RIAA sees Massive Layoffs, New Lawsuit
According to several reports, the Record Industry Association of America is laying off scores of employees.
Hypebot initially said there were somewhere in the range of 30 workers let go, but the site has no confirmed through its own sources that the number has grown to over 100. "It is about 90-100+ people across the US and global offices," said the anonymous source. "[The major labels] are squeezing the [expletive] out of these guys after the ISP failure and a major budget cut."
The ISP failure refers to the policy change made by the organization not too long ago. In December of last year, the RIAA announced that it would be dropping its five year old strategy of lawsuits against those it suspected of disseminating copyrighted information. Instead, it would put pressure on Internet service providers to cut off copyright violators. So far, that strategy has yet to be effective, and the lack of results isn't making the "Big Four" record companies (EMI, Sony BMG, Universal and Warner) happy.
"Can't confirm number but I can confirm there were layoffs," said RIAA spokesperson Cara Duckworth. "As you can imagine, the music community is not immune from the impact of these tough economic times."
The recession does have a hand in everything, but there's no doubt that the failed policies of the organization had some impact on the layoffs and impending restructuring. The anonymous source also said the RIAA (or what's left of it), might be rolled into the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), which already represents the Big Four on a worldwide level. That same organization is also going after The Pirate Bay over in Europe right now.
If layoffs and massive restructuring aren't enough, the RIAA is also facing a potential lawsuit. Shahanda Moursy of North Carolina is bringing the suit forward, alleging that the RIAA consistently engages in fraudulent litigation. "As part of this campaign of their sham litigation program, the [record labels] enhance the intimidation factor by actually filing suit in a number of instances with no prior warning," says the lawsuit. "These suits are designed to attract media attention, and often do, as stories emerge of suits against the elderly, disabled, technologically clueless, and other vulnerable victims."
Who knows if the lawsuit will actually make it to court, but the complaint's timing couldn't be worse for the RIAA. Combined with layoffs and possible absorption into the IFPI, the organization is certainly in hot water right now.
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I hope they won't stop the layoffs until only one person is left ... the door man!
This makes me smile. Another organization will pop up in its place if it really does end up going under, and I'll work on trashing that one.
We could be seeing the end of the record industry, lets hope the government doesn't step in and bail them out...
i hope they go the way of aig and citicorp. i heard that they could have resolved this issue long ago, by working deal with isp, instead they went to grab as much as they could and not work it out. i guess they thought it would be better have kids in jails or scared and get every penny over working it out where we all could share without being sued.
Normally I am saddened by the news of people getting laid off but damn does this sound so sweet.
What goes around comes around. This is brings a smile to my face. All of a sudden things just seem a tad bit brighter.
Is 100 people a massive layoff? Can Tom's actually put this # in perspective? How many people are employeed by the RIAA? Is this 50%, 10%, 2%?
I also highly doubt the senior execs (who are probably the ones people do and should hate) are being impacted and there may be significant number of 'low' level employees... in this day and age, I would not take delight in that as these may be people living week to week, have families, etc. Keep in mind there are honest people at the RIAA who are not part of the litigation business.
Just a thought...
Even in a bad economy, there are some people who I wouldn't spit on if they were on fire. Bill collectors, telemarketers, people who work office jobs for Wall Mart... You can find ways to support your family that don't involve screwing over or abusing everyone in your community. So, to those suffering from this lay off... I hope you freaking starve!
good riddance...
The RIAA used to be a technical body (RIAA eq) to standardize recording and playback techniques, but "evolved" to a legal litigation one - it seems to be the more profitable one...
We could be seeing the end of the record industry, lets hope the government doesn't step in and bail them out...
You'd have to differenciate publishers and artists in that statement. I don't think we'll see the end of artists even if the 'record industry' (as in publishers, producers and marketing guys) disappears. They're just the middlemen anyway, and most big companies by now have figured out that middlemen are not truely nessecary. Aldi has their own of almost everything, and save a lot on not having middlemen. And with the advent of reasonably fast internet in most countries, you would as an artist (music) not depend on those middlemen. You can buy adequate recording gear reasonably cheap, or rent it even cheaper, and publish stuff yourself over the internet virtually free of expense.
I don't know how the movie industry would work without the big labels, but imo those smaller local productions are actually often better than the big budget ones. Inferior visuals sure, but usually much more compelling storyline, and actors that actually care to do well.
I give it another 5 mins before they blame the layoffs on file-sharing peers.
Oh... Too late...
LOL, I luv it, Scr3w CORPORATE thieves! That's what they get when they legitimize or sanction stealing money from us! I wanna see them corporate out on the street!
TSM
Each and every person laid off now poses a threat to the RIAA. They have inside information about the company and they'd be willing to leak it. If one of you has damaging information don't hesitate to leak it
I hope the RIAA goes down like the Hindenburg ... or Monica Lewinsky.
this is great there loosing money and have to get rid of most of its workforce and to top it off they could be loosing more money (and im sure they will) from this lawsuit. RIAA will become the next SEC