|
|
|
10 Music Download Legal Points
Everybody's doing it: downloading music and sharing files. People who share music files on the Internet argue that downloading is legal; today they can be sued by the record industry. Can one be sued without a great intrusion into personal lives of...
5 Great Date Ideas For Teens
The teenage dating years have the potential to create some of the greatest memories of an adolescent’s life. However, a lot of teens seem to get caught up in one of two dating ruts. The first rut is thinking that you have to spend a lot of money to...
How to Rectify The Two Most Common Mistakes That Every Music Site Makes
Music marketing is by and large difficult for most artists, that is something we need to realise. Marketing yourself, being confident to allow people to listen to your tracks and most importantly, handling criticism takes a bit of time to get...
Interview With an Up and Coming Musician
Today, Norm Goldman, Editor of Sketchandtravel.com and Bookpleasures.com is delighted to have as our guest, Dan Goldman, Guitarist, Song Writer, Poet, Arranger and a musician of many other talents.
Dan is here to discuss his world of music...
See the Music
It's not all about the sound
You know the phenomenon, everytime you hear music playing in the background you think about the clip associated to the song.
Many years ago, music was just about sounds. Skilled people with beautiful, at times...
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Do You Download Music Over a File-Sharing Network?
It can be estimated that millions of people around the world
share music over a file-sharing network. For this article, I am
addressing the issue in America mainly because I am not aware of
the laws in other countries. Do you think it is illegal to
download music from file-sharing networks? What about music you
already own? An important recent court decision will answer
these questions directly and you might be surprised.
Recently the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh
Circuit heard a case against a Chicago woman, Cecilia Gonzalez.
Many plaintiffs including BMG, Sony and others brought the case
against her. Gonzalez allegedly had downloaded over 1,000 songs
through KaZaA--although she admitted to only 30. Keep that
number in mind, 30. Many, if not just about all, people who
download files over a file-sharing network don't stop at one
file. Thirty files can be reached in minutes to an hour without
thought. In fact, it was alleged that Gonzalez downloaded 1,370
songs in just a few weeks, which is an average of 65 songs per
day.
If you where caught downloading thirty songs over a file-sharing
network, what would your defense be? Let's look at two specific
common defenses and see how a court might react. I have selected
two defenses that I feel are most common, because they not only
appear in the court case I have referenced, but many others I
have surveyed would try to use them as their defense as well.
First Defense: I was simply trying out the songs to see
if I liked them and then I planned to buy the ones I liked and
erase the ones I don't. (Simplified: try-before-you-buy)
Judge Eastbrook, one of the judges hearing the Gonzalez case,
pointed out that this defense is not valid because one had many
avenues to hear
music before purchasing. Eastbrook names iTunes,
radio, internet radio, Yahoo! Music and others as ways to
legally try before buying. If this was going to be your defense,
you will lose.
Second Defense: I am only downloading music that I
already own.
This seems like a great defense, at first. You already own the
music and the law allows you to create a backup copy. Ah, but
here is where it goes south. Downloading music you already own
is not considered fair use under the U.S. Copyright Law and your
action is therefore copyright infringement. See UMG Recordings
Inc. v. MP3.com, Inc., 92 F. Supp. 2d 349.
Furthermore, the try-before-you-buy scenario is really blown
away by the fact that you no longer need to buy CD's in whole.
iTunes really helped change the legal arena in this respect
because a user can both sample songs at their leisure and
purchase single songs. The ability to purchase single songs is
the big one.
In the end, Gonzalez lost her case. The thirty songs, that would
have cost $29.70 at iTunes, will end up costing her $22,500 in
damages--imagine what it would be if the plaintiffs had pushed
for a decision on all 1,370 songs. She was given the opportunity
to settle for $3,500 before going to court, which she
declined--another bad decision. If you download music over
file-sharing networks and are caught, what will be your legal
defense?
About the author:
Jason A. Martin is a Journalism Major (Political Science minor)
and future law school student. His blog deals with Politics, Media and the
Law. You can view it at JasonAMartin.com.
