An article posted on the Motley Fool investment blog got me thinking. Since the only thing the RIAA seems to care about is money and the bottom line, it will probably be investors who ultimately force them to turn away from this ridiculous cycle of law suites and intimidation against customers.

The gust of the post on Motley Fool was that litigation is not a good business model.

The Motley Fool.com: We’re All Thieves to the RIAA

“As I’ve said before, a good sign of a dying industry that investors might want to avoid is when it would rather litigate than innovate, signaling a potential destroyer of value. If it starts to pursue paying customers — which doesn’t seem that outlandish at this point — then I guess we’ll all know the extent of the desperation. Investor, beware.”

The thing is, everyone is a potential customer. The marketing done by recording companies targets every person who listens to music. Therefore, the RIAA is ALWAYS going after its customer base.

These law suits are not cheap, and I have not seen any evidence that the RIAA is actually coming out ahead overall. They are costing the industry money, something that may be in shorter supply these days. And all of this money going into legal fees is fighting a battle against the changing reality of information distribution. Any savvy investor, and even the dumb ones should recognize that this is not the way to succeed in business, and is certainly not how the investor would want their money spent.