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Anti-RIAA group calls for CD boycott

Halloween Raves to feature only shared songs

Music lovers are being asked to boycott the world's major recording labels in a bid to force them to encourage the Recording Industry Ass. of America (RIAA) to end its legal campaign against file sharers.

A certain phrase regarding the viability of snowballs in the Acheronic depths springs to mind at this point, but we'll put aside our scepticism and continue.

Describing the music industry as a bunch of "bullies", a group calling themselves the Whose Niuews Crue are asking music fans to throw Halloween Raves in which only downloaded songs should be played. At the same time, listeners should vow not to buy music from any record label or any artist who supports suing folk who share songs over the Internet.

Well, at least that means Michael Jackson should sell a few more albums. Maybe Moby too. But everyone else is pretty much dead against file sharing.

The un-motley Crue (yes, there should be un umlaut in there) also want artists and labels to sign up to what they call the Music Artists' Bill of Rights. While the Crue's news - sorry, 'niuews' - release doesn't explain what this is, presumably it includes clauses permitting the wholesale infringement of copyright, free file sharing, unlimited rice pudding, etc.

In a voice-distorted .WMV file the Crue is asking fellow travellers to share at will, the group claims having sued music lovers for sharing files, the RIAA will launch similar actions against anyone who shares photos or any other content across the Net.

Oddly enough, one of the Crue sounds suspiciously like a certain larger-than-life bearded gentleman not unacquainted with the file-sharing world, but until the RIAA runs its highly sophisticated voice analysis software, we won't know for sure. Don't panic, Wayne, we're only kidding.

Anyway, all this is being done in the name of "average" artists - who apparently "go broke... while the music industry moguls get rich". Presumably they think Coldplay used to work on a coffee plantation...

The timing of the action is set for Friday, 31 October next - perhaps not coincidentally the day harsh new copyright protection measures come into force in the UK. You can download the .WMV here. ®

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