The penalty should be....you pay double the price of the download, and you get to keep the music.
Perhaps Jammie Thomas-Rasset should apply for some bail out money.
Maybe we need another Czar to deal with this problem.

I think its extremely heavy handed. How did the judge justify this fine? Whats next jail time for down loading music?


I think I'm gonna sue my employer for taking time away from my guitar playing. Hey who knows, maybe I'll win, the judicial system allows anyone to sue anyone, hell, its the american dream now, find someone to sue!!!!

Dude,

There's more going on to this story than what's on the surface. You're looking at a woman was probably in it for some publicity and pretty stupid to boot for 1) getting caught in the first place and 2) letting it get to litigation stage, and the record companies who are more interested in obtaining a landmark victory against a moronic scapegoat than actually collecting a tangible dollar amount.

I don't know the facts. While, at first glace, the damages seem a bit extreme, it is impossible to make a judgment based on the names of the parties, the alleged misconduct, and the final result.
I am sure that Ms. Thomas-Rasset will be appealing and the appellant court will mitigate the damages. Sometimes judges do outrageous things like this in order to get the appellant court to set a precedent where none currently exists.

I wish the record industry would just admit that they have no f'ing clue. None. They shunned digital music instead of embracing it and 10 years later they are behind the times and going broke; too many bean counters, not enough artist development, and the worst business model next to GM. Now they are suing individual people for downloading music. Yes, it is breaking the law, but it looks like a big, spoiled toddler smashing all of the toys in the play room.

Mean while smaller labels like Matador Records are doing great business by pressing nicely mastered 180 gram vinyl that include a free digital download.

I'm beginning to wonder if the record industry has just stopped making CDs and gone into the litigation buisiness.

1.92 million is a drop in the bucket compared to what they are losing now that so many people are "illegally" sharing music. Which is a good thing I hope a lot more of this negative publicity comes out and drives the entire industry right into the ground. It is my sincere hope these record companies go out of business. Serves them right for being so short sighted and greedy. It's my hope the recording industry is steamrolled and replaced with a music industry.

I wonder if the government is going to bail them out too.

Amen Evol!

I don't know how anyone can afford to go to a concert anymore. I was just curious if anyone knows how Ticketmaster and Live Nation control this situation. Do they have exclusive rights to the individual venues or to the acts through the label? I know Pearl Jam took a shot at trying to get away from TM back in the 90's so I would suggest it is the venue's that TM and LN have locked up but surely there must be someway to liberate this industry from these greedy pricks. Hell I'd settle for outdoor concerts in the middle of a field before I paid either of these assholes to sit in an stadium / arena again.

The wrong approach was taken in trying to stop piracy via mp3 downloads from the beginning. If the system would have started out with fining and suing the individual downloaders this would have been snuffed out years ago.

The problem is that everyone was doing it. I think the volume of this piracy has been reduced significantly though.

I agree that 2 Million for 25 songs is ridiculous. I guess the trial and attorney expenses are wrapped up in that figure some how. It can't be for damages....

There has to be some extraordinary circumstances. I know a girl who got sued for the same thing by the same people and she settled for something like $1200.

the music industry is its own virtual communist country. i think there should be a ban on album sales from this entity

Thats rediculos. I use dont youse limewire but i get my music without it being illegall theres a couple sites that are like european sharing sites. Where i can get songs for 2 cents and its not illegall. The law says you must pay for it being legal. It even gives yu a printible recept. So just thought i should throw that lil loophole in this thread : )

I at one point downloaded music illegaly (Napster) but stopped because I realized the industry has a valid point. HOWEVER... it just pisses me off to no end to think of the money that I've spent supporting bands... Growing up I accumulated monster record collection, out of which purchased a lot of the same one's on cassette and then when CD's came out purchases AGAIN to get the CDs. Just an example take Metalica's Ride the Lightning... Got the Album, Casette and I've purchased the CD a couple times due to losing it. I had the T Shirt.. I even have a freakin Rde the Lightning Zippo liter. I've seen them in concert like 4 times... And it just kills me when the industry says they're going broke. HOW?

Now my frustrations still do not change my view that it is wrong to download music without purchasing it. It just seems the industry has turned it's back on people like me and many others out there that have made them these huge powerhouses in the first place.

She would get less if she were got bootlegging dvds

Last week a judge ruled Minnesota mom Jammie Thomas-Rasset owes the RIAA a $1.92 million fine for illegally downloading 24 songs. Richard Marx — one of the artists whose music Thomas-Rasset downloaded via P2P network Kazaa — is now speaking out against the court’s verdict, saying he’s “ashamed” to be associated with the massive fine.

“As a longtime professional songwriter, I have always objected to the practice of illegal downloading of music. I have also always, however, been sympathetic to the average music fan, who has been consistently financially abused by the greedy actions of major labels,” Marx said in a statement. “These labels, until recently, were responsible for the distribution of the majority of recorded music, and instead of nurturing the industry and doing their best to provide the highest quality of music to the fans, they predominantly chose to ream the consumer and fill their pockets.”

He continued, “So now we have a ‘judgment’ in a case of illegal downloading, and 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. Her accountability itself is not in question, but this show of force posing as judicial come-uppance is clearly abusive. Ms. Thomas Rasset, I think you got a raw deal, and I’m ashamed to have my name associated with this issue.”

Marx isn’t the only artist to take umbrage with the ruling against Thomas-Rasset. Writing on his official Website, Moby said, “What utter nonsense. This is how the record companies want to protect themselves? Suing suburban moms for listening to music? Charging $80,000 per song? Punishing people for listening to music is exactly the wrong way to protect the music business.”

In the first trial against Jammie Thomas-Rasset in 2007, she was found guilty and charged with a $222,000 fine. However, that verdict was thrown out because of an error in jury instruction, setting the stage for the retrial and an even more colossal $1.92 million fine. The RIAA, who don’t actually expect Thomas-Rasset to pay the huge fee and instead see the verdict as a cautionary tale for those planning to illegally download, said they’d be open to make a settlement with Jammie. Still, Moby writes, “I’m so sorry that any music fan anywhere is ever made to feel bad for making the effort to listen to music. The RIAA needs to be disbanded.”