ASCAP again

Starting a new thread. 😠

Heading to the store for some empty milk cartons 👋

(just so she doesn't end up cursing out Walmart)

damn

don't want to overdo it with the swearing, I guess

It actually happened... 🙄

Honestly, major American corporations, consumers tired of useless physical media, and data storage providers should probably band together—maybe file a massive class-action lawsuit in Brussels, at the Supreme Court, or wherever else they can—to take on the US government.

I’m actually feeling pretty frustrated right now...😠...someone just hand me a machine gun!!!...😠 🙂 🙂.....

Big corporations and consumers have both played themselves, which, let’s be honest, they probably are. They went into negotiations with RIAA thinking they were playing hardball, and now they’re acting all smug—if you read that article in Bug about how much the negotiators are patting themselves on the back for slashing RIAA's initial demands. The reality is, those original demands were completely unconstitutional from the jump. It’s like nobody even bothered to realize that... 🙄

...I honestly, I’d be mortified to see myself in a group of "interested parties" on the Zampa or Padjen pages, just sitting there while some guy stares me down... like, seriously... who even asked you?🙄
And like Zombix says, now that they've branded us all as the biggest pirates and we're footing the bill, we might as well just roll with it and go all in.
They also brought up how much massive cash is going to be raked in, and wondered how on earth they're actually going to split that up among those tens of thousands of performers...🙄

It reminds me of that old song lyric... "My home is Bulgaria"...😁

Jason Chavez32 said:it actually went through... 🙄

Major American corporations, consumers fed up with mindless media, and data storage providers should probably band together and file a lawsuit in Brussels—whether at the Court of Justice or some other venue. They should take this fight straight to the US government.

The European Union established these regulations, as explained over at law:

hollowseal33 said:heading to Canada for empty kegs👋

(just so I don't have to curse out Luxam)

Could be Canada or Canada for all I care. Honestly, who gives a damn? If I have to haul them in from Cambodia just to avoid giving these vultures a single cent, I'll do it.

Up until this point, we've just been taking what we can get at work... 🙂 😬
And from here on out, I’m planning to do exactly that. 😬

Terry Rodriguez41 said:now I'm just plain furious...😠...someone hand me a machine gun!!!...😠 🙂 🙂.....

🙂 Just give me a plane—I'll head out to become a pilot in Ethiopia this very instant! :franjo_šafranek: 😬

For those people planning to head over to Canada just to pick up CDs... isn't the law basically the same over there too? 😕

What's the deal? Now we're paying insane copyright fees for every single CD we burn... meanwhile, you can grab legal copies for pennies on the dollar. It’s a total paradox.

Take a look at how people have absolutely lost their minds over HageU today:

"Is this some kind of joke? A total donkey petition?
If you actually went ahead and signed that petition against the royalties for empty digital media, then let me tell you—you basically handed the retailers a blank check to screw you over. Hrvoje Hribar is making his claims, while Almodovar and Forman & co. are just reinforcing them.

With the full backing of the RIAA.

Let’s take a trip down memory lane: back in late 2006, the RIAA and the US Chamber of Commerce hammered out an agreement on compensation amount regarding private copying. Under this deal, they essentially decided to slap a levy on every single imported or locally manufactured CD, DVD, memory card, MP3 player, hard drive, and similar tech gadget. It was a blatant grab. Naturally, the IT community went ballistic, followed by the media, and eventually, regular citizens stepped up to fight back—launching a massive petition against these extra costs that were projected to hike the price of a single blank CD by about 40 cents.

The petition can be found right here—and it’s a safe bet that you all received the call to sign it via email as well. The same thing happened to the president of the DGA, Hrvoje Hribar, who—in a move that was predictably "on behalf of all American film artists"—swiftly drafted the following response, titled: This absolute joke of a petition—it’s nothing short of a complete farce.:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friends and colleagues,