To keep up to date with Mr. Martin's articles, Subscribe!
|
|
|
|
|
| Yahoo! Music - Internet Radio, Music Videos, Artists, Music News ... |
| Visitors may create a personal Internet radio station with Lauchcast and listen to music based on their own and other listener's tastes. |
| music.yahoo.com |
|
| All Music Guide |
| Comprehensive guide to recordings in every genre. Cross-indexed source of reviews, essays, and ratings; all available online, on in-store kiosks, ... |
| www.allmusic.com |
|
| MTV - Music Videos, Shows, Celebrity News, Movies, Games, and Photos |
| MTV is the ultimate destination for music and pop culture. We have the latest music videos, band info, entertainment news, photos, album previews, ... |
| www.mtv.com |
|
| Music Videos, Songs, Internet Radio, Free Music Downloads - AOL Music |
| Offers music news, artist bios, discographies, photo galleries, downloads and videos. Covers multiple music genres. |
| music.aol.com |
|
| MSN - Music: Home |
| http://music.msn.com/music/newthisweek;new this week;Gwen Stefani's "The ... Mary J. Blige takes home most honors at Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas ... |
| music.msn.com |
|
| Free MP3 music downloads - Free Music Downloads - MP3 Downloads ... |
| Download.com Music is your source for legal and free MP3 downloads. Download MP3s from thousands of artists. |
| music.download.com |
|
| MySpace |
| Progressive / Alternative / Indie. MySpace Music Video Fresh Pick: Bloodlined Calligraphy (Last Goodbye). Rock the Bells Hip Hop USA Tour (Nov 11-Dec 22) ... |
| www.myspace.com |
|
| College Music Society |
| It is a consortium of colleges, conservatories, universities, and independent musicians and scholars. Dedicated to gathering, considering, and disseminating ... |
| www.music.org |
|
| Apple - iPod + iTunes |
| Complete line of flash memory and hard drive-based music, video, and media content players. Includes technical specifications, video clips, interactive demo ... |
| www.apple.com |
|
| Music - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
| Music theory, within this realm, is studied with the pre-supposition that music is ... Amateur musicians compose and perform music for their own pleasure, ... |
| en.wikipedia.org |
|
| Worldwide Internet Music Resources |
| Categorized links to musicians and ensembles, composers, research sources by musical topic, the business of music, and performance-related subjects ... |
| www.music.indiana.edu |
|
| BBC - Music |
| Vote in 6 Music's roundup of the best singles of 2006! ... The Man In Black - a true American icon, and one of the giants of country music. ... |
| www.bbc.co.uk |
|
| Pandora Internet Radio - Find New Music, Listen to Free Web Radio |
| Pandora is the music discovery service that helps you find new music based on your old and current favorites. Create custom internet radio stations, ... |
| www.pandora.com |
|
| Yahoo! Music UK - Free Music Videos, Internet Radio, Music Charts ... |
| The latest official UK music charts, talent and music industry news and special areas. Includes chart commentary and music news round up. |
| uk.launch.yahoo.com |
|
| Napster |
| Add Music to Your IM, Email and Web Pages ... To see the terms for our Music Store and Subscription Service, click HERE. © 2003-2006, Napster, LLC. ... |
| www.napster.com |
|
| Read About Music News, Billboard Charts, Music Videos & Ringtones ... |
| Billboard.com is the music entertainment industry source for music news, information, and the popular Billboard Music Charts. |
| www.billboard.com |
|
| Lycos Music - Music Home |
| Comprehensive search engine by Lycos. Site also has news, reviews and information on players, encoders and rippers. |
| music.lycos.com |
|
| Welcome - Music India OnLine |
| Has a large collection of music and songs classified by type, language and region. All downloads are streamed through RealAudio. |
| www.musicindiaonline.com |
|
| calendarlive.com - MUSIC |
| Concerts, album reviews, pop, jazz and classical music news from the Los Angeles Times. |
| www.calendarlive.com |
|
| CLASSICAL MUSIC ARCHIVES - CLASSICAL MUSIC |
| Contains thousands of classical music files in MIDI format as well as live recordings. New contributions are solicited. A search engine is included. |
| www.classicalarchives.com |
|
|