Music Row Lawyer (C. Stephen Weaver)

Content Providers Wage War Against SOPA

Today I sit here at my desk, just one cog in the wheel, working hard to help support creators and marketers of intellectual property - the culture of our society.  I am saddened by the theives that believe music, movies and literature should be free - and so just take it.  I am saddened by the enemy - the tech industry that is willing to totally destroy American culture and its creators so that they may fatten their wallets.  This morning I read this article in the Wall Street Journal.  What was particularly upsetting to me were the reader comments.

America has long been a world leader in its protection of authors and inventors.  Copyright has been the underlying foundation of that protection.  Now I read more this morning about the power brokers that want to destroy that system and the thieves and fools who are buying into it. 

The latest battle is over the proposed legislation known as SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act).  This bill strengthens the enforcement of copyright protection by requring internet providers to assist in the battle by banning pirate websites, etc.  That is a very light treatment of the subject and there are definitely some problems with SOPA - such as a big due process issue.  However, the tech industries are telling the public this is a ban on freedom of speech.  If you want to read more about SOPA and the war against creators and their industries just google SOPA - oh - and when you go to google you will find a black banner.  Click on it and you will see Google's diatribe about SOPA.  If you want to read more about the position of those who support the fight against the pirates the visit the website of Fight Online Theft.

Oh Holy Right to Copy Your Work!

    This week we learned about the Swedish based file sharing group that received official government recognition as a religion:  The Missionary Church of Kopimism.  The official website encourages free copying and downloading.  (I call it “theft”.)  This group (membership reported at 3,000) meet, copy, remix, and generally infringe copyrighted works that they deem to be religious or spiritual.  The “church” members refer to themselves as “Kopimists” – get it?  “Kopi” – “Copy”.  In an article published at Torrent Freak, Pirate Bay founder, Rick Falkvinge, states that “In the case of this religion, the preachers are defined as the ones facilitating holy copying (and remixing).”

Some are speculating that being a religion could complicate the gathering of evidence in a copyright infringement – such as some sort of confessional privilege, including Falkvinge.  That might work under Swedish law which I am not qualified to comment on.  (If what I read is correct Swedish authorities grant any organization status as a religion that claims to be a religion.)  But I don’t believe this maneuver will work in most of the free world. Will it be that simple to upend the entire worldwide copyright system?  I doubt it.  I suspect if challenged any religious defense will fail as a sham.  Just my opinion – I certainly don’t want offend anybody’s religious sensibilities of course.  Since Kopimism has nothing to do with any God – or anything except the right to freely share copyrighted movies and other content – I doubt I have offended the personal spiritual beliefs of the 3,000 members.

I wonder what they share instead of wafers and wine while downloading, sharing and viewing the “Rocky Horror Picture Show”?

"Rogue Websites" Bill Passed by Senate Judiciary Committee

The Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) just released the following press release:

SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE UNANIMOUSLY PASSES "ROGUE WEBSITES" BILL

House Version Expected Soon

Nashville, TN -- The United States Senate Judiciary Committee this week unanimously passed legislation targeted at eliminating websites that primarily exist to allow the theft of music, movies and other intellectual property.
 
"The Nashville Songwriters Association International has been focusing on this issue for months and thanks the Senators who took a bold stand against the theft of American music on the Internet.  We expect similar legislation to be introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives very soon.  We continue trekking to Washington, D.C. and will soon launch and coordinate a national campaign for songwriters to communicate with their representatives on this issue."

"With only an estimated one of thirty songs legally purchased,
we MUST do something about the theft of music on the Internet."

    A more lengthy press release has been issued by Senator Patrick Leahy’s office and can be read here.

 

Copyright © 2011 C. Stephen Weaver

Illegal File Sharing - A P2P And TorrentFreak Rant!

Ok - I got my dander up this morning! I'm not sure what that means but the grandparents used to say it!  :)  I read a post and comments at TorrentFreak which defends illegal file sharing.

I am stunned that there are so many artist haters out there--I am referring to the comments to the TorentFreak post.  I'm not stunned that most haven't a clue as to what they are talking about.  This is why I can usually ignore the childish rants of the criminals who post in support of music and film theft.  A lot of the commenters are blaming the U.S. - what a joke.  Most don't even know that most of the major free countries of the world have been ahead of the U.S. in the protection of intellectual property and protecting the culture and art of their respective nations.  The U.S. had to change the term of protection to life plus 70 in order to be a part of the main copyright conventions of the world.  Congress doesn't have to encourage creation of arts and inventions by providing copyright and patent protection.  The constitution merely gives them the authority to do so. And so they do.

I will give them this one - the theives have put a lot of artists out of business so they can pat themselves on the back for that.  This is the human factor.  I know this because I talk to the artists and represent them.  I now see songwriters with track records of several number one hits who can no longer get a publisher to subsidize them through the tough times.  And my younger clients who hope to be able to follow their dreams never get the chance because the record labels sign so few compared to past years.  Remember - it takes over $1 million to launch a new artist in the country genre and certainly more in mainstream pop - and most of the time even that kind of exposure does not mean success.  The math is simple - less dollars at the labels = less artist signings.

These losses are not all caused by theft.  Some are caused by the legal use of technology - the ability to download single tracks rather than purchase albums.  This is legitimate -- a change in the marketplace which requires adaptation by those whose primary purpose is to disseminate the product.

There has always been and will always be crime.  It is just the nature of some members of humanity.  That's why we have laws and law enforcement.  Rest assured that the elected leaders of our country will not take actions which will destroy our culture and artistic community.  And the business structure around music and film will make adjustments and adapt to the world that we live in today . . . . and tomorrow.

Today's good news:  According to research conducted by the NPD Group, P2P filesharing is on the decline.  Check out the story at Music Row.

