10.07.2007

Die, Average Consumer!!!!!

Wow, way to go recording industry. The RIAA has been prosecuting people for file sharing left and right, but they finally got to stick it to someone fo' real.

On October 4th, a district court in Minnesota ordered Jammie Thomas to pay $222,000 for pirating and sharing 24 tracks on Kazaa. Yes, thats $9,250 per song. Those must have been some awesome songs. I bet Metallica songs are worth $9,250 each. Or maybe Sugar Ray songs.

The reason this matters is two-fold. First, this is the first case for music piracy that has actually been decided by court verdict. All previous cases have been settled out of court by some manner of small fine.

Secondly, the RIAA seems to be emulating Louis XIV a little before he met this friendly little guy. Keep pushing it. Please.

1 comment:

laurent the laurent said...

Back when I was in my early teens, my father often ranted on about the stuff he was working on. He was computer engineer that who helped create what we now know as the internet. He spoke of how in the future musicians could release entire albums themselves over the internet, while making the bulk of their revenue through touring and general fan support. Thus eliminating the need for big corporate record labels that have been sucking the life out of music for years. I guess i should listen to my dad more often. Basically that is what's happening. We're not there quite yet, but close. So these mammoth labels are basically trying to claw their way out of the grave they've dug for themselves. I don't support the idea of sharing music files and all that mess, but I do say that the big wigs deserve everything that comes to them.