tax evasion, don’t forget.

Makes me sick.  This judgment means almost nothing.  Just another business outsider being snookered by insiders.  The major labels have insidious practices that they hide under the aegis of bringing joy to people.  Well, I’ve got to tell you, I got no joy from hearing all those lame divas Sony shoved down my throat for the last decade and a half, the success of whom led OTHER labels to release the work of equally vapid trillers.  Payment?  How about if the diva of MY choice comes to MY house, drops my pants and shows ME a little love.  Then MAYBE!

And it’s not only the divas, we’ve got the rappers too.  If this was the music EVERYBODY wanted, wouldn’t it do a bit better LIVE?

The whole musical landscape has been perverted by pay for play/independent promotion practices and the ultimate settlement is TEN MILLION DOLLARS?

Makes me puke.

This is a read-only blog. E-mail comments directly to Bob.