The Recording Industry Association of America said it has filed 261 lawsuits against alleged file swappers Monday, charging the computer users with "egregious" copyright infringement potentially worth millions of dollars.
The long-awaited barrage of lawsuits marks a turning point in the industry's three-year fight against online song-trading services like Kazaa and the now-defunct Napster, and one of the most controversial moments in the recording industry's digital history. After long years avoiding direct conflict with file swappers who might also be record buyers, industry executives said they have lost patience. Monday's lawsuits are just the first wave of what the group said ultimately could be "thousands more" lawsuits filed over the next few months.
News source: C|Net News.com
The long-awaited barrage of lawsuits marks a turning point in the industry's three-year fight against online song-trading services like Kazaa and the now-defunct Napster, and one of the most controversial moments in the recording industry's digital history. After long years avoiding direct conflict with file swappers who might also be record buyers, industry executives said they have lost patience. Monday's lawsuits are just the first wave of what the group said ultimately could be "thousands more" lawsuits filed over the next few months.
News source: C|Net News.com
It is believed that anyone who complies will be excluded from any future legal action by the RIAA.
But the decision will not apply to those already facing legal action, which could begin as early as next week, according to a report from Reuters.
The RIAA has admitted that it is unlikely to take to court all 1,600 people accused of illegally uploading music files from sites such as Kazaa and Morpheus.
But it has warned that those it does take to court will have to take their chances before the judge.
Meanwhile, others in the music industry are also adopting a less combative stance to P2P sites, following the decline in music sales.
Universal Music is cutting the wholesale price of many CDs in the US from $12.02 to $9.09.
It also plans to shelve advertising discounts and has dropped its recommended retail price to $12.98 from $18.98, hoping that retailers will be persuaded to drop the price to below $10.
Sony has also joined the growing market for services that allow consumers to download music legally, putting itself in direct competition with Apple and Microsoft.
The new service will be launched in Japan, with the US and Europe to follow next spring. Sony said that it will also ship a handheld device on to which the songs can be downloaded.
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Stay tough guys...
This is how we roll.
Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to be honest with myself. If an artist I like comes out with a new CD and I see it somewhere either on kazaa or the newsgroups, I'm going to download it and instead of benefiting the RIAA I'm going to give the money that I would have paid for the CD to the charity of my choice. I'm going to be honest with myself and decide which music I would actually pay for and donate it to one of the needy charities out there. As for the artist creating the music; If this is the kind of Nazi strongarm techniques the artist is happy to stand behind and let the RIAA walk all over their fans, then I won't support the artist either. I've been overpaying for LP's,tapes, CD's, T-shirts, concert tickets, etc. for far too long and it ends now. I am one of the many individuals that download music, but also buy and have bought a ton of music as well. My god, my closet is full of purchased CD's, but I can't forgive the industry for doing this, nor will I help them financially by contributing to their strength. I'm sorry, but my line in the sand is this. Anything associated with the RIAA will no longer receive my support ever. I hope others follow and come up with their own creative ideas on how to boycott the industry.
LTM
HAHAHAHA!!!!!
daffy duck is the truth.
As the gov't added a "copyright" tax or "levy" on all blank CDs, therefore we pay for the right to copy music onto CD's, the sad truth is the USA Record companies don't see one cent of that, but hey that's not MY problem thats theirs and the Goverment of Canada.
More Info :
http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,57114,00.html
Them damn cars are so expensive too. If they didn't cost thousands of dollars I'll bet no one would steal them.
Face it. No matter what the price, people will always want something to be free.
Music is NOT a right. You want music free? Make it yourself.
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