RADIOHEAD vs. the RIAA

Torrentfreak.com reports that Radiohead will testify against the Recording Industry Association of America, in defense of Boston University student and file sharer Joel Tenenbaum. The debate over filesharing has been raging for years, with lobby groups like the RIAA accusing small parties of stealing while being accused of underpaying their own artists, withholding royalties, suppressing technology, price fixing, and more. The RIAA frequently argues that filesharing and piracy hurts labels and artists and will be the death of the industry, but Radiohead's history of giving away music for free and still sucessfully making millions says otherwise.

This year, KSUB began distinguishing between new independent and RIAA-affiliated rotations. As music director, I hoped that starting this practice would give a boost to bringing new sounds to KSUB, which would also support independent artists when we report to CMJ. Although DJs are not required to play independent rotations, distinguising between RIAA-affiliates and independant artists helps our DJs explore new music when they don't have time to sort through everything themselves.