Parental Advisory News Report 1.31.10: RIAA vs. Downloader’s
Posted by Dan Haggerty on 01.31.2010
This week in the PANR we have the RIAA suing a mom for the third time, the Grammy’s honoring an accused homophobe, Axl vs Slash redux, Etta James is in the hospital, Sly Stone suing for millions, ABBA the 3D experience, and we get the final word on Tila Tequila. Click the link to read those stories and more!
The RIAA Vs. Fans Pt. 3
One more time?
After reporting last week that the second trial of Minnesota native Jammie Thomas-Rasset, who was being sued through the RIAA for illegal downloading and how her fine was reduced by the judge from $1.92 million to $54,000, it would appear that the case against Ms. Thomas-Rasset is still not over. In fact, the RIAA has decided to send the case back to trial for a third time.
RIAA spokeswoman Cara Duckworth today said the industry is in preparations for another trial after Thomas-Rasset rejected a $25,000 settlement offer it made earlier this week. According to Ms. Duckworth, "It is a shame that Ms. Thomas-Rasset continues to deny any responsibility for her actions rather than accept a reasonable settlement offer and put this case behind her… Given this, we will begin preparing for a new trial."
Evidently accepting a fine for the equivalent of a small house's mortgage for stealing 30 songs doesn't constitute "responsibility".
The RIAA has officially accused Thomas-Rasset of illegally downloading and distributing 30 copyrighted songs belonging to six music labels. Thomas-Rasset is one of only two cases that have gone to trial despite the RIAA filing against thousands of people - Thus the high profile bickering over what happened at the trial. Ms. Duckworth is just not going to admit that the trial is about sending messages to people and setting precedent. Because, really, in the real world getting fined the cost of a house is pretty punitive and they need to avoid that when trotting out a PR person.
The Minnesota native's first trial ended in October 2007 and a jury found her guilty for copyright infringement with an order to pay $222,000 in damages to the six music companies. That verdict was later overturned on technical grounds and a new trial was ordered. In the second trial, which ended last June, a federal jury again found Thomas-Rasset liable of copyright infringement again but this time ordered her to pay $1.92 million or nearly nine times the original award.
Thomas-Rasset promptly asked for the damages to be reduced, arguing that it was unconstitutional and disproportional to any actual damages the music labels may have suffered as a result of the music piracy. She was granted a review and last week the Judge Michael Davis of the District of Minnesota reduced the $1.92 million damage award to $54,000. The reduced award, he said, was "significant and harsh" but no longer as "monstrous and shocking" as the original award had been. Davis also said the court would never have awarded such high damages if the decision has been at his discretion, rather than decided by a jury.
Shortly after the judgment, the RIAA tried to settle its case for $25,000, but only if the court was willing to vacate or modify its ruling. According to the RIAA, portions of the judge's ruling were "inconsistent with Congressional intent and the law."
Huh? My copy of the Federalist Papers shows that the job of the courts is exactly to review the intent of congressional law and its constitutional application. Evidently Duckworth's must have an updated version.
Anyway, that offer was quickly rejected by Thomas-Rasset. Her attorney said, "She is going forward on principle. We believe the copyright damages provisions are unconstitutional because they bear no relationship to any actual harm to the copyright holders. Jammie will never agree to pay them anything and will fight until the bitter end."
Fort hose curious, copyright law currently allows for statutory damages of between $750 and $150,000 per infringement (i.e. per song). In the first trial, the jury held that the fine at $9,250 per song, the second jury ordered $80,000 per song, and the judge last week ordered $1800 per song.
Several lawyers and rights groups (and even the judges in the two music piracy cases) have questioned the constitutionality of the damages. They have said that the laws were meant to be applied against commercial copyright infringers and not individuals such as Thomas-Rasset.
Dance To The Music
Funk musician Sly Stone filed a $50 million lawsuit against his former manager on Thursday, alleging fraud and 20 years of stolen royalties. Stone, 66, who was the frontman of the band Sly and the Family Stone back in the 60's and 70's, claimed that former Jerry Goldstein had diverted an estimated $30 million in royalties and used them to fund a lavish lifestyle. Stone also claimed that Goldstein registered the name of the Sly and the Family Stone band with U.S. authorities as one owned by the Goldstein family, and used it borrow millions of dollars.
