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$2.4 million US for downloading 24 songs.

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by oz_media

Closed to new repliesThis discussion is closed. It stays readable, but it takes no new replies.

Although she was stupid enough to escape conviction the first time (2007) she got nailed good this time. Due to IP laws in the US, Jammie Thomas-Rasset (single mom) has to pay a 2.4 milion dollar fine for stealing music from the poor conglomerates who are just trying to earn a fair dollar.

First off she was dumb enough to use a P2P system like Kazaa and secondly she had JUST escaped a massive fine imposed in 2007, which was eventually tossed out as being ?wholly disproportionate? and ?oppressive?.

The fine is absolutely insane though, that is no trecovering a loss, that is using someone to set an example, in this case with fewer songs than most people's kids probably steal in a day, when their parents aren't around.

Considering that actually stealing 24 CD's from a retail outlet and selling them to friends for $5.00 ea would land you a charge of theft under, probably a few community service hours if it is a second offense and a small fine, isn't 2.5 MILLION a wee bit steep?

With the number of real criminals getting off for mych greater offenses, the only explanation is that she is being used as an example. How can a criminal justice system justify such a penalty for such a minor crime that has not cost anyone much of anything.

Make her pay 10X the CD cost, make her pay $1000 per disk even. Either way, the artists only lost 30 cents on the sale at best, what a sham for the RIAA who needs to sue isngle mom's for millions in order to stay afloat.

I think record companies are gettign scaredm their monopoly on an industry is dwindling, with mroe and mroe artists producing and releasing their own material, and one prime example against the system by GreenDay who released and album for free download and just went on teh sale of concert tickets, Now THAT's how an artist keeps his money in his own pocket. Free music, no payments to the RIAA, concert tickets then go to the artist and aren't used to simply pay back the studio for their costs.

http://www.zitzot.com/single-mother-loses-against-riaa-has-to-pay-24m/

51 replies

by notsochiguy

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?prov=ap&slug=ap-stallworth-pedestriankilled&type=lgns

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/columnist/saraceno/2004-05-06-saraceno_x.htm

Mike Vike did considerably more time for dog fighting/illegal gambling that both of those idiots combined 3x over for KILLING PEOPLE. What does that tell you about the priorities of our legal establishment?

Multi-Nationals > artists & individuals
Animals > individuals

Anyway, I'm stopping now, before I go into full-fledged rant mode.

by oz_media

A guy on his second offense of vehicular manslaughter, received 7 years. A guy who scammed less than $30,000 from his employer (book fudging) got 12yrs + extensive fines.

So our society/legal justice system deems that killing people on two separate occasions, after being banned from driving the firt time, is not as bad as embezzeiling a mere $30K from a multi-million dollar corporation.

Time to get out of town for a week, find a quiet mountain lake and forget about this side of the world for a while.

by notsochiguy

I just came back from vacation. After a handful of days with the local news and reading stuff online, I'm ready for the trip back!

;)

by deadly ernest

as a case of murder - too many courts and people see drunk driving as a weird accident, not attempted murder.

by notsochiguy

...between getting drunk, getting behind the wheel, and smashing someone to death and getting drunk, firing a gun into the air, and having the bullet go through someone's head.

That they are treated differently in the court of law is shameful!

by slayer_

I remember the millions of viruses you could get from Kazaa, it was impressive. I used to have K Lite running on a windows 95 machine (in 2003). It's anceint version fo Norton spent more time halting the system to prevent virus spreading than actually curing that machine. It was a good bet that every third download you would try would be a virus. I also had the weirest stuff set on my upload, and people were grabbing it. Stuff named like fhdjkhsjdfs.jpg, and people would download it in mass. I actually had my "Well Of Souls" graphics folder shared, and that was my most often hit folder.
Compared to Torrents now, Kazaa seems pretty pointless, I am amazed it still exists.

by oz_media

I still use the Klite codec pack, which is an excellent set of player codecs, but teh P2P system itself is horrific. I am mroe of a torrent/nzb user these days.

I share a lot of (valid) music via nzb newsgroups with people I work with in the US and USA.

I used to UTorrent but don't bother or have teh patience for that stuff as much these days.

I am also bound by different laws than people in the US, which makes it a little better anyway.

I remember when Kazaa became a pay service, like Napster, don't know what happened there.

