From the Star Tribune (via Metblogs): Woman ordered to pay $1.92M in music downloading case
Jammie Thomas-Rasset, 32, a Brainerd mother of four, was found liable for downloading and distributing more than 1,700 songs on Kazaa, an Internet file-sharing network.…a federal jury in Duluth found her liable up to $220,000 for copyright infringement of the 24 songs the RIAA focused on — $9,250 per song
While I respect that artists and labels deserve to be paid for their work, the RIAA isn’t going to save itself by sticking to archaic business practices nor suing individuals who download music.
Considering the popularity of iTunes and today’s prevalent marketing strategy of giving away your hit single via mp3, a court ruling like this doesn’t send a warning message not to download music. It sends a message that the music industry still doesn’t understand we’re in a new environment that requires innovation and creativity to monetize.
All of the mp3s I post here on Perfect Porridge are artists/label-approved. Every day people send me mp3s to post for people to download FOR FREE. It’s a mixed message.
Meanwhile, it sucks to be a scapegoat for an unprovable accusation of distribution:
[attorney for the recording industry] said MediaSentry downloaded a sample of them from the shared directory on her computer. That’s an important point, given Davis’ new instructions to jurors.
Although the plaintiffs weren’t able to prove that anyone but MediaSentry downloaded songs off her computer because Kazaa kept no such records, Reynolds told the jury it’s only logical that many users had downloaded songs offered through her computer because that’s what Kazaa was there for.
Alas…hopefully the RIAA can spend some of the $1.92 million on a marketing plan rooted in the current century.
