Spitball Army

From Paste Magazine online:

By Paul J. Williams on September 17, 2008 11:07 AM

In the latest federal bailout of a failing business, Paste has obtained documents through the Freedom of Information Act wherein the RIAA requests an influx of capital to keep the music industry from collapsing.

According to the documents, attorneys for the Big 4 music companies argue that if the government is willing to take steps to protect Bear Stearns, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae and AIG, who are only suffering because of their own risky investments and bad decision making, then it should do the same for other poorly run businesses.

“Look, you want to talk about your subprime investments—we put out a new Mötley Crüe album. We put out a Jessica Simpson country album,” an industry attorney writes. “We believe those more than compare to any no-down-payment, no-credit-check packaged derivative when it comes to a stupid use of shareholder money.”

The filing states that, in much the same way segments of the financial sector refused to acknowledge market forces when considering potential buyouts and write-downs and invested in products it didn’t understand, the music industry consistently avoided properly pricing CDs and downloads and didn’t understand how the Internet changed its business landscape.

The RIAA also warns that if the music industry implodes, it could cause a ripple effect through the economy.

“If the music industry collapses, the next domino would be local FM radio. Do you know the fear and panic that would be caused by having 10,000 morning drive-time DJs out roaming the streets?”