Hillary Rosen Chimes In Again, About 5 Years Too Late

from the what-took-you-so-long? dept

Since quitting as head of the RIAA, Hillary Rosen’s made comments a few times showing a total change of heart about the need for the music business to change its business models to thrive, rather than try to maintain the status quo by bullying consumers with DRM and suing file-sharers. She’s done it again, saying that the RIAA’s lawsuits are useless and that the industry needs to embrace technology rather than run scared from it. It’s not as if these issues have changed drastically since she left the record labels’ lobby group, so it’s hard to understand what’s made her completely turn around her views. Again, we’re left with one question — why didn’t she say any of this when she was running the RIAA? Its policies and actions during that time only made a bad situation worse, and not only frustrated consumers, but hurt the record labels.


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Comments on “Hillary Rosen Chimes In Again, About 5 Years Too Late”

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12 Comments
Chip says:

Better Late than Never

Perhaps she simply grew to understand that her position was incorrect. I applaud her for reaching the correct conclusion, one that is obvious to many here, but unfortunately seems like a great stretch to others. Perhaps one of the reasons she is no longer the head of the RIAA is that she started to feel that the solution was not ‘improved’ DRM or was a new business model, and was pressured/forced to leave. One person, even if they are the head of the RIAA, is not going to change this ideology overnight. I think that this is an individual who has come to appreciate an inevitability over the course of time, and I think this is very much to this woman’s credit!

Moneyguy says:

Why didn't she say ...?

I’ll be the first to admit that money isn’t everything, but is this really a serious question: “…why didn’t she say any of this when she was running the RIAA?”

When your paycheck is based on touting the company line, you say what you’re told to say. (Which is one reason why I run my own business.) I don’t think Ms. Rosen would have been long for the position if she spoke out against the RIAA propaganda while working for them.

I wouldn’t have a problem with this if she still held the belief that the RIAA’s position was the correct one. After all, people of good conscious often disagree.

Then there is the possibility that she has since changed her mind, but it reminds me of one of my favorite quotes and one I strive to live by:

“The truth of the matter, is that you always know the right thing to do. The hard part is doing it.”

General Norman H. Schwarzkopf

Anonymous Coward says:

After her change of heart she may have realized that she couldnt make any real changes on the inside of the RIAA so she left.

Or perhaps her first thought was to get a safe distance away from the RIAA before making a move. We all know that that corporation would have easily destryoed her if she had tried to stay and fight from within.

If Darth Vader’s last actions in Return of the Jedi taught us anything they taught us that its never too late to change.

Anonymous Coward says:

perhaps we need to find a way to get her back into the RIAA driver’s seat. not knowing for sure why she left in the first place, perhaps now that she spoke out publicly her actions on the inside can be more affective and perhaps even, over a long period of time because we dont forget over night, improve RIAA’s image.

ye right…like that will ever happen

Anonymous Coward says:

Re: Re:

perhaps we need to find a way to get her back into the RIAA driver’s seat(/i>

Why? People like this are merely prostitutes. Except instead of selling their bodies, they sell their values. I seriously doubt if she suddenly became head of the RIAA she’d continue to hold her current “beliefs” as she’d come to “realize” how “unaware” she’s been of how truly the the recording industry was being “hurt” these days.

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