http://www.huffingtonpost...62725.html

Limewire Settlement: RIAA, Record Labels Win $105M; Artists To See $0

The Recording Industry Association of America's (RIAA) ruthless pursuit of music pirates was firmly rooted in the belief that it's better to be feared than loved. Last week, defunct peer-to-peer client Limewire agreed pay $105M to the major record labels represented by the copyright watchdog for 9,715 pirated tracks, and even this was pocket change compared to the theoretical maximum of $1.46B the jury could have awarded. As if that weren't ambitious enough, the RIAA had initially wanted Limewire to pay more than the GDP of planet Earth.

But with the revelation that none of that money will go to the artists whose music was being stolen, the RIAA's methods stand to draw more contempt, likely without being responsible for the (relatively) declining r...sic piracy.

The group, in other words, may soon be neither feared nor loved. It will just be annoying, since media executives acknowledge that "piracy will always be with us," and sites like Last.fm and Pandora have proven that free music isn't necessarily a bad business model. The official position from the RIAA is here, and here is one response from the filesharing community.

RIAA spokesman Jonathan Lamy previously told TorrentFreak that the ‘damages’ accrued from piracy-related lawsuits will not go to any of the artists, but towards funding more anti-piracy campaigns. “Any funds recouped are re-invested into our ongoing education and anti-piracy programs,” he said.

Thus far the RIAA has not announced officially how the LimeWire settlement will be spent, but we don’t expect them to steer away from their previous course. This makes today’s decision on compensation a victory for the major labels, but certainly not one for musicians.

Oops!

Seriously, though. Who EXACTLY are the Pirates?

Does Limewire have those type of resources?

Graycap23 said:

Does Limewire have those type of resources?

I'm suprised about that too...how do they make money?

Graycap23 said:

Does Limewire have those type of resources?

I hadn't used Limewire since the early, early days of it but didn't they eventually offer "premium upgrades" for a fee...which resulted in getting them busted, in the first place? I'm guessing that would be where, they got the money from.

HatrinaHaterwitz said:

Graycap23 said:

Does Limewire have those type of resources?

I hadn't used Limewire since the early, early days of it but didn't they eventually offer "premium upgrades" for a fee...which resulted in getting them busted, in the first place? I'm guessing that would be where, they got the money from.

Probably, but 105M...that's a lot of premium upgrades!

Graycap23 said:

Does Limewire have those type of resources?

Same thing I was thinking. and who uses Limewire these days?

So the artists got none of the money? That figures.

Like I always say...."Download on motherfuckers, download on"....The labels deserve to go broke.

vainandy said:

So the artists got none of the money? That figures.

Like I always say...."Download on motherfuckers, download on"....The labels deserve to go broke.

Labels will never go broke because everyone now signs a 360 deal, they make more than ever now, thats why you have an enormous amount of straight out the box and gone tomorrow artists, its easy turnover no investment etc...

As for the downloading thing, did anyone think ARTISTS would be paid? as Prince says, artists never get paid to begin with, why now, and considering ALOT of the artists in this suit, are new they have shit deals anyway, i know people think people Rihanna makes tons on their music, but they dont, they make their $$ on other nonsense like photoshoots perfume etc..

lastdecember said:

vainandy said:

So the artists got none of the money? That figures.

Like I always say...."Download on motherfuckers, download on"....The labels deserve to go broke.

Labels will never go broke because everyone now signs a 360 deal, they make more than ever now, thats why you have an enormous amount of straight out the box and gone tomorrow artists, its easy turnover no investment etc...

As for the downloading thing, did anyone think ARTISTS would be paid? as Prince says, artists never get paid to begin with, why now, and considering ALOT of the artists in this suit, are new they have shit deals anyway, i know people think people Rihanna makes tons on their music, but they dont, they make their $$ on other nonsense like photoshoots perfume etc..

Since the RIAA originally thought they could get as much as $75 Trillion...yes...$75 TRILLION!

http://www.pcworld.com/ar...mages.html

I'm sure the thousands of "artists" they presented as the "victims" in the case, thought they were at least gonna get...a little something something.

HatrinaHaterwitz said:

lastdecember said:

Labels will never go broke because everyone now signs a 360 deal, they make more than ever now, thats why you have an enormous amount of straight out the box and gone tomorrow artists, its easy turnover no investment etc...

