mymediamusings

RIAA Will Have To Sue Them All – Who’s Next?

: Image via Wikipedia

If the recent court decision against The Pirate Bay is any indication, it looks as though groups like RIAA and MPAA are going to be able to sucessfully sue anyone who provides links to copyrighted content, especially if providing that access is the key purpose of the site.

I’ve already discussed how this, theoretically, opens Google up to a big ol’ lawsuit, but what about the thousands of other sites out there.

For instance, I recently read about a site called Just Hear It:

Enter a song title or artist’s name, and Just Hear It returns a list of possible matches–including not only audio tracks, but also YouTube videos.

Gee, that sounds great, and highly suit-worthy. Now, the CNet article notes:

According to the “About” page, the site is legal–it pays for licenses from the three major organizations, BMI, ASCAP, and CESAC, and it apparently pays publishers royalties based on the number of plays they receive. But although paying publishing rights is sufficient for traditional (“terrestrial”) radio, Internet radio stations must also pay performance royalties, which are owned and managed by a completely different group of bodies.

Wow, that is pretty complicated. So many hoops to jump through, licenses to obtain and organizations to pay just for helping people find music they want to hear. Even if Just Hear It believed it was doing something “legal” there are still plenty of grounds for challenging that legality.

That’s why even CNet seems to think the site won’t be around for long. Of course, another clone will pop up quickly since it turns out people like being about to listen to a specific song without paying $1.29 for the privilege.

This is the endless goose-chase that groups like RIAA will be on until they finally realize that they will never win this battle in the courts and begin to truly innovate – or just DIAF.

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