Downhill Battle (downhillbattle.org) has teamed up with RIAA Radar to bring their consumer-information effort off the internet and into CD stores for the Christmas shopping season. Are you in?
The Music Activism group has created 1″ x 3″ CD labels, both using the red white and black RIAA Radar design. One says “WARNING: Buying this CD Funds Lawsuits Against Families and Children.” The other: “WARNING: This Record Label Pays Radio Stations to Keep Independent Music Off the Air.”
“We thought those were the two biggest reasons why nobody should be buying major label CDs this Christmas,” said Downhill Battle cofounder Nicholas Reville, “When the major labels pay radio stations to play their music, it means independent musicians get locked out of radio–and for new musicians this means you either sign a terrible major label contract, or you’ll never get mainstream airplay.”
The other sticker seeks to draw consumer attention to the absurdity and unfairness of the lawsuits the major labels brought this fall against hundreds of families, most of whom have young children.
In October, Downhill Battle started the Peer-to-Peer Defense Fund to help families who’d been sued. “Many of them were just barely getting by, and then the Big 5 labels slapped them with lawsuits,” said co-founder Holmes Wilson, “It will be a tough Christmas this year for hundreds of families and kids–and everyone who’s thinking of buying CDs should know it.”
The day after Thanksgiving, the pair stickered major-label CDs at several stores in their local area. A photo-log of the ‘guerilla-labeling’ campaign is now posted on the Downhill Battle site. Anyone who wants to hit stores in their area can get stickers here.
“It’s important that, this Christmas, people know that when they pay for a major label CD they’re paying for payola radio and lawsuits against 12-year-olds,” said Reville, “We hope all the people who are into this issue are ready to get active.”
Related Posts
- Downhill Battle Calls for RIAA to Return Lawsuit Money
- Interview: Holmes Wilson of Downhill Battle.
- Downhill Battle to sponsor ‘Save Betamax’
- Announcing the Movies for Music film contest – Make a short movie to inform the public and take down the RIAA.
- RIAA Extends Anti-Piracy Campaign
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