Jammie Thomas-Rasset was fined (approx.) $80,000 for each of the 24 songs she was accused of sharing on the Kazaa file-sharing network back in 2005. The RIAA says she had 1,700 music files in her public folder, which is more like $1,129 a song, but really, math is hard enough.
Now, I never understood the music file-sharing thing. I don't understand how the RIAA claims ownership of these files.
I thought that "fair use" was allowed for copyrighted works, and that fair use was understood to allow up to 10% of something to be copied. This could be wrong, but this is the way I understand it.
So if I rip a song from a CD into an mp3 file, I am using software to compress the original data into a much smaller file. Here's an example:
A song is 50,529 KB uncompressed. And when I convert it at a 96 Kbps bitrate (a poor quality bitrate, but still listenable), it comes out as a 3,439 KB mp3 file.
The software says it was compressed at a ratio of 14 to 1 to equal a file that is 7% of the original file.
So if my understanding of fair use is correct, how can distributing 7% of something be a violation?
I know that these are different file formats, blah, blah, blah, but still, how does the RIAA argue that a file that is only 7% of the original is a "copy"?
Maybe their position is that no one should be able to enjoy something without paying for it. For example, here is 7% of the Mona Lisa:
Some people might say that's a pretty significant copy. But I still don't understand it.
Anyway, here is the list of the 24 songs Thomas-Rasset was fined $1.9 million for sharing. I wonder how much of that money the performers will ever see.
- Guns N Roses "Welcome to the Jungle"; "November Rain"
- Vanessa Williams "Save the Best for Last"
- Janet Jackson "Let's Wait Awhile"
- Gloria Estefan "Here We Are"; "Coming Out of the Dark"; "Rhythm is Gonna
Get You"
- Goo Goo Dolls "Iris"
- Journey "Faithfully"; "Don't Stop Believing"
- Sara McLachlan "Possession"; "Building a Mystery"
- Aerosmith "Cryin'"- Linkin Park "One Step Closer"
- Def Leppard "Pour Some Sugar on Me"
- Reba McEntire "One Honest Heart"
- Bryan Adams "Somebody"
- No Doubt "Bathwater"; "Hella Good"; "Different People"
- Sheryl Crow "Run Baby Run"
- Richard Marx "Now and Forever"
- Destiny's Child "Bills, Bills, Bills"
- Green Day "Basket Case"
Now that she's lost her battle, I wonder if someone could post a few of these songs online in the form of political protest.
Like, for example, these titles could represent Thomas-Rasset's story of persecution by the RIAA:
- Sara McLachlan "Possession"
- Sheryl Crow "Run Baby Run"
- Destiny's Child "Bills, Bills, Bills"
And these could represent the pain and humiliation she feels by the accusations of music piracy:
- Guns N Roses "Welcome to the Jungle"
- Aerosmith "Cryin'"
- Green Day "Basket Case"
And of course, Gloria Estefan's hit could be altered into the "Recording Industry is Gonna Get You."
Would the "political protest" argument work: "No, your honor, I am not a music pirate. I am making a public statement of outrage against the Nazi tactics of the RIAA. What, your honor? What do you mean, 'I hope you brought your checkbook?'"
Probably not. And I don't have $560,000 to pay the RIAA when I lose the case.