I also hear UK's liewire is still in use too.

People prefer these weenie P2P system as it is easier to find indivuidual songs. I found that U-Torrent offered a better system becaus eyou could get the whole albums as a FLAC file and just download the songs you want to, if nto teh whole album. Better quality, less risk.

Our privacy is still protected to the point that the ISP will nto inform CRAII, RIAA or MPAA of your IP address, for now anyway.

by slayer_

And most of that crap died with API errors when run on Windows 95. So no issues :).

by jamesrl

In one lawsuit, they will spend less than they spent placing all those anti-piracy ads, and it will be more effective as a deterent than any ad.

Its shocking for us Canucks, but many lawsuit awards are shocking for us because the size of most awards are much higher than here. We have fewer suits, and smaller awards for the most part.

James

by oz_media

If our ISP's give out the personal information, they face greater charges for breaching our rights than they woul dfo rNOT offering the information to the plaintiff. Thus Canadians that HAVE been tried this way, usually don't see it amount to anything.

If the ISP gives up the info anyway, the supreme court will usually throw the evidence out as a rbeach of personal privacy as illustarted in our bill of rights.

They HAD similar protections in the US too, but they were quickly overlooked and overruled in favour of the corporations that fuel the USA.

by wild card

If they truly wanted to stop the download of music, they would go after the source. The source is internal to their system. They are the ones that have access to all the files and they seem to have an open door policy on letting them go.

How many times have you heard of an album that "leaked" to the Internet. They make it seem like the tracks just oozed through some pipe and ended up there. Someone is pushing send.

But if they stop that from happening, no new music would get out there. There would be no "sneak peeks" or "exclusives".

But the RIAA has to make it look like they are making an effort to stop it. A high money case with a single mother involved does just that. It wouldn't surprise me if the mother was in on it and got a kickback for going along with it.

Now some of you may be eyeing up my tin foil hat and saying "Why would the RIAA do this?" The answer is money. If they "lose" money with downloads and piracy they can justify paying the artist less, while keeping the extra for themselves. Despite all these losses they have tripled profits over the past two years.

by oz_media

" The source is internal to their system. They are the ones that have access to all the files and they seem to have an open door policy on letting them go. "

Screeners, for movies, are sent to thousands of people for award and review consideration purposes. I've been given movies to watch before release LONG before P2P file sharing was posssible. They have always been traded.

Most these days are also CAMS where someone in teh inudstry, a reviewer, movie store owner, etc. gets ot watch a film screener and will record it.

Then there are R5's. These are movies released in Russia weeks before anywhere else. R5 releases don't include extra footage scenes added or deleted last minute etc. They did it purposely so that early copies would no be geniune, hoping tha people would desire the bonus scenes etc. But that has become the largest source of movie downloads now, being DVD quality releases. After that its just a matter of teh first guy to buy a copy or the DVD to release it.

Music, most artists don't mind P2P file sharing, their labels however HATE it. The artists benefits from exposure, they get bugger all from teh label for sales anyway and just look to gain more public exposure around teh world to sell concet tickets and keep them in radio rotation so they get paid royalties. The labels hate it because THEY make all their money from sales and don't mae nearly as much from a tour or radio rotation (where the writer picks up the main royalties).

I work in the music industry and have seen many bands now PURPOSELY leak their own disk on the internet. Early feedback helps them make last minute changes, remove or add tracks and get a good demographic for marketing purposes. It is also for teh hype, peopl ethink they are getting somethng special this way, being first.

Slayer, actually delayed release of their CD after it was purposely let loose on the public network, they rearranged teh songs, cut an intro and rereleased it properly where it received rave revies, they are definitely not teh only ones either.

"If they "lose" money with downloads and piracy they can justify paying the artist less, while keeping the extra for themselves"

Interesting theory but definitely far from teh truth.

Either way, both the RIAA and the writer gets the exact same amount of money. It's not like they (artists) all get a different deal, they will be offered one of three deals and take what seems best.

Why do yuo think so many artists live up to the 2 or 3 CD contract, disappear for a year or two and then come back to release a CD under their OWN label?

by jck

I hope to be doing to the medical establishment what they did to her.

