RIAA

Santangelo v. RIAA

Elektra v. Santangelo (2005) was a case heard before the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, filed by Elektra Entertainment Group as one of approximately 13,000 lawsuits that the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has brought against individual defendants in the U.S. The suit alleged that Patricia (Patti) Santangelo, a single mother of five based in Wappingers Falls, New York, infringed the copyright of several companies by sharing six songs on the KaZaA file-sharing network. The RIAA sought to dismiss the case "without prejudice" but the Court denied the motion, saying that the RIAA could either dismiss the case with prejudice or proceed to trial. The RIAA also sued 2 of Ms. Santangelo's children. A default judgement was entered against one of them, Michelle Santangelo. Ms. Santangelo's 16 year old son Robert Santangelo has interposed counterclaims against the plaintiffs, including "failure to warn".

Elektra offered to settle the case for $7,500, but Mrs. Santangelo rejected the offer. She says that she didn't realize that her computer contained KaZaA software, and that the KaZaA account name listed in the suit had never been used by anyone in her family; the name was said to be "similar" to the screen name of a teenage friend of one of her children.

The offer to "modify the complaint" appears to place the burden of proof on Ms. Santangelo to establish her innocence by naming someone else. Otherwise, the RIAA response does not acknowledge Ms. Santangelo's contention that no one in her family was involved in the purported file-sharing, and therefore it would be unclear what lesson could be learned by a "family event" settlement.

A motion to dismiss has been filed, stating that "the Courts have consistently required specific acts of copying, and the dates and times of those acts", and the complainant isn't providing those. The plaintiff's response is that the specific files were listed, and that specific times of violations aren't needed, because there is "an ongoing and continuous infringement". This is in conflict with Mrs. Santangelo's statements on the record that the computer's disk has been reformatted because of "a lot of major viruses", and that her ex-husband is now in possession of the computer. RIAA then made the unusual request to have a second oral argument session and to submit an additional surreply. The motion to dismiss the case was denied on 28 November, 2005.

Elektra later requested that this case be dismissed and, instead, proceeded to file suits against Santangelo's son and daughter (Robert and Michelle) based on evidence obtained during the original proceedings. According to legal documents Michelle Santagelo did not respond to this case and a default judgement of $30,750 was approved in favor of Elektra/RIAA.

Robert, however, has not settled. He is also represented by Jordan Glass and is raising 32 defenses including arguments that he didn't send copyrighted files to others, the recording companies originally promoted file sharing, the statute of limitations had passed, and that all of the music on his computer had been owned on CD by his sister. He is counter-suing the record companies for violating antitrust laws, conspiring to defraud the courts, and making extortionate threats.

On April 9, 2007, a stipulation of discontinuance with prejudice was entered, which means that Santangelo is the prevailing party and therefore eligible to file a motion to recover attorneys' fees.

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RIAA certification

In the United States, the Recording Industry Association of America awards certification based on the number of albums and singles sold through retail and other ancillary markets. Other countries have similar awards (see music recording sales certification). Certification is not automatic; for an award to be made, the record label must request certification and pay a fee to have the sales of the recording audited. The audit is conducted against net shipments after returns (most often an artist's royalty statement is used), which includes albums sold directly to retailers and one-stops, direct to consumer sales (music clubs and mail order) and other outlets.

Presently, an American RIAA-certified gold record is a single or album that has sold 500,000 units (records, tapes or compact discs). Originally, the requirement for a gold single was one million units sold and a gold album represented $1 million in sales (at wholesale value). In 1975, the additional requirement of 500,000 units sold was added for gold albums. Reflecting growth in record sales, the platinum award was instituted in 1976 for albums selling one million units and singles selling two million units. The multi-platinum award was instituted in 1984, signifying multiple platinum levels of albums and singles. In 1989, the sales thresholds for singles were reduced to 500,000 for gold and 1,000,000 for platinum, reflecting a decrease in sales of singles. In 1992, RIAA began counting each disc in a multi-disc set as one unit toward certification. Because of these changes in criteria, the sales level associated with a particular award depends on when the award was made.

Nielsen SoundScan figures are not used in RIAA certification; the RIAA system predates Nielsen SoundScan and includes sales outlets Nielsen misses. Prior to Nielsen SoundScan, RIAA certification was the only audited and verifiable system for tracking music sales in the U.S.; it is still the only system capable of tracking 100% of sales (albeit as shipments less returns, not actual sales like Nielsen SoundScan). This system has allowed, at times, for record labels to promote an album as gold or platinum simply based on large shipments. For instance, in 1978 the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band soundtrack shipped platinum but was a sales bust, with two million returns. Similarly, all four solo albums by the members of Kiss simultaneously shipped platinum that same year but none of them even managed to crack the top 20 of the Billboard 200 album chart. The following year, the RIAA began requiring 120 days from the release date before recordings were eligible for certification, although that requirement has been reduced over the years and currently stands at 30 days. More recently, Sony was roundly criticized in 1995 for hyping Michael Jackson's double album HIStory as five times platinum, based on shipments of 2.5 million and using the RIAA's recently adopted practice of counting each disc toward certification, while SoundScan was reporting only 1.3 million copies sold. A similar discrepancy between shipments and sales was reported with The Lion King soundtrack.

