The RIAA claims to do what it does in the name of artists. Well, artists are getting and less and less shy about calling them on that. Today, an article by accidental activist Janis Ian — an artist with 17 major-label albums, nine Grammy nominations and 37 years of experience in the music industry — appears in USA Today.

The RIAA and the entrenched music industry argue that free downloads are threats. The music industry had exactly the same response to the advent of reel-to-reel home tape recorders, cassettes, DATs, minidiscs, VCRs, music videos, MTV and a host of other products and services.

I am not advocating indiscriminate downloading without the artist’s permission. Copyright protection is vital. But I do object to the industry spin that it is doing all this to protect artists. It is not protecting us; it is protecting itself.

The good news is that, unless the RIAA finds away to maintain their power through this introduction of what’s merely a new means of distribution, their tragic lack of cluefulness makes it inevitable that a new organization will supplant and eventually replace them. But how long will it take? Link