RIAA= Recording Industry Association of America
When I made these pictures, I wanted to provide a satirical outlook on how the recording industry sees music pirates. The first picture, I added an eye patch to go with the evil expression. The main goal was to give an example of how the recording industry in America views people who download music. They make music downloader’s out to be some evil person who is doing it to destroy the industry and spite the artists who made the music.
The second picture was made to show how ridiculous the music industries punishments are. Actual pirates stole gold in the past, and physical goods today. Punishment they received fit the crime. In today’s world of internet music download, there is no possible way an illegally downloaded song could invoke damages into the thousands of dollars, even amounts over a few dollars is pushing it. I understand the industry wanting to protect itself, but at the same time, by ‘making examples’ of people they further infuriate those that download music.
My last picture is probably my favorite of the three. It shows a hand sinking into a pond holding a sword above it. This symbolizes the recording industries utter refusal to adapt to changing times. As the body (symbolizing the industry) sinks into the pond, it protects its sword (the legal department) until the very end. Even though you would think the industry would focus on other problems, such as why people are downloading songs instead of buying CD’s or paying .99-1.20 per song, they stand steadfast in their ways and continue their attack to the very end.