Stone's lawyer Robert J. Allen said the lawsuit highlighted "a dark side of the music business where some of these artists are being robbed of their intellectual property and the fruits of their genius by unscrupulous people who prey on their trusting nature and lack of business and legal knowledge."
The lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court and seeks damages of $50 million plus, and this could be the real interesting number when it comes to light, asks for a full accounting from royalty collection companies involved with the groups name to determine exactly how much had been taken from him.
I'm sure the name barely registers for those reading today, but Sly and the Family Stone was a big name in the 60's with hits like "Dance to The Music" and actually played at Woodstock. Prince has also pointed to Sly as an influence, and that is pretty good company to keep.
The RIAA couldn't be reached for comment. Something about being to busy protecting musicians from single moms versus helping out a musician that really was ripped off.
It's ABBA's World – We're Just Living In It
An SOS to the world
ABBA fans have a new reason to celebrate. In addition to a hit Broadway play and a film fans have the chance to perform alongside 3-D, holographic versions of the Swedish quartet at a new exhibition. ABBAWORLD, opening on Wednesday at London's Earls Court, aims to take the ABBA craze signaled by Mamma Mia! becoming Britain's biggest-selling DVD and take that experience to the next level.
Members of the band at the opening night said the 25-room display, featuring original costumes, film footage and memorabilia from their hey-day was more "down to earth" and happy with the results. "It's unexpected, it's less glamorous, I think, than people probably expect but very true to the story," Bjorn Ulvaeus said. Band mate Anni-Frid Lyngstad agreed. "It's very down to earth in a way which I like really because it's like how we started, humble people, doing the things we liked a lot and eventually had a great success with… It's nice to kind of come back to where it once began." This is in regards to the footage used that portrays the band not as a global sensation but as singers.
The exhibit itself is set to go on a world wide tour, with London being the official opening. That is because the group first broke there. The exhibit features the seaside cabin where band members composed some of ABBA's greatest hits and even a helicopter like the one featured on the cover of the "Arrival" album. It has interactive elements include quizzes, a mixing desk and the hologram sing-along.
So, keep you eyes on this one for about $35.00 you could sing with ABBA when they hit a town near you, aka the same way Celine Dion did with Elvis on American Idol a couple of years ago.
More Fun With Polls
Pictures of polls suck
so enjoy Kim Kardashian instead
Its survey time again and as always when I find these things I bring them to you. A "Music Matters" survey of 8,000 adults in 13 countries, by market research firm Synovate, showed the following stats:
• 63 percent of people ranked themselves as being passionate about music
• Brazilians are at the top of the scale and Australians at the bottom. No wonder the Rio live albums always do well.
• Only 6 percent of people across the world say they "couldn't care less" about music
• 40% said they buy their music via a CD from a music store
• 11% said they illegal download music
• 68% said they paid for music they downloaded from the net
• 8% said they paid for music applications (apps) for their cell phone
• 20% said they prefer to stream music now and got it from legal online sources
• 60% of people from Korea said they prefer streaming (no idea why, just found it interesting)
• 44% said they where fine with watching ads to have access to free music
Well, outside of the usual "illegal downloading isn't that prevalent" line you get from me, I'll just point out that the business should be actually worried about apps in general. I suspect that 8% just doesn't apply to music applications and I'd bet there is a rush to bootleg tech going on in this new frontier. Although, like music, that might just be because it is new and will go down over time as the novelty goes down while the technology goes up.
Bullshit Or Not?
According to reports, fans who showed up at a Guns N' roses show in Canada where informed by concert security to leave top hats outside and turn any Slash shirts inside out. A few fans are also rumored to have refused to do it and left the show.
Supposedly this has been confirmed by security at the event, but the only source that will quote it is TMZ so take it for what it is worth. I do think Axl is capable of doing this on a bad day, but I have a hard time believing that people who bought a ticket would just skip out on the show and I'm sure a GN'R show is not cheap.
Fernando Lebeis, Axl Rose's personal assistant, has denied the reports that the security at the Winnipeg concert banned fans from wearing Slash gear inside the show. He said, "We did not advise any security to ban any sort of apparel.... If they did, they did it on their own accord, or under someone else's order — from within their management."
So who knows, but considering that people are showing up to hear music that included Slash as part of the band, IF they did this it would be pretty shitty. However I'm not convinced it really went down that way, especially since Axl is the kind of person to just come out and say it. The man might be an ass at times, but he doesn't hide it.
