Johnny Cash and the RIAA
I received a box in the mail today, holiday gifts from my parents, and inside was a box set of Johnny Cash music “Johnny Cash: The Legend”. It’s a four disc set, and I’m a huge Cash fan but that’s not what I’m writing about.
On the back of the box, nice and big, is the FBI/RIAA label telling me that copying these discs is a federal crime. Without diving head-first into the topic of whether or not the RIAA is a corrupt organization (it is) that should be shut down and prosecuted for extortion and racketeering (it should be) , I have to wonder what Cash himself would have to say about this label on the back of his music.
The man said more than a few choice words over his career explaining how he feels about people getting in his face and telling him what to do or how to do it. During his famously recorded live show in San Quentin Prison, he said:
…put the screws to me and I’m gonna screw right out from under you. Tired of all that shit… they said you gotta do this song, you gotta do that song, you gotta stand like this or act like this. They just don’t get it man, I’m here to do what you want me to and what I want to do.
And likewise while performing his infamous Folsom Prison show:
This show is being recorded… so I’m not supposed to say hell or shit or anything like that.
I realize other CD’s of his had similar warning labels when they were released thanks to Columbia Records (who also released this box set I’m holding) so this is nothing new. Incidentally, Cash parted ways with Columbia for being wankers to him, even though he’d provided them with 30 years of material and revenue. Shortly after that, a rather memorable full-page ad was taken out in Billboard Magazine and Cash signed on with Rick Rubin to make the American Recordings albums.
I’ve always admired Cash’s unabashed attitude toward any sort of tyranny, be it corporate or governmental, so while looking over this great box set and reading the liner notes, it was a bit odd to turn the box over and see this RIAA label staring me in the face. Yes, I may possess the box and it’s contents, but I don’t actually own it, I can’t do what I like with it and both the FBI and RIAA see fit to remind me of that as much as possible with threats and warnings.
I have a pretty good idea of what Johnny’s reaction would be. Mine isn’t any different.
UPDATE: As a nice side-note to all of this, none of these 4 CD’s – none of them – can be opened, read, listened to or used in any way whatsoever by my MacBook Pro, which is what I use when listening to music 99.999% of the time. They have DRM. What the hell? And these assholes wonder why people want to download music instead. Do I have to go STEAL copies of the music I legally own just so that I can listen to it?? Thank you Columbia Records.
