p2pnet.net News:- The RIAA has filed lawsuits against another 753 people it says shared music online without the permission of its owners, the members of the Big Four record label cartel.

For some reason, it seems to enjoy nailing peoole in groups of around 750 and the number of people sued by the industry, but who have never appeared in open court to have their cases actually tried and proven, is now approaching 10,000.

The RIAA’s full name is Recording Industry Association of America and yet only one of the cartel members, Warner Music, is actually American. The other three are Sony BMG Music Entertainment (Japan, Germany) EMI Group Plc (Britain) and the Universal’s Universal Music Group, owned by Vivendi (France).

In the meanwhile, the entertainment industry is trying to present itself and its components as honest, but hard-pressed, entities supported by contracted artists and associated bodies, all strongly united against p2p file sharers and p2p file sharing, a message carried repeatedly by most elements of the mainstream media as if it comes from credible sources.

However, “A prominent group of musicians and artists, breaking with colleagues and the major entertainment studios, is urging the Supreme Court not to hold online file-sharing services responsible for the acts of users who illegally trade songs, movies and software,” writes Jonathan Krim in the Washington Post.

He’s referring to the March 29 hearing when the major movie studio and record label cartels will for the third time try to overturn the MGM v Grokster ruling which says p2p companies are not responsible for what users do with the file sharing software.

“The group, which includes representatives of Steve Winwood, rapper Chuck D and the band Heart, said in court papers to be filed today that it condemns the stealing of copyrighted works. But it argues that popular services such as Grokster, Kazaa and others also provide a legal and critical alternative for artists to distribute their material.”

As we post this, the EFF and Public Knowledge are hosting a press conference discussing briefs filed by defendants and friends-of-the-court in MGM v Grokster.

Krim’s story goes on:

“ ‘Musicians are not universally united in opposition to peer-to-peer file sharing’ as the major records companies claim, according to a draft of the group’s court filing. ‘To the contrary, many musicians find peer-to-peer technology . . . allows them easily to reach a worldwide online audience. And to many musicians, the benefits of this . . . strongly outweigh the risks of copyright infringement’.

“The arguments are a stark counterweight to an aggressive push by the major recording and movie studios, and hundreds of musicians, actors and composers, to persuade the Supreme Court that file sharing damages the livelihoods of artists by robbing them of proper compensation for their work.”

“This case is simply the latest in a long string of instances in which copyright owners, frightened by a new technological development” seek to place restrictions on electronic devices, Internet access services, and even on personal computers to try to prevent piracy, said a filing by the major telephone, wireless and Internet service providers,” states Krim, continuing:

“Instead, said companies including SBC Communications Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc., the entertainment industry can properly continue to sue individual file-swappers who break the law.”

And as it tries to sell consumers into buying product on the one hand, it wants to raise it on the other.

Something you think we should know? tips[at]p2pnet.net

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See:-
never appeared - Silenced by Big Music, p2pnet, February 6, 2005
approaching 10,000 - RIAA nails more people, p2pnet, January 29, 2005
Washington Post - Artists Break With Industry on File Sharing, Washington Post, March 1, 2005
press conference - MGM v Grokster press conference, p2pnet, March 1, 2005
raise it - Big Music to hike mp3 prices?, p2pnet, March 1, 2005

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