I hope I get that much money. If so, I'm retiring and nagging all of you on TechRepublic daily. :^0

BTW Oz, isn't that why Greenday and other artists are doing that now? Because they have realized that they make nothing on sales and most of their money on touring?

I hope the recording industry, as we have known it for 100 years, goes under.

Corporate greed has been the reason so many great artists, scientists, thinkers, and other would-be contributors to society have been repressed.

by oz_media

Didn't I just say that though?

Greenday, like thousands of others, lived on the label's wallet for two years. They at and drink well, party and make a record. They then go on tour and rent a tour bus, suppor musicians, stage hands, sound engineers, stage management, security, teh backstage waivers etc. NONE of it is free or gratis from teh promoters as some think.

When their album sells on the back of the tour, the label then deducts all of those costs (most of tehm anyway) from the money the artist earned off the record sales. This is how so many top 10 artists are broke after a few years and suing managers for pushign them to sign a bad deal.

After they complete their initial obligtions, they are history and make their OWN album and release it under their own label. In other words, the RIAA develps teh band and gets them started, then the artost pays their ill and leaves. RIAA is suffering more by artists making their own releases than they do lost music sales. Fact is, they give a crappy deal and the artist leaves asap.

They have had a near monopoly on the market here for years, they own radio stations, recording studios, retail outlets, venues, even airlines for transport, which means they have full control and nobody else had a shot, couldn't get airtime, couldn't get store placement etc. unless they signed with a label.

Their business model is falling apart, the artists are winning and THAT really pisses them off!

by jck

As little as I am into Jay Z and Madonna, I am glad folks like them start their own labels, do their own A&R, and handle other artists. I think they have more of an appreciation for the work it takes to make a CD than some guy who graduated from Wharton with an MBA.

I have always wondered why some strong, long-time, legendary, money-wielding artists like Paul McCartney, Elton John, Billy Joel, Madonna, et. al., didn't start a huge recording label and just cut Columbia, Elektra, etc., out of the business for good.

God...I know if I actually became a full-time artist and James Taylor walked up to me with and talked about signing a record deal, I'd be more likely to listen than some suit from Sony.

by dhcdbd

For the Eighth US Appellate Court to hear the matter, then an En Banc hearing, then an appeal to SCOTUS. We need to put this into perspective that Thomas's attorney and the Harvard attorney are setting the stage to over turn IP law in regard to the music industry.

This loss may have been planned to set the stage in the event that a class action suit in preparation fails. Thomas only put up one withness - herself, despite the fact that that is virtually guaranteeing that your case is lost even though she had a slew of experts to call on.

by oz_media

It has been adjusted a few times but the base concept has been turned down more than twice already. It has now been amended to mainly focus on crimes such as child pornography, hiding credit card scams behind proxies etc.

When it was first tabled (proposed by the MPAA), it was quickly denied due to to the focus on file sharing networks.

It has also been carefully rewritten to observe Canadian's privacy rights and, just as always, when CRIAA whines the supreme court judge will let them continue to whine.

There is a VERY clear and obvious difference bewteen the concern of our rights vs a complete lack of concern shown from US and some other nations that followed the leader. Our supreme court judges REALLY hang onto the Bill of Rights.

As you very well know, our politicians and courts consider the opinions of citizens over and above anything else.

The new Transmission of data amendment, which is an addition to the existing act that allows police to trace a telephone call known to be for coordinating child sex crimes or for sexual exploitation of children(s. 492.2 of the Criminal Code) is to be ammended ot include data transmission, still dependant on being first issued a warrant to investigate. THIS warrant will be the hard one to get when it comes to CRIA and the likes demanding action. Police don't demand action in these file sharing instances themselves, they are seeking financial crimes and most importantly, child pornography. It is always CRIA acting on behalf of the MPAA or RIAA that is making noise and wanting police to act on their behalf. Even CRIA takes a backseat in most cases these days, knowing they get expensive and will not be tried, and makes RIAA act unsupported for themselves.

"A preservation order is a "quick-freeze", temporary order, and would only be in effect for as long as it takes law enforcement to return with a search warrant or production order to obtain the data. This is not data retention. [b]Contrary to what is the case in some other countries, the amendments would not require custodians of data to collect and store data for a prescribed period of time for all subscribers,[/b] regardless of whether or not they are subject to an investigation. A preservation order is restricted to the data that would assist in a specific investigation"

It's pretty clear what the objective and purpose is and the possibility of misuse has already been addressed, requiring ammendments to the original propsal and a much more definite description of application.