As for the downloading thing, did anyone think ARTISTS would be paid? as Prince says, artists never get paid to begin with, why now, and considering ALOT of the artists in this suit, are new they have shit deals anyway, i know people think people Rihanna makes tons on their music, but they dont, they make their $$ on other nonsense like photoshoots perfume etc..

Since the RIAA originally thought they could get as much as $75 Trillion...yes...$75 TRILLION!

http://www.pcworld.com/ar...mages.html

I'm sure the thousands of "artists" they presented as the "victims" in the case, thought they were at least gonna get...a little something something.

Not going to happen, artists unless on their own will never get their share, if your on a label you got a bad deal no matter how you spin it

HatrinaHaterwitz said:

Since the RIAA originally thought they could get as much as $75 Trillion...yes...$75 TRILLION!

http://www.pcworld.com/ar...mages.html

I'm sure the thousands of "artists" they presented as the "victims" in the case, thought they were at least gonna get...a little something something.

Ever since the record business began, they've ripped off the performers, that's why many of them die broke and/or forced to do "oldies" shows to make a living. People like Bonnie Raitt started funds for old blues and R&B singers. Many of the music laws (such as copyright/publishing) were started by the labels, for their benefit. The companies only complain when they lose money.

MickyDolenz said:

HatrinaHaterwitz said:

Since the RIAA originally thought they could get as much as $75 Trillion...yes...$75 TRILLION!

http://www.pcworld.com/ar...mages.html

I'm sure the thousands of "artists" they presented as the "victims" in the case, thought they were at least gonna get...a little something something.

Ever since the record business began, they've ripped off the performers, that's why many of them die broke and/or forced to do "oldies" shows to make a living. People like Bonnie Raitt started funds for old blues and R&B singers. Many of the music laws (such as copyright/publishing) were started by the labels, for their benefit. The companies only complain when they lose money.

Y'all get no arguments from me on that. I just pointed out that some artists sided with the RIAA because they thought it would lead to a big payday. The irony is...they're getting none of the $105M and if by some totally ridiculous chance the RIAA could have gotten a judgement and a payout of $75T, the artists that were used as the victims, would have gotten none of that either.

.

[Edited 5/17/11 17:52pm]

^^^It's not even mandatory for the labels to report to the RIAA, and they don't audit the numbers of the ones that do.

bboy87 said:

Graycap23 said:

Does Limewire have those type of resources?

Same thing I was thinking. and who uses Limewire these days?

Frostwire users!

lastdecember said:

vainandy said:

So the artists got none of the money? That figures.

Like I always say...."Download on motherfuckers, download on"....The labels deserve to go broke.

Labels will never go broke because everyone now signs a 360 deal, they make more than ever now, thats why you have an enormous amount of straight out the box and gone tomorrow artists, its easy turnover no investment etc...

As for the downloading thing, did anyone think ARTISTS would be paid? as Prince says, artists never get paid to begin with, why now, and considering ALOT of the artists in this suit, are new they have shit deals anyway, i know people think people Rihanna makes tons on their music, but they dont, they make their $$ on other nonsense like photoshoots perfume etc..

Knowing what we always knew for the last 10+ years, all of the RIAA-driven artists from Metallica to Nelly have to feel kind of stupid right about now.

lastdecember said:

vainandy said:

So the artists got none of the money? That figures.

Like I always say...."Download on motherfuckers, download on"....The labels deserve to go broke.

Labels will never go broke because everyone now signs a 360 deal, they make more than ever now, thats why you have an enormous amount of straight out the box and gone tomorrow artists, its easy turnover no investment etc...

As for the downloading thing, did anyone think ARTISTS would be paid? as Prince says, artists never get paid to begin with, why now, and considering ALOT of the artists in this suit, are new they have shit deals anyway, i know people think people Rihanna makes tons on their music, but they dont, they make their $$ on other nonsense like photoshoots perfume etc..

360 deals can't save this industry. Ticket sales are just as bad as album sales, and when ticket sales are in the toilet so are merch sales. In other words, 99% of diddly squat is still diddly squat.

Anyway, BFD. The RIAA knocked out a filesharing service that most people stopped using at least five years ago. They can't shut downt the remaining torrent sites or the digital locker sites. It's a losing battle.

So they won the money and they kept it to "re-invest" in continuing the campaigns, aka pay their own people...wait, what?

So doesn't that make them something like a...

[img:$uid]http://www.hummuslim.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Captain-Jack-Sparrow0.jpg[/img:$uid]

"PIRATE!"