Woman Must Pay $1.5 Million for Sharing MP3s

[iNiNe5]

if you shoplifted a CD from a store, you get a slap on the wrist. if you pirated 1 song, you get fined 62,000 dollars. uh yeah, makes sense.

 

[f-14]

a better article of this story can be found here that provides more and better information, but still incomplete http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/am...ith-15-million-fine-for-downloading-24-songs/

Thomas-Rasset maintained she wasn't the computer user who did the file sharing, and her legal team cited an error in jury instruction to secure a second trial in 2009 that ended with a much harsher result: an astronomical fine of $1.92 million.

The Minnesota mother of four is being penalized for illegally downloading and sharing 24 songs on the peer-to-peer file-sharing network Kazaa in 2006, but how much she owes the record labels has been in question.

In her first trial, in 2007, the jury demanded she pay $222,000 for violating the copyright on more than 1,700 songs by Green Day, Aerosmith and Richard Marx, to name a few. (Marx said he was "ashamed" to be associated with the "farcical" prosecution of an illegal downloader.)

source: yahoo music Posted Thu Nov 4, 2010 10:38am PDT by Daniel Kreps in Amplifier

 

[f-14]

toms deleted out my url insert?
http/new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/amplifier/148/minnesota-mom-hit-with-15-million-fine-for-downloading-24-songs/

my question is this mother of 4 children, what are the ages of the children and which one of them is the computer savy one of them or has an mp3 player.

 

[JD13]

They got in trouble a few years ago for price fixing on CD's. They will fight for every dollar they can get & know full well they can't take everyone to court.

 

[lcsper]

[citation][nom]bunz_of_steel[/nom]Don't buy no stinking music do it on the web like u guys said. I haven't bought music in years and with the MAFRHIAA constantly walking around with a boner I don't plan to buy any music in the foreseeable future, it's my lil personaly grudge match against them weenies.[/citation]

Yeah... Thing is music ain't free to make. Most people in the industry don't crap money. If you don't want to help the RIAA then don't buy CDs from stores, buy music from itunes or the artists website. That way you are mostly supporting the artist. Now, don't try and say that music is free because it sure isn't, it costs a ton of money to make and countless hours of hard work. What would you say if someone came in and took your job from under your feet?

 

[Pyroflea]

The RIAA and all of their members should burn in hell. They've completely taken away what Music is. Rather than have people make music to express themselves, and have people listen to the music for their enjoyment, it's all about the record labels making as much money as possible. They should be ashamed of themselves.

 

[K3vBot6000]

If she is paying $62,500 for each song she shared of a 1.5 million that is only 24 songs? That is far beyond extreme.

 

[TheKurrgan]

I do find it amazing they even care about the figure at this point.. 1.5 million or 1.5 billion, its all going to end up the same, a big fat zero to them in the end. What shes going for probably is recognition of this, as the finance guys at those organizations are going to eventually pull the plug all together, as it does nothing but cost them money they'll never recoup to continue fighting her in court. Quite frankly I'm betting the attorney fees are at this point in the 6 figure margin if they are a penny, all to make an example? Besides in the end when she doesnt pay, she'll probably be held in contempt of court, sent to jail for 90 - 120 days, set free and the judgement considered settled. Meanwhile, this media circus continues..
As to the boycott, I've not purchased any music NOR downloaded any in about 3 years (by download I mean legit or not)
They get whatever they get from Pandora for me listening to them on a free account, and thats it. Because I hate with every fiber of my being the RIAA IN PARTICULAR, and would not piss on any one affiliated with them to put them out if they where on fire.

 

[Vladislaus]

[citation][nom]lcsper[/nom]Yeah... Thing is music ain't free to make. Most people in the industry don't crap money. If you don't want to help the RIAA then don't buy CDs from stores, buy music from itunes or the artists website. That way you are mostly supporting the artist. Now, don't try and say that music is free because it sure isn't, it costs a ton of money to make and countless hours of hard work. What would you say if someone came in and took your job from under your feet?[/citation]
Artists on iTunes still receive a very small share, about 10%. The best way to supports an artist is going to concerts.

