Woman Fined $222,000 for Sharing 24 Songs

meleerock

meleerock

Member
no one is saying that bands are giving away every single song created for free... Just that music sharing might even help an artist by getting more exposure. Of course, this can easily become a problem. I bet you these record labels are far more upset than the actual bands, but every band is different.
 
rudedog40

rudedog40

Member
This lawsuit has been a long time coming. The music industry knew they were in trouble the day the first MP3 player was made. The problem is, they didn't capitalize on it. The consumer became frustrated with what the major music producers were doing with music distribution. A popular musician spits out two or three albums a year, with only one or two songs on each album that are worth listening to. Yet you had to pay $15 - $20 just to get those two songs. So some college kids got together on the internet and created Napster. At first, the music gods thought "Hey, this is great. Our musicians get more air play, which means more albums will sell, more concertgoers, etc.". Unfortunately, it backfired, and CD sales dropped significantly. So the music gods decided to join the Internet craze, and tried selling individual songs for $1 a piece. Unfortunately for them, Kazaa and a myriad of other music sharing programs were created, making it possible for people to share their albums with thousands of others. So now they've decided if they can't get that $1 from a few thousand people, just get $1000 from one person by suing them for illegally sharing their copyrighted material. Is it right? Legally and morally, yes. Will it hurt the music industry if they pursue this woman who only makes $36,000 per year as a single mom and force her to pay? You bet it will. You think they have a hard time now geeting someone to buy their CD's, spend $100 for just one ticket to hear their musician sing those songs? Just wait. Nothing is worse than the ire of a threatened music lover.
 
dinogeorge

dinogeorge

Member
But we are not talking about bands who "choose" to give their work away for free. We are talking about people who go onto a website and steal the works of artists, whether the artists likes it or not. It's not up to us to decide what is best for the artist. If they think giving away their work for free will drive more people to buy their products, then that's a choice they can make. But when some third party decides to MAKE the artists works available for anyone who wants it and the artists gets nothing in return, that is theft. Trying to make yoursleves feel better about it or rationailze it does not change the fact. If I steal money from your purse and tell you I intend to buy something from you at a later date, you would call the cops and tell them you were robbed. And I could claim I was simply doing something in your best interest, and if you would only let more people steal from your pruse, you will get rich!!!!!
 
jovial

jovial

Member
I can see both sides of this. It's stealing IMO but I really dont feel sorry for the multi millionaires losing out
The black market wouldn't be so enticing to people if the price was fair. Price gouging seems to be rampant in the entertainment industry especially. Movies, concerts ball games they are all ridiculously over priced. So when I hear of a pro athelete or actor getting shafted I don't feel sorry for them. They are still living better than most of us.
 
happyvac

happyvac

Member
Originally Posted by Dinogeorge
But we are not talking about bands who "choose" to give their work away for free. We are talking about people who go onto a website and steal the works of artists, whether the artists likes it or not. It's not up to us to decide what is best for the artist. If they think giving away their work for free will drive more people to buy their products, then that's a choice they can make. But when some third party decides to MAKE the artists works available for anyone who wants it and the artists gets nothing in return, that is theft. Trying to make yoursleves feel better about it or rationailze it does not change the fact. If I steal money from your purse and tell you I intend to buy something from you at a later date, you would call the cops and tell them you were robbed. And I could claim I was simply doing something in your best interest, and if you would only let more people steal from your pruse, you will get rich!!!!!

Lemme ask you this: do you agree that this woman should have gotten what she got?
 
dinogeorge

dinogeorge

Member
Yeah, but to a homeless person WE are making a fortune and living like kings. Wonder how we would feel about them stealing from us. I wonder if they figure we desearve to get robbed? It's all relative man.
 
rudedog40

rudedog40

Member
Originally Posted by Dinogeorge
But we are not talking about bands who "choose" to give their work away for free. We are talking about people who go onto a website and steal the works of artists, whether the artists likes it or not. It's not up to us to decide what is best for the artist. If they think giving away their work for free will drive more people to buy their products, then that's a choice they can make. But when some third party decides to MAKE the artists works available for anyone who wants it and the artists gets nothing in return, that is theft. Trying to make yoursleves feel better about it or rationailze it does not change the fact. If I steal money from your purse and tell you I intend to buy something from you at a later date, you would call the cops and tell them you were robbed. And I could claim I was simply doing something in your best interest, and if you would only let more people steal from your pruse, you will get rich!!!!!