I'm not saying it CAN'T happen, but the likeliness that it WILL happen (with respect to file sharing) is EXTREMELY thin indeed and all but impossible, except for extreme cases where criminal activity would be someone reselling copies on the black market.

Note that this is also being put forth mainly for the benefit of police child pornography task forces who's hands are tied with respect to serious child pornography crimes, it is not an answer to CRIA, RIAA or the MPAA's demands for private information.

by jaqui

sorry, but since most of the Canadian ISPs bill for extra data transfer, under financial regulations they have to keep the data anyway, for 7 years.

it's the few that don't have billing for extra data transfer that the data retention is aimed at.

by oz_media

I have two connections, my business connection, guaranteed QOS etc., is really f'in expensive!! Looking at $199.00 + and I get 20GB with it.

But my general Shaw service is SUPPOSED to be capped but I have run over MANY times and have yet to have a warning or extra charges.

Under financial regulations they have ot keep the customer billing information but NOT the data. This retention of data is actually the time, file dowloaded, path, IP address etc etc etc. They can fully trace when and where you've been somewhere.

BUT, again it is applied for pOlice use, you know teh bes task forces they set up a few years back for fighting cyber crimes, these guys don't give a rat's about file sharing though. They are out for online scams, crdit card fraud, child pornography, online sex trades etc. THey really don' tcare if yuo have a free copy of Def Leppards Hysteria, though the RIAA does and CRIA is supposed to be upset but also see reality.

However, those organizations do NOT have teh power to obtain a warrant and personal information themselves, just the police and the police have better things to do with their task force than spend resources, time and money chasing file sharing issues for another corporation to benefit from.

That's my main point anyway.

by oz_media

I just had a couple of weeks off because I was burned out on work. But that doesn't mean the sunshine and lakes don't becon me 24/7, I just booked another week off after posting because it just seemed necessary to me.

by deadly ernest

protest? If so we should organise one to run for a month or two in support of this woman. Get everyone we can to NOT buy any copyright music or movies for a month and see how they respond to the income drop - heck I'd like to see it happen for a full year but I doubt we could get the kids to join in that long.

by jck

Is some hackers get into the PCs of the RIAA execs' families and see if their families have inappropriately downloaded music and P2P sites on their home machines.

I would love to see some high-paid RIAA lawyer owe his own employer about $50M. :^0

by oz_media

Even in my more insigificant corner of the industry I get sent heaps of music, even by larger artists and laels all the time. I've reviewed CD's for local mags befroe so I am still on their mailing list and get just about any genre of music sent to me on a regular basis. Far less from Europe, which is what I really prefer but if I go looking or ask I can always get a copy too.

by jck

probably has that benefit.

I don't think the legal staff gets the stacks of promo CDs like you or my friends who are DJs/presenters do. I am sure they could get access to them if they wanted to, but you know how most people are; no need to go to the effort of getting them if you don't have to.

Besides, their kids probably don't even ask...and just do like every other kid...get the P2P client and start grabbing.

I'd just like to see RIAA's insiders busted for huge sums like they're doing to the little people who are really only costing them $100s rather than $1Ms in damages.

by oz_media

I agree that it's not really premeditated but the offense is where that becomes vague. When driving drunk and killign someone, it is vehicula manslaughter, not juts manslaughter. So therefore the offense is DRINKING an driving. The drinking part is premeditated and so is the decision to start the car, therefore how is it NOT tried as premeditated vehicular manslaughter?

the gun part, well I'm in Canada, we have mroe guns that you do but just don't use them for anything.

by the scummy one

except for the canadian gun thing. Not gonna comment.

I do think that drinking and driving should be premeditated vehicular manslaughter.

I would like to point out though, that the reasons behind it are likely more due to keeping the jails with less people, since they are already crowded. Not an excuse in my opinion (many of those in prison should be put to death instead of wasting away in there).

by oz_media

The established bands have already been screwed, earned a reputation and now dictate to the lucky label they choose. They mainly benefit from carefully monitored and controlled distribution in North America.