My two cents; draw your own conclusions and we'll see where this goes.
Grammy Award Winning Homophobe?
Should he win?
Buju Banton is up for a best reggae album award for his "Rasta Got Soul" release at the Grammys on Sunday. He is also residing in a Florida jail awaiting trial on a cocaine charge and will not be attending the awards show.
To add to the bad press, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation group along with their west coast counterparts the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center have both urged Grammy organizers to use Sunday's televised ceremony to denounce music "that promotes or celebrates violence against any group of people."
The issue at hand is that the lyrics of Banton's most controversial song "Boom, Bye Bye" in 1988 promoted the murder of gay men by shooting or burning. This group has been all over Banton for awhile, and last year several of his U.S. concerts were canceled by promoters last year.
As much as I would love to come in here and say this is just another special interest group making hey like they did all over Eminem, including his Grammy nomination back in 2001, but Banton hasn't helped his case by comments he continues to make and was even quoted late last year by saying he saw "no end to the war" with gay men.
The Recording Academy has issued a statement saying that the Grammy Awards honor musical achievement "regardless of politics" and that artists from many different political and cultural perspectives have been nominated over the years.
The group has issued an open letter in advertisement form against the Grammy's stance, saying that the group will be accomplices to the man's words if they honor "an artist such as Banton that honors his extraordinary hateful work."
I'm of two minds in this one. On one hand, the song in question is not the one being awarded, and the academy is right in that it shouldn't pay attention to the politics of the man or consider anything but the quality of the music at hand. But I also don't buy the "regardless of politics" line when the line is actually about committing actual crimes against someone. If the man talked about taking his wife out to the wood shed because she didn't do what she was told, or sang the praised of leaving burning crosses in the front yard, I have a feeling that it would become an issue real fast.
Again, I'll leave it to you at home to chew on. It's an interesting moral question.
Etta James Hospitalized
Blues and rock and roll legend Etta James, 72, has been hospitalized after fighting a month long illness after entering a detox center due to a painkiller addiction. She is best known for her signature bluesy hit ballad "At Last" , which some of you might remember Beyonce singing at Obama's inauguration last year. As her condition worsened she was moved to a nursing facility and then to a Hospital near her home east of Los Angeles.
"She's been in a pretty big battle," said her eldest son.
The performer is being treated for a number of ailments, including sepsis, a potentially fatal infection spread through the bloodstream, which in her case is believed to have started from a urinary tract infection. Her son said doctors at the Riverside hospital are planning to discharge James "very soon" and transfer her to a skilled nursing facility for follow-up care. He is not sure she is well enough to be released at the moment however.
We wish James the best here at the PANR. She was a key female voice in the early days of rock and roll, as well as a huge part of R&B, blues, and soul. As someone who grew up is a home where Motown and soul music was the norm (and yet I got into metal, go figure), I can appreciate what a critical part of early music she was.
Etta James has won three Grammy's and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993 as well as the Blues Hall in 2000.
NEWS SHOTS
• Mariah Carey's remix album called "Angels Advocate" has been pushed back a month. What I don't get is why an album that features no new material being jockeyed around. It's not like they are not ready to go. Are they trying to give her last album with its disappointing sales (for MC) more hype time?
• According to Pete Townsend of The Who, for the band's half-time show we will be getting a medley of "Baba O'Riley", "Pinball Wizard", a "bit of Tommy", "Who Are You", and a bit of "Won't Get Fooled Again". Sound cool to me.
• Am I the only guy in America that only checks in periodically to the Super Bowl for the commercials, the half time show, and to check his football squares?
• Jakob Dylan, son of Bob Dylan and founder of the group The Wallflowers, will release his second solo album on April 6th.
• Some critics are complaining on the fact Susan Boyle has been "snubbed" by the Grammy's. Have they watched the Grammy's? I'd say she'll benefit the most by NOT going and keeping an innocent outsider image. Ride that look for at least another album all the way to the band.
• I'm impressed with all the love musicians are giving to Haiti. I really am. But I wonder if the people who live in still devastated parts of New Orleans feel the same way? Not only did they not get the same level of love, but hell couldn't have the organizers of this telethon last week held it there to help the local economy? Just saying
NEWS SHOTS 
