The record industry is cracking down on people who illegally download music online. According to a recent article by the Associated Press, record companies have sued about 26,000 people. Most of these people have not gone to trial because they settle by paying the labels a "few thousand dollars." The claim is violating an online copyright law.
Recently an online music sharer went to trial. Jammie Thomas of Minneapolis was ordered by a jury to pay the record industry $222,000 for sharing music online through Kazaa.
According to the article," The companies that sued Thomas were EMI Group PLC's Capitol Records Inc.; the Arista Records LLC label and its parent Sony BMG Music Entertainment, which is run by Sony Corp. and Bertelsmann AG; Vivendi SA's UMG Inc. and its label, Interscope Records; and Warner Bros. Records Inc., which is a unit of Warner Music Group Corp."
Thomas is a single mother of two boys who makes about $36,000 a year and will most likely not be able to pay the record labels back.
Personally I know many people who have downloaded music illegally. With the start of Napster, the world began to illegally download music and not think much of it. Now the record industry is beating down on those who have grown up downloading music and not thinking much of it.
Many artists have begun to fight back and try to prevent their music being shared illegally, yet it seems that most of online sharers find another way to get what they want.
-Kara Bautch
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