Ten years ago this month, a geeky college kid changed the music industry. Not sure if Jammie Thomas ever met Shawn Fanning, but here in June 2009, they are intimate characters in a drama unfolding in a Minneapolis federal courtroom.
Fanning created Napster opening the door to a new world of paradigm shifts in intellectual property copyright law, particularly in the music industry. It took a while for the recording business to respond to this new business model and when they did, one of the ways they fought back was to sue their customers - or mostly to threaten to sue. When pressed, the RIAA would tell you there is blatant copyright violation with file sharing and the message had to get out: stealing music is against the law. Actually going to trial couldn’t be good PR, could it? So the letters were sent out and customers settled out of court in light of awards of up to $150,000 PER SONG. It worked ok for a while. People got the idea that something was going on with music. “You mean we have to pay for it?” Then a few years ago, an unmarried mom challenged her letter and took on the recording industry. It was the first case tried for file sharing music in the country. She lost. The jury awarded the recording industry $220,000.
This week the case is being retried due to the judge mistakingly instructing the jury in the last trial that having files on a computer equated to intent for distribution, which is the crux of the copyright law in this case. A visit to the trial brings to life the dry issues like “fair use”, “internet addresses”, “intent to distribute” and etc.
Harvard law prof, Lawrence Lessig’s assertion that we are creating a nation of criminals with current copyright law played out in Judge Michael Davis’ courtroom 15E this week. The courtroom had a jury literally facing Ms Thomas (since remarried) with the label suits sitting between them. No conversation or instruction on copyright law in music is as real as when you see the defendent’s life on stage at the bequest of “the man”. She was defending a love for music and in an exhcange with the RIAA lawyers that sounded like they were sharing favorite bands. “You like Green Day?” “Ya” “Chevelle” “Ya” and on with about 10 artists. Sounded like any conversation I’ve had or heard with fans getting to know each other through music. “Cool, they’re a great band!” Surreal here though, in the set up for accusing her of stealing the music.
Much has been made of the attempt to secure copyright for artists, through the labels, with lawsuits but rarely is it played out for everyone to see. Did she download, re:steal, the music? Probably. Did she steal it whith the intent to distribute? Probably not. Did she know that a P2P app would be used to distribute? Probably. But did we need to see her testify that it may have been her ex boyfriend who actually downloaded music? Or see the layout of her apartment with the location of the computer? It really approached the feel of the old Perry Mason classics. (Although if you know Perry Mason, you may not know what the big fuss is about downloading.) The old boyfriend on the stand. “Did she give you a… burnedCD????” The embarrasing pause, “Yes.” Shortly after that, a particular gem. American -no the world -complisitor in the case, Best Buy takes the stand as the plaintiff’s witness. The Best Buy witness was escorted to the stand by one of the RIAA’s suits. He’s a member of the (insert P Mason theme- if you don’t know it, here it is) GEEK SQUAD in full uniform. Tie, Badge, Logo… It was at this point that the proceedings appeared well, plain odd. What’s the point?
The RIAA has indicated new strategies in their PR-challenged attempt at informing the public on the legalities of the music they listen to. And that may be the moving point on this episode of the changing music business/intellectual property model in the, sigh, new digital revolution. Better that the industry moves on to educating users on the value of music and of its place in our world. Interestingly, on this anniversary of Napster, the former head of the group doing all this threatening and suing, Hilary Rosen has some pointed insight on what could/should be done regarding the industry’s response to downloading music. Ms Rosen was in charge when Shawn started Napster. In a Q and A with Billboard, she points out that a educational campaign on the importance of music and more PR on artists’ place in our society might work more toward helping the lagging recording industry.
Closing arguments are tomorrow at 9 am cst on your favorite blog/aggregator/station…