A couple of days ago, a friend sent me, for downloading, a two-hour show he recently did for an internet station. The show contains about 30 songs and is intact, no scoping at all. Right now, it resides in my Google Drive. Am I in trouble for being in possession of, and playing, this? Would I be in trouble if I were to pass on links to the file to friends so they can give it a listen? (I've already done so for one.) I'm familiar with the Napster case but uncertain just how far down the food chain enforcement goes.
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Legal question re: file sharing
- Thread starter CTListener
- Start date
The lawsuit I'm more familiar with was LimeWire. Back when MP3 players and iPods were becoming mainstream and seemingly everyone was buying one, many people turned to LimeWire, entered the name of the song they were looking for and voila! They got the song for free to load onto their device.
www.wired.com
LimeWire Crushed in RIAA Infringement Lawsuit
LimeWire was found liable of copyright infringement Tuesday in a decision that threatens to financially devastate the New York company behind the file sharing application. In a 4-year-old case brought by The Recording Industry Association of America, U.S. District Judge Kimba M. Wood ruled that...
So the site I was directed to to download the file -- can't remember the name now, email is gone -- is the responsible party should someone decide to pursue this? This wasn't anything that just anyone could download by entering a song title, as in the LimeWire case, just one person sending a file only to me through this third-party service, one of dozens of services that have been helping people transfer large files that exceed email attachment size limits to each other for a long time. Are all these services operating at their own risk? Why hasn't the RIAA gone after them? And again, what of the end user and friends?The lawsuit I'm more familiar with was LimeWire. Back when MP3 players and iPods were becoming mainstream and seemingly everyone was buying one, many people turned to LimeWire, entered the name of the song they were looking for and voila! They got the song for free to load onto their device.
LimeWire Crushed in RIAA Infringement Lawsuit
LimeWire was found liable of copyright infringement Tuesday in a decision that threatens to financially devastate the New York company behind the file sharing application. In a 4-year-old case brought by The Recording Industry Association of America, U.S. District Judge Kimba M. Wood ruled that...
Pure and simple ... Almost all music is covered by copyright. It is illegal to make the music available to copy.
It becomes whack-a-mole. Are you in trouble? How would they know you have it?
If they used a large file transfer service, the sender is responsible for the content.
One of my friends owned a small restaurant in an area where, for some reason, mom and pop restaurants and small businesses were getting busted for playing music (including hiring live musicians and entertainers) that wasn't licensed and rights fees paid. That case may have been different than what's been discussed above since it was for public consumption in a restaurant setting, but if I recall correctly, they began paying a blanket fee to an organization to take care of the ASCAP/BMI licensing. If they wished to play music over the speakers in their restaurant, they were told their best options were to get a paid music service like one of the offerings from Mood Media (Muzak, DMX, etc.) which would be licensed for use in a public venue, or if they wished to play music from an iPod. they'd need to have the CD jacket on hand or the receipt from iTunes or similar, proving they'd legally purchased the CD or song.
No trouble. But considering that the identity of everyone here is known to Frank ... š
Incidentally, the webcaster that originally aired the program (and two replays) is 100% legal, has paid all applicable music rights fees.
Here's a primer of sending music through large file services:
Sending music - it's easy, legal and fast
Before you share music with your friends, there are a few things you should consider. Learn how you can legally send music online.
blog.transferxl.com
Thanks! So if I keep access limited to friends (actual longstanding ones, not ones just created for the purpose of sending stuff to) and not share the link with strangers via social media or any other means, I should be in the clear. Maybe I just ought to limit the access to the one person I've already sent it to.Here's a primer of sending music through large file services:
Sending music - it's easy, legal and fast
Before you share music with your friends, there are a few things you should consider. Learn how you can legally send music online.
Excellent primer.Here's a primer of sending music through large file services:
Sending music - it's easy, legal and fast
Before you share music with your friends, there are a few things you should consider. Learn how you can legally send music online.
But, here's the sticky part as I understand it: Let's assume you purchase music and share it with a friend or relative. That friend or relative shares it with another friend, who shares it with their sister, who shares it with another friend of theirs. Technically the person who purchased the music and shared it the first time could be held liable.
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