RIAA Wants to Increase Filesharing Damages to $1.5 Million an Album, Just for Laughs
The amount that the RIAA gets in statutory damages in filesharing lawsuits is already completely bananas, but they still aren’t happy. The problem? Compilation CDs. A rascally pirate could rip 10 tracks from 10 CDs, say they came from a compilation and then only be culpable for one album. That’s not right! The RIAA would then be cheated out of money they could use to polish the rubies on the ends of their walking sticks!
So what are they doing? Pushing the PRO-IP Act through Congress that’ll increase the statutory damages for compilation albums to a whopping $1.5 million. Yes, if you get busted sharing a soundtrack or compilation album with multiple artists on it, the RIAA wants to count each track as its own album. You know, just for the heck of it.
With statutory damages already so out of the league of the rational and the justifiable, increasing the damages this much might actually happen. I mean, if they could justify $150,000 an album before, is it really such a leap to make that $1.5 million?
The moral of the story? Be careful and don’t get busted. [Ars Technica]
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Comments (AU Comments | US Comments)
Record companies are not in the business of finding new talent, publishing music or licensing intellectual property. These are common misconceptions.
They are in the business of finance. Their recording contracts stipulate that all products and services used by a musician must be bought through them at outrageous markups (up to 10,000 per cent). The artist then has to pay back those amounts. Even if the artist does magically pay back the money lent to them in the recording (finance) contract, they still don’t own their songs.
Imagine if after 30 years you paid off your mortgage but the bank said: “Sorry, we still own your house. Oh, and we are evicting you. But how would you like another $1 million to buy another one?”
That is how the recording companies work. Until you understand this very basic fact you can’t understand why the music cartel acts they way it does.