Take others though, Iron Maiden for example. Several years back they amalgamated a few companies into Sanctuary Music (Sanctuary records being their home grown starting point). Sanctuary music includes Astreus airlines (which the lead singer flies his day job for as a commercial pilot), they own theatres around the world, a MAJOR label and recording studio, touring companies etc. Sanctuary Music Group is its own conglomerate, distanced from the big four. THEY pick up their own support acts and through teh magic of Sanctuary, they become stars or at least have the opportunity to prove themselves and try to be famous.

The late Les Binks of Judas Priest fame, do similar on a smaller scale where he opened a stuiod and worked with young bands and produced/engineered for them, giving them pro sound at minimal costs and without the need to sell their souls.

Artists that have made it, and finally escaped the confines of the industry, are reaching out and helping others and that is the most exhilirating change in music over the last 15 years and somethign teh big four can't touch, they can't stop them, they can't buy them out they can't do anything but look for another young mug to come along and sign into their web. But even that is getting tougher as teh smaller, more reasonable, private labels are far more accessible and inviting for young artists.

Yes, you're right, it's a beautiful thing indeed and one that keeps me in a positive mood about the industry these days!

by jck

To see what they do (the major labels) and how they do it makes me sick.

I heard about how a major corporation that owns television, radio, studios, airlines, etc., did what you said with the billing for cost of services to the artists.

Funny thing was, they gave their own artist no cost break on things like travel, hotel, recording and engineering, etc. They charged them full rate for everything.

It's sickening that a band works their arse off to put out great product, and they profit so little while the executives sit on their butts and draw huge paychecks being able to hire and fire people.

I'd just like to see a dozen or so big artists throw together about $500M-750M and start their own label and start recruiting all the good acts away from the big labels and drive them into bankruptcy.

I think a more modern business model of a label would be able to do it within 3-5 years.

Of course, then we'd probably have guys like Tommy Mattola running healthcare companies. :^0

by oz_media

First off, the big 4 own everything. SO even if someone bought a major artist out of a contract, millions, and offered their own millions, the smaller label does not own the recod store or radio station. This makes retail presentation and sitribution next to impossible (and why people are forced to sign to get ahead) and they can't get airplay because the paid rotation is full by the other 'big four' label.

Believe me, I've seen and tried a million ways around it, the only way ot get a FAIR break these days is to do it in another country. Japanese outlets are quick to offer distribution deals, that are also quick to bootleg it and sell boot copies in the same store when your original 40 are sold.

The UK and Europe as a whole are HUGE for distribution deals, but while you will gain a lot of followers, the industry is just full of new bands and new labels, it's fair but saturated, it's a lot of work staying in the spotlight.

Brazil? They don't do much as far as record deals but once fans love you, you could go away for 50 years and still go back to those same fans, waiting patiently for you to come again.

The USA, inundated market due to low quality productions, just pumping out the next band, flavour of the week.

US fans are not loyal at all, if you take 6 months off after a tour or go back to teh studio for more than 3 months, they will flame you as a comback group trying to cash in on your past fame. You can be top of the pack on week and if SONY decides to market another band, you'll be forgotten next week.

It's a tough racket and very few people, especially out here, see just how corrupt it is and how North American fans are lead by their wallets, and follow without argument, like good little sheep.

You have to REALLY REALLY want to be a working musician for life, if you are just looking for a quick buck and superstar status, you'll be very disappointed.

Just look at the metal era survivors, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Megadeth, Slayer, Testament, Ozzy Osbourne, Zakk Wylde (Black Label Society), Maowar, Alice Cooper etc.

These are acts that have been around since the 80's and 80's, when they worked their arses off to get somewhere. Nowadays, they are teh soul survivors in their genre, THOUSANDS of others come and go, but nobody has teh longevity of the founders. They KNOW what it takes, they have lost and regained entire fanbses wordwide and all with little airplay and just a LOT of hard word.

Zakk Wylde /BLS are JUSt finishing a tour up, then they go with 3 days off and start anothet US leg to promote the new fanclub. When that's done in another 10 weeks, Zakk (also Ozzy's guitarist) goes to the UK to finish off a new album with Ozzy, then stright back to the US to finish off the bed tracks on the new BLS CD, then a month later off for rehearsals for the Ozzy tour, THEN th eOzzy tour itself, by then the BLS CD will e ready for finishing and the BLS tour will begin AGAIN.

