Fuck the RIAA....This has to STOP!

[ThatsMyBarack]

http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/amplifier/148/minnesota-mom-hit-with-15-million-fine-for-downloading-24-songs/

[Confusious]

1. I always like how they put things

But as the constantly declining weekly Nielsen SoundScan sales figures demonstrate, nothing seems to have deterred music fans from stealing rather than purchasing songs and albums.

Not like there's a recession going on in the country or anything, with people desperately hold onto their homes. No, they should be out buying music!

[ixion]

3. That concept is a red herring, at best

It's not like people couldn't (and didn't) record cassette tapes, or reel-to-reel before that.

Yeah, RIAA needs to be reigned in hard.

[Confusious]

6. They say the same thing every time there's a recession

Which seem to be coming fast and furious these days. It's always the same load of shit.

[Toucano]

17. People used to record songs from the radio, too.

"Oh, my wost wevenue stweam!"

Ass monkeys, still making money on recordings that are 60 years old! No, that's not greed or nothin'!

[spanone]

2. 3 different juries found her guilty. guess she broke the law. stealing is stealing

http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7020435474?Minnesota%20Mom%20Ordered%20to%20Pay%20$1.5M%20for%20Illegally%20Downloading%2024%20Songs

[tinrobot]

8. So you fine someone millions for stealing something worth $31?

She stole 24 songs. On iTunes, they'd be worth $31, max.

How is that not cruel and unusual punishment?

[Confusious]

10. Yes, but the fine is excessive

and copyright law is excessive.

Might as well give everyone who steals so much as a pen life in prison.

[L0oniX]

16. Good thing it wasn't a pack of gum.

[madinmaryland]

4. And what's fucked up is that they were probably shitty songs by Rush.

:rofl:

[HughMoran]

7. Rush is one of my favorites

:rofl:

[miyazaki]

14. Mine too. Never understood the Anti-Rush Fools here. n/t

[HughMoran]

15. I'm not in love with a lot of music styles, but I NEVER criticize another person's musical choices

I have no idea why people think it's OK to bash certain bands - I never have and never will do that. I might express my distaste for a band and provide reasons, but never blind hatred.

[HooptieWagon]

5. ASCAP is a bigger crook than RIAA or downloaders. n/t

[Broken_Hero]

9. What a

fucking joke...so funny, I forgot to laugh. I can't believe the folks involved have the courage to ask for that much $$$ for the songs in question.

[Kievan Rus]

11. Intellectual property law is yet another thing KKKorporate America ruined...

for their own greedy benefit.

I do not condone illegal downloading and do not partake in it. I firmly believe that all artists deserve to be paid for their work. But what the corporate scum did to IP law is rather absurd.

Most notably are the insane copyright term extensions. Di$ney is rather notorious for this, as they have lobbied more than once since they don't want Mickey Mouse to go into the public domain. The term for copyright is now life of the creator plus seventy years. There is no decent reason for a copyright term that long. If we'd have always had one that long, then there'd still be stuff from the American Civil War under copyright.

Things were far more sensible when copyright was fifty-six years long, like back in the seventies. Hollywood, corporate shills and Teabaggers argue that long copyright terms encourage creativity, but anybody whose been paying attention knows it's hogwash. Look at the classic films we had in the seventies: The Godfather. Taxi Driver. Jaws. Network. George Lucas' original Star Wars. Rocky. The French Connection. One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest. The Deer Hunter. Annie Hall. It was arguably the golden age of cinema. Look at what we have now. Half the films playing at your local theater are either adaptions from a comic book, sequels/prequels, spin-offs, or remakes. While I'm not arguing that long copyright stifles creativity, it sure as hell doesn't help it.

Copyright, and intellectual property as a whole, was put in the Constitution as a compromise between the common good and individual good. Terms of copyright would last for a limited time, so that creators could turn a profit; but after a reasonable, set number of years, the copyright would expire and everybody could use and benefit from their work. But, like in so many other fields of our American discourse, the benefit of the common good as been destroyed so an already ultra-rich few can make even more money at the expense of everybody else.

[ikri]

12. And how much of that money will go to the artists involved?

$0

They'll never get a cent. All the lawsuits are aimed at keeping the labels relevant and have nothing to do with reclaiming lost money for the artists.

[aikoaiko]

13. These lawsuit judgments are wrong, but I have to admit that they made me stop downloading illegally.

:shrug: