A Boston University student must pay $675,000 for illegally downloading 30 songs. That’s $22,500 per song. Though in fairness, a Rihanna song from three years ago is easily worth twice that amount. Here’s more from CBS News:
The Supreme Court won't reduce the $675,000 verdict against a Boston University student who illegally downloaded 30 songs and shared them on the Internet.
The high court on Monday refused to hear an appeal from Joel Tenenbaum, of Providence, R.I., who was successfully sued by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for illegally sharing music on peer-to-peer networks. In 2009, a jury ordered Tenenbaum to pay $675,000, or $22,500 for each song he illegally downloaded and shared.
The RIAA is such a bunch of hacks. They created a system that ripped off hard-working music fans, and when people found a way around that system, they responded by suing 18-year olds. It’s like if doctors started suing people for taking Emergen-C.
On a more important note, I’d like to see a list of the 30 songs that this guy downloaded. $22 grand might be appropriate if he stole the masters of some unreleased Beatles songs, but if it’s something with a 1-star iTunes rating, that’s insulting, right? Shouldn’t there be different prices for different songs? Downloading “Stairway to Heaven” shouldn’t cost you the same amount as downloading that new Carly Rae Jepsen song. After all, “Stairway to Heaven” is old and overplayed and recorded on 1970s-quality equipment. It’s not worth that much. But “Call Me Maybe?”… Well, that shit is priceless.
Follow Tom on Twitter: @thefaketomz
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