RIAA Chief to Step Down

"The chief executive officer of the Recording Industry Association of America said Wednesday she would step down as head of the organization at the end of 2003, after a controversial five years at its helm....

The outgoing chief executive said she wanted to spend more time with her family....

During the past several years, Rosen has served as a focal point for all the criticism and complaints levied by advocates of unfettered technology. Indeed, she was featured in the most recent issue of Wired magazine as 'The Most Hated Name in Music'--a bold statement in an industry notoriously rife with avaricious record producers and label executives....

More recently, Rosen has extended an olive branch to the technology industry, worrying that rhetoric on both sides had created an artificial gulf. Last week, she signed an agreement to work with counterparts in the Business Software Alliance and the Computer Systems Policy Project, each of which represent large technology companies on common goals." [CNET News.com]

Can't say that I really blame her. You have to wonder, though, if last week's "olive branch" was the first resignation on her part. Did she see the writing on the wall? Did a life of constant fighting and arguing become too much? I think she's probably being honest that this is motivated by family concerns. Who wants their kids to grow up and read about how mom helped eradicate fair use? She can explain to her kids that she was fighting for the rights and livelihoods of artists, but it gets harder when your organization starts subjugating the legal process, asks for legislation to hack into personal computers, and helps stamp out internet radio.

Sometimes when I'm blogging late, I listen to some of the music channels from my digital cable box. It's nice to have on with the background and there are no commercials. There are 36 channels, so it's almost like a pared-down satellite radio service. A particularly nice feature is that they show the artist and title when each song starts.

Tonight I had to go grab some clothes out of the dryer when a song I really liked was on and out of habit, I paused the music on the TV (thanks to my ReplayTV). It hadn't occurred to me to do this before, but I've been wishing for a pause button on my car radio, for my conversations with people, etc. and all this time I didn't realize I could do this with music channels on TV!