And people wonder why I don't support mainstream bands; respect in the music industry is earned, through continual hard work for a looooong time.

by slayer_

He had 800gb downloaded, over his 60gb limit. They gave him a warning :).

They just upgraded my internet (finally), and they seem to have screwed up their caps. My friend (same guy) gets highspeed ultimate, which tends to give him roughly 1mbyte per second download speeds.

I tried shaws 20meg speed test, and it downloaded the 20 meg file faster than the time it took me to bring my download manager from firefox into focus. 20 megs in less than a second. Connected to their server and speedtest website, it shows 36 mbps.

And I tried it on those Nix distro sites, I easily get over 3mbytes per second on some of them. I only pay for regular shaw.

by snuffy09

I think that damn bonzi buddy thing was pretty bad also - The monkey that spoke "microsoft sam" lol

by slayer_

I am not sure if it wa smalware or not, but it sure seemed useless and it installed itself without permission. So I figure that counted.

by oz_media

It got tougher though as only one or two developers were still makign valid 'cleaned' copies atfer a few years, but then along came UTorrent and eth world changed again. Utorrent installs NOTHING, the torrents can be foud at several; very reliable sources where all links are tested and virus free (though some serial creators show a false positive in AV software). Thos old cam movies are pretty much a thing of eth past, with quality screeners and R5's, if not DVD rips now the norm. YOu can get a LOT mor full CD's as FLAC files, instead of over compressed MP3's with bugs, damaged data (skippign etc).

Unfortunately at the same time, DVD quality has been reduced, CD quality and recordings have gone to crap, ensuring that more and mroe people decide not to buy anything until it's tried and tested, most of the time for crappy i-Pod earbuds anyway.

by oz_media

I get lightning speed test results but that's not Shaw's real time speed just a path to test servers. I run tests on servers around eth gloe quite often and I find the tests do not offer an accurate mark which depends on congestion the websites server speed, caps operators put on servers to manage bandwidth etc. They (Shaw)DO throttle connections too, so if you are a torrent downloader you need to proxy Utorrent to avoid throttling.

I've actually had their staff agree to throttling and limiting access to sites. When I explained WHY I needed access to filesharing and newgroup sites they had it flying again in a couple of minutes.

But compared to Telus, MTB in your case and Bell, Shaw is light years ahead on all aspects.

by slayer_

the 60kbps cap is just too low, I can't even get VOIP phone with that!.

And I know that cable hs equal upload and download abilities, unlike DSL, so there is no excuse for the low low cap.

by oz_media

It;s a fact, we have more guns, per capita, than you do in the USA. Yet they are not used to commit crimes even 10% as often as in the USA. Not starting anything, just offering comparison.

To not lock someone up, who is irresponsible enough to drink AND drive AND kill someone, is irresponsibility on the part of the legal system. Lock a guy up for 15 years for uying an ounce of weed, or lock a guy up for killing people with his car due to a drinking problem?

Difference is, alcohol is legal and the government relies on the sale of alcohol to stay alive. Just think of all the wino's who are putting bullet proof jackets on your soldiers while at war by buying alcohol.

The smoker with the ounce proably wouldn't koin the army, isn't being taxed on his harmless habit and can't really be controlled except to make his personal choice
illegal and lock him up at your expense for his choices.

I know, nonw of it makes sense, and its not much better here either except that have began to see just how harmless soft drugs are and how dangerous legal drugs are.

by oz_media

Surely you jest? My upload is close to 1.5 mbps.

60 KILOBITS!?

Methinks you are getting scroood. This is through MBT?

by slayer_

And I use Shaw. Its terriable and really irritating. But, MTS internet is only 45kbytes per second, so it's even worse!

The only good thing is I completely screw them right now with download speeds. I pay half the price of my friend, but get twice the download speed as him. He gets 120kbytes per second upload. Still pathetic.

by oz_media

First I said MTB then it sounded wrong so I went with MBT then read MTS in your post and went Ahhhhhh, THAT'S it!

Been a while since I worked in Canadian telecom, with the old Stentor crowd and provincial telcos anyway.

I was confusing it with BTN, I think, Billing Telephone Number.

by oz_media

I thought you were implying that these things are usually leaked by people inside. My point was that the 'insiders' are a LOT of people worldwide who are on major mailing lists for the products.

