ClumsyMonkey.net

Posted: **3/14/2006, 9:35 am**

Feds Put the Screws to Ryan Adams Fans
Quanah Humphreys reports:
Music fans, beware: Do not mess with Ryan Adams or he will come down on you with the full-litigious force of the United States government. Or, more accurately, Universal Music Group ain't nothin' to fuck with.

A pair of Adams fans have been indicted by a federal grand jury for leaking tracks from Jacksonville City Nights to an Adams fan site last August, a month before the album's September release date. Now Robert Thomas of Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Jared Bowser of Jacksonville, Florida each face up to 11 years in prison for violating the 2005 Family Entertainment and Copyright Act (FECA), according to the Associated Press and the Hollywood Reporter.

The pair are believed to be the first individuals prosecuted under the prerelease provision of FECA. By posting the tracks, Thomas and Bowser violated the section which states that media shall not be made "available on a computer network accessible to members of the public, if such person knew or should have known that the work was intended for commercial distribution." Adams' label, Lost Highway Records, is a subsidiary of Universal Music Group, which, obviously, was intending Ryan's album for commercial distribution.

How this will affect sites which frequently post leaked tracks remains to be seen, as many see fair use in distributing media already available on the file-sharing black market. Will America's prisons be stuffed with MP3 bloggers?

Investigated by the FBI and prosecuted by the Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property Section of the United States Attorney's Office, the intensity of the prosecution may seem awfully severe for a pair of fans not apparently interested in personal financial gain. But RIAA chairman and CEO Mitch Bainwol sees no shades of gray in his black and white assessment of the indictments.

"Prerelease piracy is a particularly damaging and onerous form of theft," Bainwol said. "It robs artists of the chance to sell their music before it even hits the streets or becomes legally available online."

Many studies, as well as many artists, dispute the deleterious effects of leaked tracks and music downloading, but the RIAA and US Attorney's office assessment is already demonstrated by Bainwol's additional comments. "The message here is clear: Significant crimes bring significant consequences."

Doesn't that sound like something a comic book villain would say?

http://pitchforkmedia.com/news/06-03/13.shtml

Posted: **3/14/2006, 11:39 am**

That's just crazy. 11 years?? A guy I worked with was sentenced to 6 or 7 MONTHS for a lot of child porn charges, and was out in 3. Yet you can get 11 years for sharing a leaked album? The world is a very very wierd place.

Posted: **3/14/2006, 2:22 pm**

I agree. Call me crazy but I've actually bought a lot more albums since I started downloading music than I would have otherwise. Of course, everyone who downloads does not go out and buy, but in my case (and I'm sure a lot of people on the CM are similar) downloading music is an easy way to listen to new artists without going to a record store. If I like what I hear, I'll buy it.

Posted: **3/14/2006, 3:06 pm**

I think the recent suckage of mainstream music is getting ignored here.

Posted: **3/14/2006, 3:42 pm**

Joe Cooler wrote:I agree. Call me crazy but I've actually bought a lot more albums since I started downloading music than I would have otherwise. Of course, everyone who downloads does not go out and buy, but in my case (and I'm sure a lot of people on the CM are similar) downloading music is an easy way to listen to new artists without going to a record store. If I like what I hear, I'll buy it.

I find the same thing. Downloading music is bad for my budget!

I think the problem is more with the antiquated mindset of the music industry, not with the availability of music online...

Posted: **3/14/2006, 4:09 pm**

Yeah. I have more of a problem with someone that bought the pussycat dolls album than someone who refuses to buy music.

Posted: **3/14/2006, 5:47 pm**

but umm... I bought the pussycat dolls album.

Kidding!! Geez

Posted: **3/14/2006, 7:38 pm**

Now Robert Thomas of Milwaukee, Wisconsin

OMG BAD ROB THOMAS, BAD!!!

/

Posted: **3/14/2006, 7:41 pm**

i saw this. :no:

ugh.

Joe Cooler wrote:Call me crazy but I've actually bought a lot more albums since I started downloading music than I would have otherwise.

same with me.

Posted: **3/14/2006, 8:20 pm**

Just another sign of the music industry not changing with the times.

Posted: **3/15/2006, 8:27 am**

(FECA)

more like FECAL!!!!!

hahaha :lol:

Posted: **3/15/2006, 11:10 pm**

nikki4982 wrote:
Now Robert Thomas of Milwaukee, Wisconsin

OMG BAD ROB THOMAS, BAD!!!

/

Well it was 3 AM and he was lonely!

Posted: **3/15/2006, 11:20 pm**

Hope wrote:
Joe Cooler wrote:Call me crazy but I've actually bought a lot more albums since I started downloading music than I would have otherwise.

same with me.

Me too! There are so many bands that I never would've heard of without downloading music - I download a few songs, see if I really like it, and then go buy the cd. I've bought ridiculous numbers of cds since I started doing that. So the music industry is actually profitting from my downloads.

Posted: **3/15/2006, 11:48 pm**

Joe Cooler wrote:I agree. Call me crazy but I've actually bought a lot more albums since I started downloading music than I would have otherwise.

Same here. In fact if it wasn't for downloading music, i wouldn't have heard metallica, and then bought every album including the rare album which set me back $60 alone!!!!! Same, for almost every band. I have a few megadeth albums on my computer that my friend sent me and once I get the money i wanna go and buy them. My friend thinks I'm insane for wanting to buy them when I could burn them, but I much prefer to buy albums, however with the cost of cds I don't want to risk not liking the band.

Posted: **3/16/2006, 12:50 am**

Yeah i'm the same basically every band other then OLP that i listen to I've downloaded music from, of course i've bought a sickeningly high number of Cd's as well because of it.

Take Matthew Good, I naturally didn't have a good opinion of him (being an OLP fan). But i checked him out of intrest, and now look. All the albums, some bought several times. Shirts, 3 concert tickets, and not to mention a huge amouth of advertising to whoever will listen. All from 3 download's. that's what 3 dollars, advertising on their part?