Let’s talk hypothetically for a moment. Let’s say you’re the average American (or wherever you’re from), going to school or working for The Man. Let’s say that you occasionally download an MP3 or FLAC from wherever you get such things. Now, do you have $150,000 to give to the RIAA for every song you’ve downloaded? I sure as heck don’t! (I’d need a government bailout, lol!) More importantly, why is $150,000 an appropriate amount to ask for, as Sony seems to suggest? If I can buy a song off iTunes for $1.30, how is it that “finding” that same song could cost me $150,000?
There’s another one of the RIAA vs. Some Guy court cases going on right now, and the defense attorney asked Sony’s lawyers to put a number on per-infringement damages. Sony wouldn’t, instead saying that, under the law, damages can range from $750-$150,000.
Now, I’m not a doctor, not even in the Dr. Nick sense, but on what planet does Some Guy downloading a song, or an album, or 100 albums, equate to $150,000 in damages? It just seems so ridiculous to me.
Even more to the point, is anyone else a little tired of the RIAA? Like, even reading about it, and its wacky exploits, its insane monetary demands, just doesn’t have the same punch as it did in 2004. The Internet could use a new boogeyman.
They after the “damages” from downloading a song illegally, I suppose. My guess is that the $150K figure won’t hold any water, except in the eyes of Sony and the RIAA.
The courts should treat it just like any other theft case. The cost of a song is approx 1.30. Multiply that times the number of songs stolen, add the lawyer fees – court costs – etc, and add a theft misdemeanor to the persons record.
That’s the cost to buy the song. The cost of the song itself (the data downloaded) is almost nothing at all. In reality, the “damages”, or money lost, couldn’t even get close to $10 for downloading a complete discography.
Aren’t there studies that show downloading actually increases album sales? Sony and the RIAA have their heads in their asses when it comes to digital music and this just proves that. I would not pay $150,000 for all music made since the dawn of Napster and downloading – let alone one crappy song by Nickelback.