 

Copyright © 2011 C. Stephen Weaver

RIAA AND MPAA HACKED BY "ANONYMOUS"

 Over the weekend a group known as "Anonymous" hacked and took down the websites of the RIAA and the MPAA. Both are up and running now.  According to Digital Music News Aiplex Software was also attacked.  The hackers stated the action to be retaliation for Aiplex's prior attacks on illegal file sharing facilitators. The MPAA previously hired Aiplex to conduct denial-of-service attacks on Pirate Bay and other BItTorrent trackers.

OK -- so we can steal your songs and your movies and if you don't go along with our demands then we will destroy your store fronts.  Hmmm -- I've seen that business method somewhere else.

For more click here.

 

Copyright © 2010 C. Stephen Weaver

Digital looting is bad for the Internet - TheHill.com

I like this article. Thanks to people like Rick Carnes (hit songwriter and now President of the Songwriters Guild of America) who provide leadership to the rest of us in the fight to save the music.

via thehill.com

 

Copyright © 2010 C. Stephen Weaver

Damages Lowered in Jammie Thomas-Rasset Case

Friday (2/22/10) CNET News and Rolling Stone reported that a U.S. District Court has reduced the damages award in the Jammie Thomas-Rasset illegal file sharing case from a total of nearly $2,000,000 to $54,000.

Last June a jury orded Thomas-Rasset to pay the plaintiff record companies nearly $2 million for the illegal file sharing download of 14 songs.

The RIAA reportedly is not displeased with the decision.  They never expected to collect the $2 million dollar judgment from Thomas-Rasset.

Well -- $54,000 is still a bit more than the $14 (more or less) that it would have cost to legally purchase the music in the first place instead of stealing it.

Do you have any comments about this?

 

Copyright © 2010 C. Stephen Weaver

More About Stealing the Music

 

I just read an excellent article rebutting the idea that Statutory Damages in copyright infringement suits are too high and that the Copyright Act is need of reform, modifying or even doing away with Statutory Damages. That got me on my favorite soap box/rant. Below is my comment which was posted following the article, which is entitled "The 'Lessigation' of Copyright Scholarship: A review of Statutory Damages in Copyright Law: A Remedy in Need of Reform (Part I)". The article can be found here.

"Thank you for a well thought out article. Thank you for supporting the creators and artists in the United States -- the future of artistry and artistic culture in our country, be it music, film, literature, or any other art form. This is no small matter. Blaming the RIAA for everything only further demonstrates the ignorance of the "I want what you have for free so give it to me!" mentality of the art should be free contingency. I'm on the firing line -- and I see daily where the real harm is being done -- to the creators. The RIAA is an industry association engaged in the protection of its member companies. Trickle down. The record companies derive their intellectual property rights from the creators -- the artists and songwriters. They are the real victims. The record company execs will find work in another industry. And hopefully so will the rank and file employees at those companies since they are the ones losing their jobs. But the creators are losing the industry that once supported their efforts to reach a mass audience -- that paid them to create while awaiting enough commercial success to support themselves and their families. The record companies no longer have the financial ability to support new artists the way they once did. And illegal file sharing is certainly a major reason for this. I do not blame all woes of the recording industry on illegal file sharing. There are a number of other factors, including the popularity of singles over CDs, even if purchased. Added to that the theft of "ordinary citizens" has been massive. (I would like to think that "ordinary citizens" do not choose to steal rather than legally purchase--but sadly I guess I am wrong about that.) I have negotiated the deals on behalf of the creators for nearly 30 years now. In my practice at least the RIAA members and the music publishers have always paid for the intellectual property--not stolen it. If they did not then lawsuits ensued just as they would in any other business in the U.S. No one as of yet has persuaded me that it should now be ok for the ultimate consumer to steal the work product and creations of all these artists and the industry that supports them."

 

Copyright © 2009 C. Stephen Weaver

Album Sales Continue to Plummet

On Wednesday the Nielsen Company's SoundScan services reported year end figures for the record industry.  Those figures reveal that CD sales in the U.S. were down 20% from 2007 sales figures.  While digital downloads of albums and individual songs increased, it was not enough to offset the losses.  My primary source for this blog was today's Wall Street Journal online Media and Marketing edition email.  The full article can be found here.  Since CD sales have declined 7 of the last 8 years this is hardly a big surprise.  I suspect few can doubt any longer that the music and recording business must and will continue to adapt and change -- or die.

As the industry changes I continue to see friends and clients lose their jobs and those who are artists and songwriters their recording and songwriting deals.  The most recent major closing on Music Row was Equity Music Group.  This was a label founded by recording artist Clint Black and was one of the first successful indies in country music to emerge as the Majors began to consolidate and close their doors. Equity's best known success was the award winning group Little Big Town.  Thanks for the valiant effort Equity--and showing that an indie label can if fact have an impact the country market.

Copyright © 2009 C. Stephen Weaver

RIAA TO HALT LAWSUITS

The RIAA has announced that it will no longer sue individuals in its war to stop illegal downloading. Perhaps this change will dilute the venom of those who support theft from the artists and songwriters I have spent a career trying to protect.  The RIAA has sued more than 30,000 individuals the past few years, and has settled most of the cases out of court for a few thousand dollars.  Instead of suing the infringers, the RIAA will now rely upon internet service providers to notify alleged copyright infringers detected by the RIAA that they need to cease their infringement of copyright protected music.  The ISP may also slow the speed of the offender's internet connection.  After the same downloader has committed the offense for the third time, the offender's service will be cut off completely.  You can of course read more by Googling "RIAA".  My primary sources is the Wired Blog Network.

It's time to get this war over with and move on.  Perhaps this is the solution.

Copyright © 2008 C. Stephen Weaver