RIAA Lawsuit

So if you don't know already, the RIAA finally won a lawsuit over illegal downloaders, or piraters, as I like to refer to them. Jammie Thomas was charged and ordered to pay $220,000 to the RIAA. You can read the complete story here.

But have no fear, the people are here to help. Recently I read that there is a website set up for Ms. Thomas called Free Jammie where the public can voice their opinions, and of course, donate money to her cause.

Not to be ranting and getting off on a tangent, but shouldn't she have thought about this when she was illegally downloading music? There is a reason music cost money. It's not for free. The money from the record sales supports the artist(however that is rarely the case, given the fact the artists barely sees their cut from the sales of their records), but besides the fact. The price isn't there just for the fun of it. It's there because it's a purchase.

Now don't get me wrong, I don't like the RIAA. I'm not fond of major labels either. And I'm sorry that Ms. Thomas was the one to be made an example of in this situation. I realize she can't afford to pay all these lawsuits and she seemed to be innocent in this whole situation. She stated that she ONLY downloaded 24 songs. But it's hard for the RIAA to just sue people who could afford to pay the fines. Then it's discrimination. So avoid the whole situation and pay the $9.99 for a digital album.

Hopefully people will learn from Ms. Thomas and not download illegally. Or better yet, maybe digital tracks will be released for free or at a "pay what you will" scheme, like Radiohead initiated a week ago. Good thinking Radiohead. And that's why they(Radiohead) rock!

Something needs to be done about the music industry. I don't have a solution, but I'm sure someone out there does.