Suing music fans is crazy
p2p news / p2pnet: At long last, someone on the corporate side of the music industry finally gets it.
“Suing the fan is like shooting yourself in the foot.”
Actually, it’s more like shooting yourself in the head. But the members of the Big Four record label cartel, Warner Music, Vivendi Universal, Sony BMG and EMI are under the delusion they can pillory their fans with impunity, suing them instead of wooing them.
Terry McBride runs Nettwerk Music Group, a label and management company headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and, like p2pnet, which is also in BC, he’s decided to do what he can to help an American Big Four victim.
Where we’re raising cash to help Patti Santangelo, a New York mother, get legal representation, McBride has pledged to cover the full costs of the Greubel family in Texas.
Elisa, 15, is being victimized by the cartel’s RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) in what her father, David, calls a ‘David versus Goliath’ attack.
Coincidentally, our fund which, as we write this, has almost reached $7,500 since it was launched on December 31, is called the Patti Santangelo Fight Goliath campaign.
“The lawsuit accuses Greubel of having 600 illegally downloaded music files on the family computer, including Lavigne’s Sk8er Boi,” says the Canadian Press‘ Angela Pacienza, going on:
“Nettwerk will cover all of Greubel’s legal costs, as well as any fines should the family lose the case, McBride says.
The Big Four want to settle out of court for $9,000 but, “It’s time to step up and say ‘This is crazy’, ” CP has McBride declaring. “My hope is that this (Nettwerk’s support) will create a positive concrete conversation between the artists, their managers and the record labels as to what the future is . . . The fan is the future.”
The case came to McBride’s attention after Greubel’s 15-year-old daughter wrote an e-mail to MC Lars, a punk-rap performer managed by Nettwerk. Elisa Greubel wrote that she identified with MC Lars’s track Download This Song, says CP.
” ‘We have to stop this,’ said McBride, adding that he’s received e-mails of support from several U.S. congressmen, a U.S. senator and some record label presidents whose names he wouldn’t reveal.
“He doesn’t think suing is a solution because “people have been sharing music for decades.”
Pacienza has Barenaked Ladies’ Steven Page agreeing that suing fans isn’t the answer, “although he doesn’t want people to steal his music”.
“These people who download music, trade music and share it, are people who love music,” Pacienza has him saying. “I think the labels have forgotten that. They keep pushing people away.”
‘Music used to give me peace and tranquility …’
The Greubels may be among the most recently publicized victims but they’re far from being the only ones.
Tanya Andersen, for example, is doing more than refusing to settle.
She’s counter-suing the RIAA under the RICO Act, a US law more normally reserved for Mafia gangsters.
When Andersen, the disabled mother of an eight-year-old daughter, heard about Santangelo’s fight, ” “Mrs Santangelo is in my thoughts,” she said. “I have an idea what her fear feels like because of my own case.”
These days, “I’m hanging in there and still fighting,” she told p2pnet. ” I’ve offered over and over to let the RIAA to examine my computer to prove to them that I didn’t do what they are accusing me of. My offer has constantly been ignored. I know I never did what the RIAA is trying to sue me for.
“Music is something that used to give me peace and tranquility. This lawsuit has put a damper on that. I no longer will buy anything that is from an RIAA artist. I also won’t buy any other product made by any of the companies involved in these lawsuits.
” It still just amazes and upsets me how these lawsuits are allowed to continue – how they are allowed to devastate ordinary people’s lives. I think about this entire mess on a daily basis. It causes me a huge amount of stress. Whenever I think about planning for the future, etc, this lawsuit makes me feel restricted and scares me.
” I am very thankful that there are a lot of supportive people out there now who no longer want to stand for this type of injustice. It means a lot to me.
” I’ll just keep fighting until it’s over.”
Meanwhile, thanks to McBride, the Greubels will be OK. But Patti Santangelo can still use all the financial help she can get.
Use the button below to give her a hand.
And if you don’t like Pay Pal, snail-mail your donation to the address below:
Patricia Santangelo
C/O PO Box 57
Cedarhurst
New York 11516, USA
Cheers! And thanks …..
Also See:
cover the full costs – The Nettwerk Music message, January 28, 2006
Canadian Press – Avril, Ladies back Nettwerk’s offer to fight downloading lawsuit, January 30, 2006
Patti Santangelo – Patti Santangelo fights on, January 27, 2006
Mafia gangsters – RIAA RICO case hearing, January 30, 2006
in my thoughts – The ‘We’re Not Taking Any More’ club, September 17, 2005
