Stevie IS against File Sharing.

[ontheEdgeof17]

Famous folk among those filing briefs on file-sharing
By Jefferson Graham, USA TODAY

An avalanche of music industry professionals, state attorneys general and educators, as well as U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement, filed briefs with the Supreme Court Tuesday asking to have a controversial Internet file-sharing decision overturned.

The top court is scheduled in March to hear the case of the record labels and movie studios, vs. file-sharing companies Grokster and Morpheus. Lower courts found that users of their systems were liable for copyright infringement, but the owners weren't.

Among those who filed briefs: The Eagles, the Dixie Chicks, Bonnie Raitt, Sheryl Crow, Stevie Nicks, Tom Jones and Beach Boys founder Brian Wilson.

"There is no more important case for the future of our business," said Don Henley of the Eagles. "These systems promote copyright violations on an unprecedented scale."

About 13 billion songs were available for unauthorized free trading on online swap networks in 2004, according to Internet measurement service BigChampagne. Around 200 million songs last year were sold to consumers at authorized sites such as Apple's iTunes and Yahoo's Musicmatch.

The flip side to the music and movie industry position is that overturning the Grokster case would stifle innovation.

Supporters point to the 1984 Betamax ruling, when the high court said that VCRs weren't liable for copyright infringement, a decision that ultimately paved the way for new products such as today's iPod digital music device and TiVo digital video recorder.

"Betamax established a clear legal principle," says Gary Shapiro, president of the Consumer Electronics Association, which plans to file its own briefs next month in support of Grokster/Morpheus.

"A product is legal if it has legal uses," he says. "We're petrified of what the court could do to limit new technology."

The number of people rounded up by the studios and labels to urge the court to overturn the decision could seem daunting, but Fred von Lohmann, one of the lawyers representing Grokster, says it was no different in 1984.

"All the prominent movie stars of the day talked about how the VCR was the death of Hollywood," he says. "The court wasn't fooled then by the parochial interests of one industry, and it won't be now."

Michael Weiss, CEO of StreamCast, which owns Morpheus, said companies like his "can be part of the solution for the future of digital distribution of entertainment and is not part of the problem."

[skcin]

I'm not really surprised.

[ontheEdgeof17]

Originally Posted by skcin

I'm not really surprised.

Th artists who filed look like a Stevie and Friends Concert.

[seeker007nmss]

I am curious if that is her - personally- or the record management. I had a chance to ask her in person many years ago about bootlegs, and her only quam was that the songs weren't complete, but once they were out they were out. She didn't seem to care too much about it at the time.

[LilyRose]

But this really isn't about the bootlegged songs that were released without her consent.

This is about legally released songs that are on albums being shared illegally through the internet.

Susie

[skcin]

Originally Posted by ontheEdgeof17

Th artists who filed look like a Stevie and Friends Concert.

Funny, because it's true

[amber]

Originally Posted by ontheEdgeof17

Th artists who filed look like a Stevie and Friends Concert.

I was thinking that. What, did they all go to the same party.?

[tommer]

i don't see the point here, that's so ridiculous, i bet the vast majority of her income now comes from live concerts, if she still made any real money from her recent recordings (something i somehow doubt), that's still nothing compared to her tours earnings. i'll also bet that if you'd take the money she makes from an album, and split by the time she spends working on it, you'll find that by the hour, she DOES make less than a cleaning lady.

if you consider the sad truth that she's not that popular anymore in the media which is aimed towards younger audience, file sharing is a brilliant alternative way to reach them, and have them pay those absurd tickets prices.

[LilyRose]

Originally Posted by tommer

i don't see the point here, that's so ridiculous, i bet the vast majority of her income now comes from live concerts, if she still made any real money from her recent recordings (something i somehow doubt), that's still nothing compared to her tours earnings. i'll also bet that if you'd take the money she makes from an album, and split by the time she spends working on it, you'll find that by the hour, she DOES make less than a cleaning lady.

if you consider the sad truth that she's not that popular anymore in the media which is aimed towards younger audience, file sharing is a brilliant alternative way to reach them, and have them pay those absurd tickets prices.

Maybe she doesn't get much money from sales, but it still doesn't make illegal sharing right.

Susie

[tommer]

Originally Posted by LilyRose

Maybe she doesn't get much money from sales, but it still doesn't make illegal sharing right.

i think that sharing is one of the finest qualities of mankind. right now, ANY file sharing is illegal, but hey, you can not prevent people from sharing, coz in a civilized society that's what they do almost naturally in every aspect in their social behaviour.

[strandinthewind]

WARNING DANGER WILL ROBINSON DANGER WARNING WARNING

[LilyRose]

Originally Posted by tommer

i think that sharing is one of the finest qualities of mankind. right now, ANY file sharing is illegal, but hey, you can not prevent people from sharing, coz in a civilized society that's what they do almost naturally in every aspect in their social behaviour.

Yo, I said "illegal sharing". I'm not talking about sharing in general, I'm not talking about social behavior, I'm talking about the topic at hand. I'm not going to get all over dramatic and turn this into something it's not...I don't have the time.


SUsie

[tommer]

Originally Posted by LilyRose

Yo, I said "illegal sharing". I'm not talking about sharing in general, I'm not talking about social behavior, I'm talking about the topic at hand. I'm not going to get all over dramatic and turn this into something it's not...I don't have the time.

yeah, apparently you didn't have the time to think about what i wrote, i noted that there is no such thing as "legal sharing". what i'm saying is that sharing would always be there, whether you decide to call legal or illegal.

[Mageboy25]

working on it, you'll find that by the hour, she DOES make less than a cleaning lady.

[dissention]

These people are still too stupid to acknowledge file sharing as helping a dying industry.

As for Stevie joining into this hoopla, whatever. I'm sure there's just a gigantic market for pirated copies of Running Through the Garden and Too Far From Texas that none of us know about.