remember folks piracey is bad pmsl

[accyman]

remember all those mixed albums record companies release similar to now thats what i call music etc well it turns out artists dont get paid for them and record companies have the nerve to prosecute people for downloading them, well it seems they are guilty of piracey and are about to fall victim to the very laws they paid to have pushed through govenments pmsl

Record Labels Face $6 Billion Damages for Pirating Artists


While themajor record labels were dragging file-sharers and BitTorrent sites tocourt for copyright infringement, they were themselves being sued by aconglomerate of artists for exactly the same offenses. Warner, SonyBMG, EMI and Universal face up to $6 billion in damages for pirating amassive 300,000 tracks.

Itis no secret that the major record labels have a double standard whenit comes to copyright. On the one hand they try to put operators ofBitTorrent sites in jail and ruin the lives of single mothers andstudents by demanding hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines, and onthe other they sell CDs containing music for which they haven’tobtained copyright permission.

In the past we’ve covered many disputes between artists and labels,where the latter is being accused or even sued for using songs withoutpermission. Just a few months ago Latin America’s biggest artist,Alejandro Fernández, sent the police to a Sony Music office to confiscate over 6,000 CDs that the label refused to return, and this is just the tip of the iceberg.

The labels have made a habit of using songs from a wide variety ofartists for compilation CDs without securing the rights. They simplyuse the recording and make note of it on “pending list” so they candeal with it later. This has been going on since the 1980s and sincethen the list of unpaid tracks (or copyright infringements) has grownto 300,000.

Growing tired of the label’s piracy, a group of artists have filed a class-action lawsuitin Canada against four major labels connected to the CRIA, the localequivalent of the RIAA. In October last year Warner Music, Sony BMGMusic, EMI Music and Universal Music were sued for illegal use ofthousands of tracks and at present the case is still underway.

How and why this blatant copyright infringement could go on foryears is a mystery, but the label’s double standard has been picked upby the plaintiffs as well. “The conduct of the defendant recordcompanies is aggravated by their strict and unremitting approach to theenforcement of their copyright interests against consumers,” theartists argue in their claim for damages.

The suit is still ongoing but already the labels have admitted toowing at least $50 million for infringing the rights of artists, andthis figure could grow as high as 6 billion. So who are the realpirates here?