Multi-disc albums are counted once for each disc within the album if it is over 100 minutes in length. For example, each copy of OutKast's Speakerboxxx/The Love Below (running time of 134:56), and Shania Twain's Up! (145:44), both double albums, were counted twice, meaning each album was certified diamond after 5 million copies were shipped. The 100 minute requirement does not apply to albums released in the vinyl era so double albums such as Pink Floyd's The Wall and The Beatles' White Album are counted double even though their running times are under the minimum.

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RIAA single certification

A single certification is the certification that the RIAA awards to singles based on their sales. It is estimated that there have been about 2,550 combined single certifications.

Recently, digital singles have begun to be certified due to the increase of the digital market and decrease of the physical commercial singles market. Although digital downloads have been around since 2003, they weren't considered to be significant until 2005, when they were first counted towards the Hot 100. Because of this, it is important to distinguish between singles that came out before and after the change (as singles after the change sold in higher quantities at a faster rate, while the older singles took longer to reach levels of certification). After the change, the certification standards were brought up to the same standard as retail distribution. Since then, digital distribution has become a prime selling method for singles - overhead can be considerable when distributing a CD with only a few tracks on it, and the roughly $1/track standard for digital distribution, combined with the ease of use in sellers like ITunes, has caused enormous growth.

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List of RIAA member labels

The RIAA lists its member labels on their website . However, their website lists not only includes RIAA labels but non-RIAA labels that are distributors that report to the RIAA. The site is outdated and has not been updated since 2003.

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RIAA equalization

RIAA equalization is a specification for the correct playback of gramophone records, established by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The purpose of the equalization is to permit greater playback times, improve sound quality, and to limit the vinyl damages that would otherwise arise from recording analog records without such equalization.

The RIAA equalization curve has operated as a de facto global industry standard for the recording and playback of vinyl records since 1954. Before then, especially from 1940, each record company applied its own equalization; there were over 100 combinations of turnover and rolloff frequencies in use, the main ones being Columbia-78, Decca-U.S., European (various), Victor-78 (various), Associated, BBC, NAB, Orthacoustic, World, Columbia LP, FFRR-78 and microgroove, and AES.

RIAA equalization is a form of preemphasis on recording, and deemphasis on playback. A record is cut with the low frequencies reduced and the high frequencies boosted, and on playback the opposite occurs. The result is a flat frequency response, but with noise such as hiss and clicks arising from the surface of the medium itself much attenuated. The other main benefit of the system is that low frequencies, which would otherwise cause the cutter to make large excursions when cutting a groove, are much reduced, so grooves are smaller and more can be fitted in a given surface area, yielding longer playback times. This also has the benefit of eliminating physical stresses on the playback stylus which might otherwise be hard to cope with, or cause unpleasant distortion.

A potential drawback of the system is that rumble from the playback turntable's drive mechanism is greatly amplified, which means that players have to be carefully designed to avoid this.

RIAA equalization is not a simple low-pass filter. It carefully defines transition points in three places - 75 µs, 318 µs and 3180 µs, which correspond to 2122 Hz, 500 Hz and 50 Hz. Implementing this characteristic is not especially difficult, but more involved than a simple amplifier. Most hi-fi amplifiers have a built-in phono preamplifier with the RIAA characteristic, though it is often omitted in modern designs, due to the gradual obsolescence of vinyl records. A solution in this case is to purchase an outboard preamplifier with the RIAA equalization curve, which adapts a magnetic cartridge to a standard line-level input. Some modern turntables feature built-in preamplification to the RIAA standard. Special preamplifiers are also available for the various equalization curves used on pre-1954 records.

Digital audio editors often feature the ability to equalize audio samples using standard and custom equalization curves, removing the need for a dedicated hardware preamplifier when capturing audio with a computer. However, this can add an extra step in processing a sample, and may amplify audio quality issues of the sound card being used to capture the signal.

Equalization practice for electrical recordings dates to the beginning of the art. In 1926 it was disclosed by Joseph P. Maxwell and Henry C. Harrison from Bell Telephone Laboratories that the recording pattern of the Western Electric "rubber line" magnetic disc cutter had a constant velocity characteristic. This meant that as frequency increased in the treble, recording amplitude decreased. Conversely, in the bass as frequency decreased, recording amplitude increased. Therefore, it was necessary to attenuate the bass frequencies below about 250 Hz, the bass turnover point, in the amplified microphone signal fed to the recording head. Otherwise, bass modulation became excessive and overcutting took place into the next record groove. When played back electrically with a magnetic pickup having a smooth response in the bass region, a complementary boost in amplitude at the bass turnover point was necessary. G. H. Miller in 1934 reported that when complementary boost at the turnover point was used in radio broadcasts of records, the reproduction was more realistic and many of the musical instruments stood out in their true form.

