Digital music has come a long way: Once feared as the poison arrow that would take down the recording industry, streaming music is now making more money for recording companies than any other format. [More]
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Streaming Music Revenue Surpasses Other Formats For The First Time Ever
By 3.31.17 — Updated: 5.10.17
Recording Industry Sues Site That Lets You Rip YouTube Clips Into MP3s
By 9.28.16
There are a number of sites and services that will let you easily convert a streaming YouTube video into a more usable file. YouTube itself has gone after some of these sites, but now the recording industry is challenging the legality of a popular site that allows users to rip audio-only MP3 files from YouTube clips. [More]
RIAA Head: We’ll Never Have A Fair Deal With YouTube Under Current Copyright Law
By 4.11.16
Streaming video is the best medium for the delivery of music videos, but it’s also a great medium for posting pirated music videos and entire albums. That’s why the Recording Industry Association of America, record labels’ trade group, wants more money from YouTube for music videos that users watch. The problem, the group’s head explains, is that rampant piracy makes it impossible to negotiate with YouTube’s owner, Google. [More]
More Than 500,000 People Have Already Illegally Downloaded Kanye West’s Tidal-Only Album
By 2.16.16
Kanye West’s latest album, The Life of Pablo, was originally supposed to be a short-time exclusive on the $20/month streaming service Tidal, but then the fickle artist announced over the weekend that it would remain a Tidal exclusive, with the implication that anyone who wants to hear it needs to ante up for the monthly subscription… or illegally download it like more than half a million people have already done. [More]
Court Ruling On Trade Dispute Also Prevents MPAA From Blocking File-Sharing Sites
By 11.12.15
The internet can be very weird sometimes, as can the massive patchwork of regulation and case law that holds the world together. And so it came to pass this summer that we found ourselves looking at an otherwise-obscure court case about braces — yes, the teeth kind — that could upend the way the entire internet works in the name of preventing media piracy. Happily, it looks like the internet, in all its chaotic and sometimes illegal glory, gets to keep marching on for the time being. [More]
Trade Dispute About Dental Devices Could End Up Changing The Future Of The Entire Internet
By 8.3.15
The entire future of the internet may now depend on some plastic retainers. Specifically, two competing versions of those clear plastic alignment systems adults sometimes get instead of braces. And if that sounds weird — which to be fair, it really is — well, welcome to the strange, utterly pervasive world of IP law in a digital century. [More]
Streaming Music Sales Outdo Revenue From CDs For The First Time
By 3.19.15
The inevitable slide toward outdated technology is continuing for CDs, with the revenue generated from streaming music topping CD sales for the first time ever. [More]
RIAA Offers To Reduce $222K Verdict Against File-Sharer If She’ll Say Something Nice About RIAA
By 7.11.13
Have you ever been compelled to make an insincere apology just because you knew it would get you out of trouble? The much-loathed Recording Industry Association of America made that sort of offer to file-sharer Jammie Thomas-Rasset, offering to reduce her $222,000 penalty if she just went on the record to say some kind words about the RIAA’s anti-piracy platform. [More]
Court Upholds $675,000 Fee College Student Must Pay For Illegally Sharing 30 Songs
By 6.26.13
It’s been almost two years since a former student from Boston was re-ordered to pay $675,000 for illegally sharing 30 songs. That judgment had been downgraded to $67,500 by one court and deemed unconstitutional, and then ticked right back up again. Another federal appeals court has just ruled he’s still on the hook. [More]
Woman On The Hook For $220K In Online Music Sharing Saga After Losing Appeal In Third Trial
By 9.12.12
Why does anyone download anything for free off the Internet that we shouldn’t be? Because the odds are that you won’t be caught, and if you are, well how could you be made to pay up when so many others are doing the same thing? For one Minnesota woman accused of sharing songs on the Internet, forking over $222,000 to the music industry could very well be her reality, after she lost in a federal court of appeals. She’s been battling the Recording Industry Association of America since way back in 2006. [More]
Google Switches Up Its Search Engine To Shun Sites Suspected Of Peddling Pirated Content
By 8.13.12
Google is making some tweaks in how its search engine runs in order to crack down on any sites that could possibly be promoting or hosting pirated entertainment content. As for why, well, there are a few prevailing thoughts. Perhaps it’s because the entertainment industry wouldn’t get off Google’s back for letting users find free movies and music on the Internet or maybe Google just wants to impress the cool kids of Hollywood so it doesn’t get sued. [More]
Record Companies Reportedly Hiring Students To Snitch On Their Peers
By 6.12.12
It seems recording companies would rather not do the dirty work of seeking out students pirating music, instead hiring other students to snitch on their peers over in Europe. The four big labels — EMI, Sony, Universal and Warner –Â are reportedly working on anti-piracy strategies with companies who will go to great lengths to take down students. [More]
People Are Actually Buying Music Again
By 3.6.12
Reports of the music industry’s death may be premature. According to the results of a new study, not only are more people buying music, but some are doing so after hearing the tunes for free on the Internet. [More]
RIAA On Illegal Dexter Downloads: "It Wasn't Us"
By 12.21.11
Earlier this week, we told you about how the torrent freaks at TorrentFreak claimed to have discovered that some people at anti-piracy stalwart the Recording Industry Association of America had been illegally using BitTorrent to download copyrighted material, including five full seasons of Showtime hit Dexter. RIAA has since come out with an explanation, one that sounds exactly like the defense used by the very people it has pushed to have prosecuted — “it wasn’t us.” [More]
Report: Someone At The RIAA Downloaded $9 Million Worth Of Pirated Dexter Episodes
By 12.20.11
The hallowed halls of the Recording Industry Association of America, where all music is bought at full price and never shared, lest people face violations of up to $150,000 per pirated item, has reportedly been infiltrated by ne’er-do-wells who think they can BitTorrent copyrighted material at work and not be caught. [More]
Appeals Court Rules $675,000 File-Sharing Judgment Is Constitutional After All
By 9.19.11
Last year, a Boston college student caught a break when a judge reduced an earlier file-sharing judgment against him from $675,000 to $67,500, calling the earlier figure unconstitutional. Now a federal appeals court has wiped that relief away by deciding the Constitution is cool after all with the $675,000 fee and has reinstated the earlier judgment. [More]
Tennessee Lawmakers Pass Bill Making It A Crime To Share Your Netflix Password
By 6.1.11
If you’ve ever let a friend or family member know your password for subscription services like Netflix or Rhapsody so they can watch a movie or listen to a song, we hope you don’t live in Tennessee, where state legislators have passed a bill making it a crime. [More]
California Law Would Allow Raids Of Suspected Piracy Facilities Without Warrants
By 5.19.11
If anti-piracy California legislation becomes law, authorities will be able to enter facilities suspected of pirating movie and music discs and seize equipment without first receiving warrants. [More]