Let me guess. You're a musician.
 
dinogeorge

dinogeorge

Member
Originally Posted by HappyVac
Lemme ask you this: do you agree that this woman should have gotten what she got?

Oh heck no! That is completely foolish to fine her like that. She commited a crime, but the punishment should fit it. Not knowing who she is or what else she may have done, my first instinct would have been to give her nothing more than probation if this was her first offense. But, to say that nothing should have happened because "everyone does it", means that none of us should ever get arrested for speeding, stealing cable, shoplifting, etc...
 
dinogeorge

dinogeorge

Member
Originally Posted by rudedog40
Let me guess. You're a musician.
No man, I used to own a chain of stores and one of my employees thought that I "made too much money", and so she stole nearly $10,000 over a years time. After we busted her she was able to rationalize in her mind that taking my money was completely understandable, because I made too much. The fact that I worked 7 days a week for 7 years building my business, and risked my life saving had no bearing on anything to her.
Nothing drives me crazier than to listen to people rationalize stealing from someone else, because they figure the other person makes too much money.
 
happyvac

happyvac

Member
Originally Posted by Dinogeorge
Oh heck no! That is completely foolish to fine her like that. She commited a crime, but the punishment should fit it. Not knowing who she is or what else she may have done, my first instinct would have been to give her nothing more than probation if this was her first offense. But, to say that nothing should have happened because "everyone does it", means that none of us should ever get arrested for speeding, stealing cable, shoplifting, etc...
Okay. Because I agree.
 
dinogeorge

dinogeorge

Member
Originally Posted by HappyVac
Okay. Because I agree.
Yeah. don't missunderstand my rants. I'm a human first...business man second. No, wait....human first, aquarium fanatic second...business man third. Feel bad for that lady. They will reduce that fine on appeal.
 
meleerock

meleerock

Member
Shouldnt the people who created these sites be the ones to get fined? I was a member of both napster and kazaa and did not think twice about downloading music, mostly because i was young, im only 19 now, and partly due to the fact that it was so easy to do. Keep in mind I do purchase all of the music I want now. These sites should have been shut down before they were even opened up.
 
jovial

jovial

Member
It's not the sites fault, the site is simply a tool that can be used for legal or illegal purposes.
 
tangman99

tangman99

Active Member
I think an important piece of information that has failed to be mentioned is that she is the first one that fought them in court. Others before her settled out of court and paid a much smaller amount. I don't remember what it was but it was only a couple of thousand I believe. I do think it was excessive and the punishment does not fit the crime. What she did was illegal. There is no arguing that point. But then again, these no talent idiots on cribs don't look like they are missing too many paychecks to me.
 
jovial

jovial

Member
Thats what I heard also. What would happen if more people decided not to settle and forced the RIAA to take them to court? Wonder if they would all lose big time like she did? Really hard to find sympathy for these big corps when they slam the crap out of people like this.
 
jovial

jovial

Member
Originally Posted by Dinogeorge
No man, I used to own a chain of stores and one of my employees thought that I "made too much money", and so she stole nearly $10,000 over a years time. After we busted her she was able to rationalize in her mind that taking my money was completely understandable, because I made too much. The fact that I worked 7 days a week for 7 years building my business, and risked my life saving had no bearing on anything to her.
Nothing drives me crazier than to listen to people rationalize stealing from someone else, because they figure the other person makes too much money.
isn't this what corporations do? Lets look at how much the average CEO makes compared to the people who keep the company afloat. Not 4 or 5 times more but over a 100x more than the average employee. How do you justify this? Many of these folks were put there not due to their hard work as in your case but because they are privileged. Plain and simple, the rags to riches story isn't as popular as people would believe. I'm a conservative but the greed and way many of these people treat the middle class disgusts me.
 
dinogeorge

dinogeorge

Member
Originally Posted by Jovial
I'm a conservative but the greed and way many of these people treat the middle class disgusts me.

There are people who have no soul or worry for their fellow man. They can ignore someone in need, and then drop $1000 on a weekend dinner with a couple of friends. It sickens me as much as you. But, I DO believe in the old saying, what goes around comes around. We pay for the road we travel.
 
jovial

jovial

Member
Originally Posted by Dinogeorge
There are people who have no soul or worry for their fellow man. They can ignore someone in need, and then drop $1000 on a weekend dinner with a couple of friends. It sickens me as much as you. But, I DO believe in the old saying, what goes around comes around. We pay for the road we travel.
Karma. I believe bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people.
 
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