To begin, the RIAA is a perfect example of the corporate greed that consumers should not support. Even though the purpose of the association is to protect the artist, their actions prove to be very selfish. The RIAA claims to protect musicians from losing money due to piracy, but artists do not even profit much, or even at all, from the music sales. "For every $1,000 in music sold, the average musician makes $23.40" (Jefferson). Many artists and bands including Courtney Love, Lyle Lovett and Tim Quirk have become vocal about the unfair accounting of the RIAA. In this era of technology, some musicians like Chance the Rapper choose to be independent to avoid the stifling tactics of RIAA labels. In 2009, the RIAA pushed to lower musician loyalties from the already low 13% to 9% (Frucci). As if record labels were not already taking enough money away from the artists they care so much about, the RIAA has attempted to lower royalties in both 2006 and 2008. .
The RIAA's monopolistic behavior is also viewed as greedy and unethical. A monopoly is described as a situation in which a single company or group owns all or nearly all of the market for a certain product or service (investopedia.com). More simply, monopolies extremely reduce competition and often result in higher than necessary prices. Because of this, monopolies and their actions are seen as immoral business practices. In America, anti-trust laws have been implemented to prevent monopolies and monopolistic behavior such as price fixing and competition-eliminating corporate mergers. The Recording Industry Association of America falls into a gray area. Because the association is an umbrella organization over record labels that compete against each other, it is not considered and illegal monopoly. The definition of a monopoly uses the word 'own' to explain the control it can have on a market. Although the RIAA does not own the labels it falsely attempts to protect, it does control them.
