WHAT HEELS: $1.92M File-Sharing Verdict Hits Sour Note With Some Artists
Last week a jury ordered Jammie Thomas-Rasset to pay $80,000 for each of 24 tracks shared on Kazaa – an eye-popping $1.92 million, or more than five hundred times the cost of buying 24 entire CDs. The excessive punishment for her peer-to-peer music sharing did not sit well – with several recording artists, including at least one whose songs Thomas-Rasset had shared, reports Online Media Daily:
[T]hat judgment could prove surprisingly costly to the Recording Industry Association of America - at least in terms of public relations. …
Richard Marx, one of the musicians whose tracks Thomas-Rasset shared, said Wednesday that he was "ashamed" to be connected with the case. "It seems to me, especially in these extremely volatile economic times, that holding Ms. Thomas-Rasset accountable for the continuing daily actions of hundreds of thousands of people is, at best, misguided and at worst, farcical," he said in a statement to Ars Technica. "Ms. Thomas-Rasset, I think you got a raw deal, and I'm ashamed to have my name associated with this issue."
Musician Moby - not a fan of the RIAA - also took the organization to task over the verdict. "Punishing people for listening to music is exactly the wrong way to protect the music business," he wrote on his blog. "I don't know, but 'it's better to be feared than respected' doesn't seem like such a sustainable business model when it comes to consumer choice." …
[D]efense attorney Ray Beckerman told Online Media Daily that the "outlandish" $1.92 million verdict serves as an example of an instance where an award authorized by the Copyright Act appears excessive.
Heaven only knows that Thomas-Rasset should’ve known better, but kudos to Marx for understanding that it’s playing with fire and a fool’s game when you treat fans of your music as though they had their hands in your pocket.
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