arstechnica.com — It's reasonably clear that the RIAA chose to head to trial with a case it knew it would win. Let's look at each element of the plaintiff's case against Jammie Thomas so we can piece together what made this one so ideal for the RIAA.
Oct 8, 2007 View in Crawl 4
vulapineOct 8, 2007
Indeed. Most startup (or even experienced) bands would be hard pressed to come up with between $10,000 and $1,000,000 to record and master an album, much less the cash to press the CDs, distribute, and advertise.
bdbrOct 8, 2007
You don't have to be a big label to produce good music. Check sites like metacritic.com that aggregate top 10 album lists (based on quality, not sales) from music critics at the end of the year - MOST of it is NOT from RIAA labels anymore, and virtually none of it is from the big 4! Once they make their critically-acclaimed album, those indie bands often get signed with big labels. Suddenly another album is rushed out, and they start being seen in places where they never were before (even though its probably not their best music!). I'm not sure how they get there, but that seems to be where the big labels provide the advantage. I doubt that exposure comes cheap.
xtrekOct 8, 2007
Your modems MAC address will always be visible from the outside. What you want is a router with wifi. Always leave it setup to accept unencrypted connections from neighbors and/or war-drivers. Tell the court that you don't trust your ISP to be 100% absolutely certain they can correctly identify illegal downloader’s. I doubt your ISP spends the kind of money it would require to have 100% perfect and verified monitoring SW. It would cost big bucks and would only aid the RIAA and the MPAA. In SW, perfection is nearly impossible and the costs go to the moon as you try to approach it.I won’t let my ISP be in a position to screw me because they made an ERROR!
jacobsorOct 9, 2007
Sorry, Digg's comment system broke the link. Here it is:<a class="user" href="http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20071001-file-sharing-on-trial-first-riaa-case-goes-to-trial-on-tuesday.html">http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20071001-file ...</a>Also, these minor sorts of opinions won't necessarily appear on Westlaw. You can check the full docket, including all of the pleadings, using PACER, although you'll have to pay a small fee for doing so. (I haven't done so myself.)
sonicedOct 9, 2007
I am believing more every day that recorded music as a viable revenue stream for artists is coming to an end. And I say this as a recording engineer myself. I personally believe in the artistic worth of recorded music, but I also love the convince of the digital medium. I think recorded music may become just a marketing vehicle for live music only. If only there was a easy way for artists to distribute directly...
sonicedOct 9, 2007
GO TRENT!