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Little 12 year old old Brianna LaHara, sued by RIAA for downloading songs off Kazaa, is going to settle with RIAA for $2000. The Daily News' exclusive reports that LaHara's mother agreed to pay up (and said Brianna will not be file sharing anytime soon). RIAA was looking for up to $150,000 for the 1000 songs she downloaded, so maybe $2000 in the scheme of things didn't look so bad to LaHara's mother
Brianna herself says, "I am sorry for what I have done. I love music and don't want to hurt the artists I love." The DN tried contacting two of her favorite singers, Mariah Carey and Chrstina Aguliera (both multimillionaires, the newspaper points out), but there was no comment.
Some file-swappers who haven't settled are freaking out - one is a Columbia senior, sued for downloading Kid Rock and whose father passed away recently; she tells the DN, "I feel I'm at the breaking point. I just don't know how much more tragedy I can handle." Others are unchanged: NYU junior Kathy Aghalarpour says, "That's my life. I make, like, a different CD every week."
The heated debate on Gothamist's comments over file sharing and the state of the music industry from yesterday.
Updated: Emmett at Datatype is starting a collection plate for Brianna. Gothamist is going to kick in some dough, 'cause we were 12 and clueless once. Hell, we're almost 27 and we're still clueless.[Via boingboing]
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While I support the RIAA's lawsuits, I think it's great people are collecting money to help Brianna and her family. I expected such a grassroots movement, and wouldn't be all that surprised if Pearl Jam or Ani DiFranco (or some other socially conscious artist) throws a benefit concert.
Two thousand? That's such crap. She should have payed a fine equal to the marginal cost of production for the songs she "stole". That would have come to about $0.10
HysteRIAA:
the economics of music are more than just the cost of production after the creation of the unique work. Otherwise artists would be screwed over even more than they are now. While I am no fan of the record labels (nor the RIAA), this settlement is on the low side in my opinion.
the senior vp of RIAA was on the radio this morning (kroq in l.a.) and the dj made a point that RIAA is using downloading as an excuse for poor sales in this poor economy. this 12 year old wouldn't be out buying all this music anyway (i doubt she could pay for it on her 12 year old salary). someone else had made the point before that downloading doesn't seem to be affecting the careers of say, someone like fitty cent.
yr funny coolfer.... i doubt 12 yo Brianna would even know who pearl jam and ani difranco are.
like her mom said, she was "just using a service".
i would have liked to have seen this one go to court -- the amount of support for her and resentment toward the RIAA by the music consuming (and buying) public would be huge.
they got off lightly.
At the very most she should have paid $990, given how much Apple's music store charges per song. And at 1000 songs, you'd think she'd be entitled to some sort of bulk discount. The RIAA should be ashamed of itself; this was like stealing candy from a baby. Actually, that's pretty much exactly what it was.
Maybe bring Joe Camel back to do a public service campaign about how downloading pirated music is bad bad bad!
Agreed, it is doubtful that file sharing has seriously injured the music industry. If that were the case, you wouldn't see things like that punk Lil' Bow Wow playing cards with his other little friend and an anti of $160 on the table without batting an eyelash! (Say that in one breath.)
People have to understand that artists (and I use the term loosely) make a great majority of their money through concerts and the sales of paraphernalia. CD sales are really only a minuscule part of there income. Take into account also that just about all of them do commercials and movies, and get paid big that way, as well. The industry as a whole has a broad range of moneymaking tactics that are not likely to run out any time soon. They are a multi-tasking industry!
My story:
Having, at one time, been a big fan of Metalli-something I purchased quite a bit of their albums. Remember tapes - you played them until they were so warn that not even Dolby sound and Bose speakers could fix them? Well, I purchased the same tape three times because of that, and then I purchased the CD, which promptly got stolen. A few years later and I'm on Napster. My thought path was that I already bought the albums several times over, and there fore, was entitled to maintain copies of music I already owned or had owned at one point. How betrayed did I feel when my account was revoked because the group I loved decided they no longer wanted my patronage. After all, who downloads the music? The fans of that artist.
Yes, I understand that even their newest releases were being traded, and that I don't think is fair to them, but when long-time supporters are denied 15-year-old music that they most likely already owned, it is equally un-fair to the consumer.
Anyway, I no longer listen to that particular group, and even turn off the radio if it comes on. Besides, I found a metal group that kills them... Iced Earth! (... and I've purchased every single one of their CD's!)
In my opinion, the RIAA is being somewhat greedy. Seriously, how many people do you know would rather spend $15 on a CD that has eleven or so songs, when they can download all those songs for free (not counting internet connection and such)? Another thing: you hear of an underground band. I wouldn't go straight out and buy it then be disappointed. Why not download a few songs? Rawr.
It is a pretty sad state of affairs that these disgusting people have too much power over people's lives and are allowed to bully people into submission because they have money and power to do so...shameful & very shallow.
Well, that's show biz folks!
I believe eventually that all information will be free once in bit form. Books, inventions, music, movies, etc.
I believe that our economy will adjust accordingly around that.
Besides, I hate it when musicians of all people get rich :)