West in 1930 and later P. G. H. Voight (1940) showed that the early Wente-style condenser microphones contributed to a 4 to 6 dB midrange brilliance or pre-emphasis in the recording chain. This meant that the electrical recording characteristics of Western Electric licensees such as Columbia Records and Victor Talking Machine Company had a higher amplitude in the midrange region. Brilliance such as this compensated for dullness in many early magnetic pickups having drooping midrange and treble response. As a result, this practice was the empirical beginning of using pre-emphasis above 1,000 Hz in 78 and 33 1/3 rpm records, some 29 years before the RIAA curve.

Over the years a variety of record equalization practices emerged and there was no industry standard. For example, in Europe,for many years recordings required playback with a bass turnover setting of 250 to 300 Hz and a treble rolloff at 10,000 Hz ranging from 0 to -5 dB, or more. In the United States there were more varied practices and a tendency to use higher bass turnover frequencies, such as 500 Hz, as well as a greater treble rolloff like -8.5 dB, and more. The purpose was to record higher modulation levels on the record.

Evidence from the early technical literature concerning electrical recording suggests that it was not until the 1942-1949 period that there were serious efforts to standardize recording characteristics within an industry. Heretofore, electrical recording technology from company to company was considered a proprietary art all the way back to the 1925 Western Electric licensed method first used by Columbia and Victor. For example, what Brunswick-Balke-Collender (Brunswick Corporation) did was different from the practices of Victor.

Broadcasters were faced with having to adapt daily to the varied recording characteristics of many sources: various makers of "home recordings" readily available to the public, European recordings, lateral cut transcriptions, and vertical cut transcriptions. Efforts were started in 1942 to standardize within the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), later known as the National Association of Radio and Television Broadcasters (NARTB). The NAB, among other items, issued recording standards in 1949 for laterally and vertically cut records, principally transcriptions. A number of 78 rpm record producers as well as early LP makers also cut their records to the NAB/NARTB lateral standard.

The lateral cut NAB curve was remarkably similar to the NBC Orthacoustic curve which evolved from practices within the National Broadcasting Company since the mid-1930s. Empirically, and not by any formula, it was learned that the bass end of the audio spectrum below 100 Hz could be boosted somewhat to override system hum and turntable rumble noises. Likewise at the treble end beginning at 1,000 Hz, if audio frequencies were boosted by 16 dB at 10,000 Hz the delicate sibilant sounds of speech and high overtones of musical instruments could survive the noise level of cellulose acetate, lacquer/aluminum, and vinyl disc media. When the record was played back using a complementary inverse curve (de-emphasis), signal to noise ratio was improved and the programming sounded more lifelike.

In a related area, around 1940 treble pre-emphasis similar to that used in the NBC Orthacoustic recording curve was first employed by Edwin Howard Armstrong in his system of Frequency Modulation (FM) radio broadcasting. FM radio receivers using Armstrong circuits and treble de-emphasis would render high quality wide-range audio output with low noise levels.

When the Columbia LP was released in June 1948, the developers subsequently published technical information about the 33 1/3 rpm, microgroove, long playing record. Columbia disclosed a recording characteristic showing that it was like the NAB curve in the treble, but had more bass boost or pre-emphasis below 150 Hz. The authors disclosed electrical network characteristics for the Columbia LP curve. This was the first such curve based on formulae.

In 1951 at the beginning of the post-World War II high fidelity (hi-fi) popularity, the Audio Engineering Society (AES) developed a standard playback curve. This was intended for use by hi-fi amplifier manufacturers. If records were engineered to sound good on hi-fi amplifiers using the AES curve, this would be a worthy goal towards standardization. This curve was defined by the time constants of audio filters and had a bass turnover of 400 Hz and a 10,000 Hz rolloff of -12 dB.

RCA Victor and Columbia were in a "market war" concerning which recorded format was going to win: the Columbia LP versus the RCA Victor 45 rpm disc (released in February 1949). Besides also being a battle of disc size and record speed, there was a technical difference in the recording characteristics. RCA Victor was using "New Orthophonic" whereas Columbia was using the LP curve.

Ultimately the New Orthophonic curve was disclosed in a publication by R. C. Moyer of RCA Victor in 1953. He traced RCA Victor characteristics back to the Western Electric "rubber line" recorder in 1925 up to the early 1950s laying claim to long-held recording practices and reasons for major changes in the intervening years. The RCA Victor New Orthophonic curve was within the tolerances for the NAB/NARTB, Columbia LP, and AES curves. It eventually became the technical predecessor to the RIAA curve and superseded all other curves. By the time of the stereo LP in 1958, the RIAA curve, identical to the RCA Victor New Orthophonic curve, became standard throughout the national and international record markets.

An improved version of the curve was proposed to the International Electrotechnical Commission with an extra high-pass filter at 20 Hz (7950 µs). The justification was that DC coupling was becoming more common, which meant that turntable rumble would become a greater problem. However, the proposal did not achieve traction, as manufacturers considered that turntables, arm and cartridge combinations should be of sufficient quality for the problem not to arise.

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