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RIAA chief may stand down
By CMU Editorial | Published on Monday 1 August 2011
The boss of the Recording Industry Association Of America, Mitch Bainwol, is in talks to move to another American trade body. It’s thought Bainwol is in negotiations with the main US auto-industry trade organisation about taking a top job there. According to C-NET, although talks are ongoing, Bainwol has informed the board of the RIAA that he may be leaving in the near future.
Bainwol has not been without his critics while running the US record label trade body, partly because of his sizable pay packet, and partly because he oversaw much of the organisation’s self-harming ‘sue the fans’ initiative for tackling file-sharing, which cost millions and achieved nothing. That said, he has scored some successes in the fight against piracy in the last year, including the LimeWire settlement and the deal with US ISPs for them to voluntarily start sending out warning letters to suspected file-sharers.
It’s thought that if Bainwol does go, the trade body’s President, Cary Sherman, who played a key role in the aforementioned ISP deal, would be a lead contender to take over.
