[Ecommerce] WP: Artists Break With Industry on File Sharing

[Manon Ress]

Artists Break With Industry on File Sharing
Some Musicians Say Web Services Can Be Valuable Means of Distribution
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61254-2005Feb28.html?referrer=email

By Jonathan Krim
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 1, 2005; Page E05

A prominent group of musicians and artists, breaking with colleagues and
the major entertainment studios, is urging the Supreme Court not to hold
online file-sharing services responsible for the acts of users who
illegally trade songs, movies and software.

The group, which includes representatives of Steve Winwood, rapper Chuck
D and the band Heart, said in court papers to be filed today that it
condemns the stealing of copyrighted works. But it argues that popular
services such as Grokster, Kazaa and others also provide a legal and
critical alternative for artists to distribute their material.

"Musicians are not universally united in opposition to peer-to-peer file
sharing" as the major records companies claim, according to a draft of
the group's court filing. "To the contrary, many musicians find
peer-to-peer technology . . . allows them easily to reach a worldwide
online audience. And to many musicians, the benefits of this . . .
strongly outweigh the risks of copyright infringement."

The arguments are a stark counterweight to an aggressive push by the
major recording and movie studios, and hundreds of musicians, actors and
composers, to persuade the Supreme Court that file sharing damages the
livelihoods of artists by robbing them of proper compensation for their
work.

Specifically, the studios want the court to rule that Grokster is liable
for the file sharing by many of its users because it is primarily used
for piracy and because it does not take steps to prevent it. The court
is scheduled to hear the case March 29.

But the artists opposing the industry's position said shutting down the
major file-sharing services, which are used by tens of millions of
people worldwide, would instead rob them of a chance to gain exposure
and income.

Before online file sharing, "distribution of recordings to retailers was
controlled largely by a few large national record companies and by
several 'independent' labels," they argue. "Young people aspiring to be
musicians faced daunting odds of ever being signed by a record label."

One musician, Jason Mraz, said half of the fans who pay to see him in
concert heard about him through illegal downloading, according to the
court filing.

Meanwhile, file sharing gives accomplished artists, such as Janis Ian, a
chance to control distribution of their work that might no longer be
deemed worthy of commercial promotion and sales, the group said.

Attorneys for Grokster argued in its court filing that file-sharing
services are used extensively for distributing works legally, either by
permission of the artist or because copyrights have expired or were
never sought.

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Artists Break With Industry on File Sharing

As a result, the company argues, it meets the legal standard set by the
Supreme Court in 1984, when it ruled that Sony Corp.'s Betamax
television recorder was not liable for copyright infringement because it
had substantial legal uses.

The entertainment industry's position also was opposed today by other
file-sharing firms, major telecommunications companies, electronics
makers, and coalitions of computer scientists, inventors, consumer and
digital-rights advocacy groups.

They argue that holding technology creators, or the companies that
handle Internet traffic, liable for the acts of their users would make
it too risky for innovators to develop products that have legal uses and
which enhance the enjoyment of digital entertainment.

"This case is simply the latest in a long string of instances in which
copyright owners, frightened by a new technological development" seek to
place restrictions on electronic devices, Internet access services, and
even on personal computers to try to prevent piracy, said a filing by
the major telephone, wireless and Internet service providers.

Instead, said companies including SBC Communications Inc. and Verizon
Communications Inc., the entertainment industry can properly continue to
sue individual file-swappers who break the law.

The Recording Industry Association of America has sued more than 6,500
people, and announced another 753 suits yesterday, including against
some Grokster users.

The telecommunications companies also said Congress should decide how to
punish services that exist solely to encourage and enable piracy.

The Distributed Computing Industry Association, which represents
file-sharing and other technology firms, said the entertainment
industry's real agenda is to protect its monopoly.

Grokster "threatens that monopoly by providing a near cost-free
distribution mechanism, which supports far more content than even
Web-based distribution systems," the group said.

Other groups filing briefs in support of Grokster's position include the
Consumer Electronics Association, the Computer & Communications Industry
Association, Consumers Union, the Consumer Federation of America, and
Public Knowledge, a digital-rights advocacy group.


--
Manon Anne Ress
manon.ress@cptech.org,
www.cptech.org

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