STATEMENT BY THE RECORDING INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA Washington, August 20, 1998 -- Hilary Rosen, president and CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America, today issued the following statement: "Recent concerns raised by the music group Negativland that the RIAA has prevented them from getting their newest release manufactured by a CD plant are misplaced. The RIAA has had absolutely no involvement with Negativland or its new release ?Over the Edge, Volume 3.? It has neither seen, heard, nor been consulted about the release. As part of its longstanding efforts to eradicate music piracy, the RIAA has developed a set of recommended guidelines for CD plants in an attempt to curtail the burgeoning piracy problem that begins at the plant level. Under U.S. copyright law, if a CD plant presses an infringing disc, it's liable. The voluntary guidelines suggest procedures that CD plants can follow to minimize their legal exposure. Those guidelines do not mention, or make any recommendations about, the use of samples in sound recordings. The recommended guidelines encourage CD plants to pay close attention to orders to ensure that the manufacture of discs has actually been authorized by the copyright owner of the sound recording. The RIAA attempts, upon request, to provide information to plants as to whether the manufacture of a particular recording has been authorized by its copyright owner; but ultimately, it is the plant, not the RIAA, that decides whether to press the disc. In the case of the Negativland release, the RIAA did not receive any request for information."