Criminalizing Independent Music

Criminalizing Independent Music,  grudzień 2007 r. : Music industry executives have been the main gatekeepers in determining
what music is available to consumers since the advent of the gramophone. As
major record labels have become more highly consolidated, there has been
an increasing concentration of those who determine what music is available
for consumption. With the development of online music distribution, a gap
has formed where independent artists can distribute their music by bypassing
the costly hard media distribution system. This book explores how the Recording
Industry Association of America (RIAA) is used by the major record labels
to limit the access that independent artists/labels have to consumers
through the internet. It argues that in the process through which the music
industry works to co-opt and commodify genres of music, the music is (de)
politicized to appeal to a larger audience. This study is geared towards those
interested in the music industry, commodification and intellectual property
policies.