 

[jasonpwns]

I thought the bill of rights was supposed to prevent excessive fines? Guess that shows how well the constitution has worked.

 

[FloKid]

I wonder what makes her so special? There are other millions of people who do the same thing. It's just less paperwork to get money from one person. w/e though, I guess you do what you gotta do to survive right? I mean all you need in this life is a lambo...

 

[Guest]

This is just one more indication that the Jews own the American courts. Well, they run the whole damn country so why not the courts.

 

[drsanches]

they just want a huge amount to fill the papers and scare people

they rule with fear

like religion, they're a poison

 

[False_Dmitry_II]

[citation][nom]f-14[/nom]if she just gave them everything she owned she could file bankruptcy and screw them out of the rest or have the bankruptcy rules changed too much for that?[/citation]

Better than that, she could try to put her house in a trust of some sort (if she has one) they don't take personal stuff with bankruptcy just stuff like cars and houses. So if she directly doesn't own at least some of that, well, oops...

 

[False_Dmitry_II]

[citation][nom]edilee[/nom]Very idiotic statement. The solution: STOP pirating and START buying. For some reason people seem to forget that musicians do what they do to make money...imagine that it's a job just like the rest of us do to earn our pay. Not sure why folks think the musicians should just donate their music or flat out give it away. Maybe if people were aware of the costs to musicians to bring that album to you as well as the live show then you might have a different outlook on the issue. I have an idea...why don't those folks go into work monday and tell their boss to tale them off the payroll because they will now work for free.....if this doesn't sound reasonable then quit saying that artist should do the same.[/citation]

For the love of God, it costs NOTHING to make a digital copy. NOTHING. Only the RIAA and the labels that pay for the RIAA to exist get money from the actual albums! Artists do not. There is no way to directly pay artists. They only make money from doing concerts.

More popularity of a band = more popularity of concerts = more people attending = more money for the band. How to get more popular? Exposure to their music, which piracy only promotes. That's why Jamendo is a thing. Others just release their stuff unannounced on pirate pages.

The recording industry is a dinosaur that is simply unnecessary now. What they can do bands could hire some random person off the street to make them a website, and then charge standard amounts or less for digital copies with options of types of format (FLAC, MP3, etc.) or just give it away and have donation pages or both. Bands would make far more with this approach. (though they would have to hire audio people, etc. or do it themselves)

Point is, that the albums as it stands do absolutely nothing for the artists.

Also, yes .99 per song (which isn't really a real thing, at least not to me) or $10+ an album is definitely too much. Why, do you ask would this be? Because the physical copy is also $10+ an album. (new, anyway, which is not the condition in which any of my stuff is gotten, buy used and no money goes anywhere + cheaper) With a physical copy they have to pay for the creation of discs, booklet/inserts cd case covers and the jewel cases themselves, and then assembly and distribution. This would not be cheap. And certainly not blatantly free like digital stuff is. Digital stuff is inherently worth less because of this fact, along with no first sale doctrine rights nor regeneration if your hard drive crashes (depending on the service).

 

[serendipiti]

if you want music go and steal the cds directly... is cheapest

 

[iam2thecrowe]

that is an f**king rediculous amount to pay. Someone should go through al the people that work for the RIAA and sue them for every illegal copy of songs that they have, because im sure they do!

 

[braneman]

now the problem I have with this is that the MPAA/RIAA aren't subject to the same sixty-some-thousand times more than the actual cost of the product when they pirate stuff.

 

[K-zon]

Well if you think about it some maybe, how much does it cost to put a dollar or two on the internet? and when you start talking like 5-15 cents a song some places where that might be. How much does it cost to put that little amount of money on the internet? Let alone into a bank account not on the internet?

 

[False_Dmitry_II]

[citation][nom]k-zon[/nom]Well if you think about it some maybe, how much does it cost to put a dollar or two on the internet? and when you start talking like 5-15 cents a song some places where that might be. How much does it cost to put that little amount of money on the internet? Let alone into a bank account not on the internet?[/citation]

You do realize that that's why things like microsoft points even exist right? The idea of micro-transactions had since failed, and the only other way to do it would be to give a minimum spending amount.