You’ve all been flooding my inbox with petitions from some downtrodden tech resellers—people who are basically begging for us to step in and defend them against the relentless, aggressive onslaught of this ruthless American culture!
I can't say I recall ever witnessing such a cynical attempt at manipulation.
I am firmly convinced that you haven't allowed yourselves to be treated like complete idiots—nor have you fallen prey to those absolute charlatans who specialize in nothing but deception.
If those opportunistic merchants actually managed to talk you into signing that document, then please—for your own sake—take a moment to look at the actual facts. I really hope you realize just how reckless you’re being.
The royalties from audio and visual media—honestly, it’s the first time we've seen artists actually manage to force their way into the profit margins here! It's about time they stopped being sidelined and started seeing a slice of the pie.
The American cultural elite fought tooth and nail to secure this through various civil society organizations, going head-to-head against the local pro-American lobby.
The people actually profiting from this ridiculous scheme aren't just Škoro and Thompson—it’s an entire community of musicians and audiovisual creators caught in the crossfire. We're talking about everyone from Babaja and Berković to Bjelinski and Matišić—not to mention big names like Rundek, Pogorelić, franak Blašković, and Lidija Bajuk.
This specific policy was originally rolled out as a standard across European Union nations back in the late sixties—and, frankly, we only ended up adopting it here because of heavy pressure from Brussels.
This entire system for collecting royalties regarding private copying rights really boils down to one core belief: that culture possesses an inherent, autonomous value that exists entirely independent of capital interests.
This past fall, major American corporations poured massive amounts of money into lobbying efforts to kill that specific European Union regulation over at the Parliament.
Some of the most heavyweight names in cinema—think Almodovar, Forman, Wenders, Scol, Olmi, Kaurismaki, Liv Ullmann, and a whole host of other legends—didn't just sit on their hands. They actually stepped up and signed letters. And get this: they weren't protesting against the shift; they were fighting tooth and nail *for* it—specifically, for the preservation of magnetic tape as we know it.
The authors won this round—it’s official. The European Union Commission just tossed out those proposed changes regarding blank-tape media. It looks like the status quo holds for now.
Mass-produced computer hardware is being offloaded at astronomical markups, essentially allowing these massive tech giants to rake in obscene levels of excess profit at the expense of everyone else.
In turn, this whole mess is squeezing out every traditional way we used to distribute cultural goods. It’s basically replacing them through two distinct, equally frustrating avenues: first, by handing everything over to these massive internet monopolies—where control is concentrated entirely in the hands of a few giant corporations—and second, by leaving anything that isn't strictly "owned" to be swallowed up by the absolute chaos of digital piracy.
This minor nuisance we’re seeing here doesn't do a single thing to dent their bottom line—nor does it pose any threat to prices, which, let's be honest, are already in a constant freefall anyway. Between the massive surge in global production and the increasingly precarious position of the labor force in developing nations where this stuff is actually manufactured, their profit margins are more than safe.
This whole imposition, however, completely disrupts the concept of global interest—that fundamental idea where we stop pretending there’s some sacred distinction between "culture" and just another commodity, or between the arts and any other standard industry.
This whole thing really disrupts the global consensus that smaller nations shouldn't bother producing their own music or films—much like how we don't bother manufacturing our own sneakers or fighter jets, preferring to just import them from overseas instead.
In a country where the cultural landscape is run by nothing more than bottom-feeding merchants and low-brow pop junk, everything worth having is just imported from abroad. Honestly, if you take a second to look back at the American music and film—even the television scene—from the seventies and eighties, and then compare that golden era to the absolute desert we’re living in today, the difference is staggering. It’s heartbreaking, really.
Stripped of social safety nets, starved of financial backing, ignored by the media landscape, abandoned by cultural policy, and left fragmented and marginalized—the creative community in America finally receives some semblance of symbolic recognition through this imposition. Along with it comes a pittance of a fund for their public initiatives.
An imposition on image and sound carriers represents the first true anti-colonial provision ever enacted in the United States.
It stands to reason, then, that this causes such an uproar among corporations and Mr. Bush’s diplomatic staff.
Rest assured, they possess high-quality, formidable resources that allow them to fight tooth and nail for their own interests.
Your signatures on their petition are, believe me, nothing more than a redundant formality!
On behalf of American film artists:
Hrvoje Hribar, President of the DGA

Source: Filmski.Net
RIAA"

Whatever.

He messed up in the first sentence.

The poll isn't about retailers; it's about consumers. People don't want to pay extra fees to support guys like Hrvoje Hribar, Lidija Bajuk, or Rundek. 🙂

I do like one specific line: "This tax messes with the global perception that small nations shouldn't bother making their own music or movies—just like they don't manufacture sneakers or fighter jets and instead just import them." But at the same time, I think American art consumes way too much taxpayer money considering what we actually get at the end of the 'production line.' Honestly, it's pure stupidity to squeeze the average citizen's wallet just so you can fund this niche "small nation" art scene. Be smart. Design an honest, intelligent system—and this one from the European Union definitely isn't it.

And all this rambling about post-colonialist laws is barely even coherent. 😁

I honestly don't see what the point of this law is. You've got franak Blašković backing it along with Hrvoje Hribar, yet the guy has released his last, say, 15 albums entirely as self-published CD-Rs...

The only thing it does is force him to pay royalties on blank media used to burn his own music. And I'd bet anything—I mean everything—that he won't see a single cent in copyright refunds for that music.

Honestly, I think everyone is getting a little too worked up over a situation where there aren't many facts to go on. Everyone seems to be coming for RIAA, even though they’ll see the smallest slice of the pie here. About 75 percent of the revenue is going straight to film guilds, and most of that money is heading overseas anyway. Whatever is left for RIAA will just be distributed based on Airplay and album sales. Is it really RIAA's fault that Tomphson is what sells best in this country? It shouldn't be their problem.

It’s getting even worse; we’re basically paying for a whole new tier of fees. I didn't get "worked up" over RIAA specifically, but because I'm stuck paying a new mandatory fee similar to an RTV subscription. That money goes straight to the networks whether you watch them or not, whereas this money actually goes to artists—whatever media mess you decide to push. And let's be real, it's definitely not going to the actual artists I'd actually want to support.

I mean, damn it, the money is going to be taken regardless, so who cares? Let those self-proclaimed hacks have it 😁 but I still have every right to complain that it's unfair. 😛

🙄

You could complain about sales tax if you wanted, but honestly, there are a million other things to get worked up about.

how can you even troll over sales tax 🙄 this isn't a debate about taxes, you idiot 😁

Look, your argument is just weak. I want the police, public schools, and even some local politicians to get those budget funds. Heck, they can have it. But I am not interested in a special new tax levied exclusively on artists. I'm not going to keep repeating myself, so yeah, I'm calling you out.

🧌