The labels seek US out, I don't go looking for the product, but an affiliation is enough that they want you to hear and offer input on it. It's all about blanket exposure, they really don't have any idea WHO they are sending stuff to. It could be a person that moved and still gets copies ot an old address, a teenager loves the fact that these incorrect mailings turn up. The original recipient would still receive them to a new address, these are huge lists not a handful of people.

But I agree, they should turn out a bunch of RIAA, CRIA and MPAA employees and drag them into court, they'd earn some respect but at the same time kill any hopes of suing others.

by jck

I have a friend who is a presenter (radio DJ) in Ireland who got me a copy of The Corrs "Home" CD before it was released in the US or Europe.

It's nice to have friends, eh? :D

by censo

I concur with your sentiment on the ruling, but for heaven's sake, proof-read your work! Your article is littered with spelling errors and gramatically incorrect syntax. Take your time.

by oz_media

I don't care, I'll do better when we are graded/paid for our typing skills.

You're American anyway, what the hell do you know about spelling or grammar, other than the bastardized versions Americans blurt out in their nonsensical drawl.
I guess that should actually be other THEN Americans blurt out....

Oh, new poster, welcome aboard.

Don't start out by correcting people, you will not last that way.

by oz_media

Just something of interest I ran into:
Rob Halford has started his own imprint on Metal God Entertainment, Metal God Records.

Talking about this new venture, Halford has said: ?It?s been a long desire of mine to be a co-owner and participate in the operation of a label focused on supporting the rock and metal communities. The infrastructure we have been assembling at Metal God Entertainment now allows myself and other artists to benefit from Metal God records global physical and digital distribution networks, promotion and marketing services, apparel products and a broad range of artist and repertoire services.?

There you have it. Buh bye Sony. They just resigned with SONY in 95, I don't know if JP will remain under that label or move under the new Metal God label,it depsnds on cratract obligations I suppose but 4 years he should be free already.

NOTE: This also makes sense with back catalogues. All major labels that pick up new bands go for the remastered back catalogue, to pick up on all new sales by a top artist without doing any extra work.

That's why you someimtes see, digital remasters, then a year later the exact same CD Digitally remastered...from original tracks, etc.

LOL, I just checked Halford's site and they have remastered copies of music that was originally digitally recorded, for FIGHT and HALFORD, two bands he had between his Priest years and now RECENTLY SIGNED to Metal God Records. I guess I can let him get away with remastering his own music under his own label though. From first hand experience, I know a couple of remasters I've worked on were much better than the first releases, though with a new band that was improving over time.

by jck

It would take some shenanigans to pull it off, but with enough savvy it could be done.

With CBS/Infinity selling so many stations over the past year, they could have broken in then.

As for getting into retail outlets, that's not too hard...Best Buy is always willing, and so is Wal-Mart if you're not considered "offensive" by the religious right.

Nonetheless, I'd love to see someone break the current system. If it happens, I think it's gonna be done through the internet and some form of satellite transmission. There's so much internet radio and the tech is there, people know and are sick of looking for a new station every 2 hours they drive.

I mean, that's one reason I got Sirius. Tons of music, Howard Stern is on there, they have all the sports I give a crap about.

But, their merger with XM did nothing Mel Karmizan said it would. My rate went up, not down. And, they cut channels/personnel and are still charging me more for my Sirius and extra if I want the "Best of XM" channels. What a crock of crap.

I figured out...Sirius said they had 8M subscriptions alone. If those are all single radios, that was $104M a month or $1.25B per year they take in. That means after they pay Stern his $100M a year for 5 years, they have $1.15B a year. I know their satellite cost $300M+, so that's -$60M a year more so they still have almost $1.1B a year to pay all the other personalities, staff, bills, etc.

Why the hell were they going broke? Cause they were stupid enough to locate in Manhattan and are paying $10M a month for office space? Why?

I just don't get it. I think Sirius has gone to the dogs now business wise. Karmizan lied about that it was going to save Sirius subscribers money when they merged with XM.

Just another corporation doing the people wrong.

by jck

about Rob Halford doing that.

I hope more opulent artists follow suit.

It would do good to see the big labels being forced to take the pay away from the big-wigs and give it to the people actually working their arses off to make the product to sell.

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