1.5-million-dollar verdict in US music piracy case

thatoneguy

Joined Feb 19, 2009
6,359
With computers you can reproduce at Industry
standards,and have a secondary market.
The problem is that the music and movie industry didn't think the internet would be a marketplace, and until recently, didn't think of it as important.

If Netflix and Amazon Music or iTunes were created with the birth of broadband home networking, there wouldn't be any issues.

The problem is artists who only release on CDs, knowing any .mp3 of their song is "theft". Which isn't quite true, back to the recording a song off a radio station, or making a "mix tape" for a friend, etc. There weren't problems then, it was normal and even encouraged.
 
copyright is copyright
the little R with the circle around it means something.
at least it used to.

back in the cassette or even the recordable 8-track days, more money was spent to purchase the blank tapes than what any possible revenue that may be generated may have been.

now it is just realigned electrons and the potential for cutting into profits for composers and performers is very real.
riaa is just a small portion of the industry that shares the value of recorded media.

everyone was fore-warned way back in the day of Napster and then Kazaa what the seriousness of the prosecution would be.

i have no pity for the woman.
the excessive fine will be absorbed by the recording artists at the end of the day. this will be the good faith example the artists will bestow on the woman. she will not pay squat
 

tom66

Joined May 9, 2009
2,595
Companies like RIAA are doomed unless they completely change their business model. (This is my opinion.)

People used to buy individual CD's for £10 or so, but they only played one or two tracks - the other tracks were just filler. But, now, as you can pick up singles for 69p each - that's all people do, buy the few songs they like, and don't buy the CD. This is like a tenfold decrease in profits. Piracy is actually quite low, almost nobody in my college knows what BitTorrent, Limewire etc. are.

Also, pop music sucks in my opinion. It's repetitive, meaningless nonsense. So I'm not going to download their music, but I'm also not paying for it. But whatever people like...
 

eblc1388

Joined Nov 28, 2008
1,542
So it would be OK if a new thumb drive were purchased for each song?
I would pause to response to that. I don't want a back and forth opinion argument. I value your opinion and thoughts and all those generated at this forum. Even those of Loosewire.

if a program or even an operating system were copied for use on another computer, depending on the situation, there are rewards up to a million dollars for turning in violators. I believe we can see the justification there. It takes millions of dollars to develope these things. we probably agree that video games should be protected as well. few argue the point. but when the argument turns to music reproduction it starts getting personal because we all do it or have done it.

There are two very valid sides to this argument.
One being the emotional little person against the huge corporate entity and the other being we are a nation of law and are governed accordingly.

It has been brought up that if a person steals a music or data CD from WallyWorld he is charged with the theft of a CD and the value thereof. He is not charged with the theft of the contents. If he were to take the contents of a disc and replicate the material for his own use, that can be considered as theft if someone was to pursue it.

We have become spoiled from having had the ability to record audio and to a lesser extent with the VHS format, videos onto blank tapes at will with little fear of prosecution. People that mass produced the same were actively hunted down and prosecuted to the full extent. We know this is true.

The fact that all of us now have the ability to mass produce and distribute all information and data on a scale of small to viral puts us at the risk of being considered for prosecution for stolen material. The courts will sort out the intent and seriousness on a case by case basis.

This story has reached the magnitude it has by the focus from the media as a David vs Goliath event.
As Bill Marsden said, there is more to this than just a poor lass saving a recording from her favorite artist.

SESAC, ASCAP, BMI etc all have been formed for one degree or another to defend the rights of creative endeavors.
The courts will decide. Decisions will be appealed. this is another argument.
 

Robin Mitchell

Joined Oct 25, 2009
819
in my opinion,

Downloading music is bad since its cheap.
Downloading films is another thing. The production companies who make films charge too much, its an outrage. Tom cruise does not need to be paid millions to make a film, no actor needs that much. There are people in the industry who do more for socitity and get less!

Downloading a flim, meh, i dont give a sh*t.
 
in my opinion,

Downloading music is bad since its cheap.
Downloading films is another thing. The production companies who make films charge too much, its an outrage. Tom cruise does not need to be paid millions to make a film, no actor needs that much. There are people in the industry who do more for socitity and get less!

Downloading a flim, meh, i dont give a sh*t.
I agree whole-heartedly.
and its a good thing too!
Because then Tom Cruise would make twice the millions and the poor shmucks that actually contribute to the well-being of our existence will still be discounted.
 

tom66

Joined May 9, 2009
2,595
I agree whole-heartedly.
and its a good thing too!
Because then Tom Cruise would make twice the millions and then the poor shmucks that actually contribute to the well-being of our existence will still be discounted.
Isn't Tom Cruise a scientologist? I imagine that's a considerable portion of his budget...
 

thatoneguy

Joined Feb 19, 2009
6,359
I would pause to response to that. I don't want a back and forth opinion argument. I value your opinion and thoughts and all those generated at this forum. Even those of Loosewire.
I only used the thumbdrive thing out, as the statement implied that the blank tapes cost more than the song being recorded. I took it as a matter of "as long as somebody is buying something, it is OK".

As for movies, lots of studios are cutting back, using as much "fresh talent", aka "cheap but decent" as they can. With the advent of BluRay, affordable widescreen/high resolution displays, and affordable 7 channel audio, people simply wait for the movie to come out on disc to watch, instead of going to a theater.

The problem isn't people transferring material digitally, the problem is that the music and movie companies are trying to keep the 8 track mindset alive and profitable.

I agree that the newer music essentially sucks, and the new movies are usually remakes of a theme already done, only with better special effects. I guess that is the grumpy old man showing there. :D
 

tom66

Joined May 9, 2009
2,595
You know that backs an article I recently read where it said with cell phones and computers these days we seeing the first of the generation of computer illiterate kids hitting colleges. I'm 34 and grew up with new computers coming out every year. Programmed in basic, used boot discs cause we didn't have enough memory to play this or that game, BBSing, etc... But now these kids know facebook and how to text. The average kid isn't a computer kid anymore. Anyways this article said that 60% of the kids entering as college freshman didn't know how to email because they had only TXT'ed their whole life. Who knows may be the computer field will become exclusive again.
Yeah, I've noticed that too. I thought it wasn't unusual to be able to program in several languages at my age, but apparently it's rare. A few kids in my computing class know C#, none know Python, PHP, C, etc.
 

beenthere

Joined Apr 20, 2004
15,819
I knew there was a reason I held onto my IBM DOS 6.2.3 disk.

With the advent of BluRay, affordable widescreen/high resolution displays, and affordable 7 channel audio, people simply wait for the movie to come out on disc to watch, instead of going to a theater.
No doubt there. I just watched "Avatar" on my son's home theater. The great part is that you can talk during the movie. While the effects are pretty awesome, the story is simply awful - much comment necessary. Where did the interest in "unobtainium" go to?

Movie SF is pretty awful stuff.
 
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