Hi RIAA,

Just wanted to let you know that I'm still not buying any of your music. I've been seeing other record labels (Magnatune, Positron Records, Metropolis Records). Oh, I know, you're still claiming you're protecting the artists, but I have a real hard time believing this when you're suing a company for damages of $150,000 per song (RIAA Goes for the Max Against AllofMP3) while at the same time trying to lower artist royalties for stuff like ringtones (RIAA Wants Artist Royalties Lowered). I know this is all in the interest of the artists and all, but wouldn't it be better to license the music legally to AllOfMP3, and use the profits from that to help keep up the artist royalties? Maybe if you didn't spend all of that money suing elderly women who don't even know what filesharing is (y'know, lawyers are expensive), you'd be able to spend more on artist development, and give them the ability to make more and better music.

See, there's this theory out there that if you treat your customers with respect, and give them more avenues to purchase your product, then people will respect you, and purchase more of your product. It's a win-win situation, and all it takes is a change in attitude. That's all.

Recently I was tempted in purchasing a subscription to EMusic. See, they have this radical concept: subscribe to the service per month, download the unencumbered MP3s (DRM is bad, m'kay) and that's it. It's pretty cool because some of your members are already releasing music in this way (Nettwerk, for starters, who seem to be the only major label that "gets it"). This gives people what they want (great music at a great price), and gives your artist what they want (more exposure for their music).

So, please stop the insanity and start realizing that your customers want to give you money for your product. You're only hurting yourself.