5 ms·

LimeWire settles: are Google and Amazon next on RIAA's docket?

19 points by grellas 15y ago

cowkingdeluxe 15y ago
"But the 10,000-pound gorilla in the room is the unclear legality of these storage services playing host to pirated music. And that’s where the labels might have some legal muscle." What a horribly written article.
- Natsu 15y ago
  To be fair, the RIAA & co. is working night and day to weaken the DMCA Safe Harbor provisions and to extend the MGM v. Grokster case's ruling about inducement as far as possible. I'm sure that Google did a proper legal analysis to stay within the bounds of the law, but there are people out there working hard to change the law.
Natsu 15y ago
Google, almost definitely, because the RIAA wants us to pay for every possible slightly different way to use music, while Google would just help you make your music conveniently available everywhere. Given that, I wonder if Google couldn't hit them where it hurts and start giving some artists non-exploitative contracts. You know, not playing the game where they refuse to release your last album until you sign up for a contract extension, or all those other little tricks they have that are practically industry standards. If they started threatening the RIAA in terms of music production & marketing as well as distribution, the big RIAA labels could be made irrelevant.
ajg1977 15y ago
I'm not super impressed by Amazon's cloud drive so far, but I immediately signed up for the 50GB/$50 a year plan and am now using it at work. So far my experience is mixed, but I hope there will be enough early adopters to encourage them (and Google) to take a stand against the RIAA insistence on new payoffs whenever users wish to do something with items they already own. When Apple's offering appears I'll have to see what it offers, but if it involves licensees or smallprint (only songs purchased via iTunes etc) there's virtually zero chance that I'll sign up, for exactly the same reason.
- RyanKearney 15y ago
  $50 a year? I pay $36 a year for Grooveshark and I've yet to not be able to find a song I wanted to listen to.
jf 15y ago
Is it really a good idea for the RIAA to sue companies which have the cash reserves to purchase their clients outright?
RyanKearney 15y ago
Here's what I don't understand... Piracy is always going to be around. It's just easy for me to hop on my friendly neighborhood torrenting site and download a copy of a movie or album I want to watch/hear. I used to torrent like no other, until something happened. Netflix came along. I signed up for Netflix and you know what, I can honestly say I've never torrented a movie since. Why? Because I'm content paying my Netflix monthly fee to legally obtain movies without jumping through hoops and having to install adware infested DRM software and whatnot. I also subscribe to Hulu for TV shows that I can't get on Netflix or aren't all available to instant stream (yet?) Now we have Music..... I have an iPhone so you know what, I still torrent music. Why? Well I have Grooveshark, but Apple is too stuck-up to approve their app for the app store. What's that mean? It means while I could listen to the music legally (which is still arguable when it comes to Grooveshark) Apple isn't going to let me. I'll be damned if I'm going to be forced to pay for something I already have a subscription for. I could jailbreak and get the Grooveshark app, which I'm thinking about, but we'll see. tl;dr Music subscription site like Netflix is for Movies that works on iOS devices = dramatic decline in piracy. Of course, it will be a cold day in hell before Apple allows another company to cut into their iTunes Music Store profits.
pbreit 15y ago
Does Limewire have $100 million? Does it have any money? Is anyone going to get paid? Is the founder guy really going to cut a $100 million check at this point?
- gscott 15y ago
  The limewire ceo has a lot of assets. Houses, cars, huge annuity accounts that were setup to try to keep the money from being taken, they have a lot to go after. Enough to cover the costs and get rid of Limewire.
bittermang 15y ago
And history would set a new speed record for repeating itself. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UMG_v._MP3.com http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UMG_v._MP3.com
daimyoyo 15y ago
I really hope the RIAA goes after companies like Google, Amazon, and Apple. The RIAA will run out of money long before those companies do.

19 points by grellas 15y ago

"But the 10,000-pound gorilla in the room is the unclear legality of these storage services playing host to pirated music. And that’s where the labels might have some legal muscle." What a horribly written article.

Natsu 15y ago
To be fair, the RIAA & co. is working night and day to weaken the DMCA Safe Harbor provisions and to extend the MGM v. Grokster case's ruling about inducement as far as possible. I'm sure that Google did a proper legal analysis to stay within the bounds of the law, but there are people out there working hard to change the law.

Natsu 15y ago

Google, almost definitely, because the RIAA wants us to pay for every possible slightly different way to use music, while Google would just help you make your music conveniently available everywhere. Given that, I wonder if Google couldn't hit them where it hurts and start giving some artists non-exploitative contracts. You know, not playing the game where they refuse to release your last album until you sign up for a contract extension, or all those other little tricks they have that are practically industry standards. If they started threatening the RIAA in terms of music production & marketing as well as distribution, the big RIAA labels could be made irrelevant.

ajg1977 15y ago

I'm not super impressed by Amazon's cloud drive so far, but I immediately signed up for the 50GB/$50 a year plan and am now using it at work. So far my experience is mixed, but I hope there will be enough early adopters to encourage them (and Google) to take a stand against the RIAA insistence on new payoffs whenever users wish to do something with items they already own. When Apple's offering appears I'll have to see what it offers, but if it involves licensees or smallprint (only songs purchased via iTunes etc) there's virtually zero chance that I'll sign up, for exactly the same reason.

RyanKearney 15y ago
$50 a year? I pay $36 a year for Grooveshark and I've yet to not be able to find a song I wanted to listen to.

jf 15y ago

Is it really a good idea for the RIAA to sue companies which have the cash reserves to purchase their clients outright?

RyanKearney 15y ago

Here's what I don't understand... Piracy is always going to be around. It's just easy for me to hop on my friendly neighborhood torrenting site and download a copy of a movie or album I want to watch/hear. I used to torrent like no other, until something happened. Netflix came along. I signed up for Netflix and you know what, I can honestly say I've never torrented a movie since. Why? Because I'm content paying my Netflix monthly fee to legally obtain movies without jumping through hoops and having to install adware infested DRM software and whatnot. I also subscribe to Hulu for TV shows that I can't get on Netflix or aren't all available to instant stream (yet?) Now we have Music..... I have an iPhone so you know what, I still torrent music. Why? Well I have Grooveshark, but Apple is too stuck-up to approve their app for the app store. What's that mean? It means while I could listen to the music legally (which is still arguable when it comes to Grooveshark) Apple isn't going to let me. I'll be damned if I'm going to be forced to pay for something I already have a subscription for. I could jailbreak and get the Grooveshark app, which I'm thinking about, but we'll see. tl;dr Music subscription site like Netflix is for Movies that works on iOS devices = dramatic decline in piracy. Of course, it will be a cold day in hell before Apple allows another company to cut into their iTunes Music Store profits.

pbreit 15y ago

Does Limewire have $100 million? Does it have any money? Is anyone going to get paid? Is the founder guy really going to cut a $100 million check at this point?

gscott 15y ago
The limewire ceo has a lot of assets. Houses, cars, huge annuity accounts that were setup to try to keep the money from being taken, they have a lot to go after. Enough to cover the costs and get rid of Limewire.

bittermang 15y ago

And history would set a new speed record for repeating itself. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UMG_v._MP3.com http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UMG_v._MP3.com

daimyoyo 15y ago

I really hope the RIAA goes after companies like Google, Amazon, and Apple. The RIAA will run out of money long before those companies do.