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Within the last five years, 35,000 internet users have been charged with music copyright theft. To date, only two cases have made it as far as a trial. Last month, a thirty-two-year-old Minneapolis woman named Jammie Thomas-Rasset was fined $1.92 million for sharing twenty four song files after being warned repeatedly to stop downloading tracks illegally over the internet.

This month, a federal jury decided that a Boston University student named Joel Tenenbaum, who admitted to downloading more than 800 music MP3s from the internet over the last ten years, would pay $675,000 in damages to four record labels for copyright infringement. Tenenbaum feels he got away lightly as his settlement was not into millions like the Jammie Thomas-Rasset.

The most Tenenbaum might have been fined under US law was $4,500,000. Because, under federal law the record companies were entitled to $750 to $30,000 for each transgression, but the jury was allowed to raise that to as much as a $150,000 a song if they believed the violations were willful. The student admitted sharing the 40 music files in question, and has been fined $22,500 for each infringement.

The Boston student testified in the courtroom that he traded over 800 tunes, including songs by Nirvana and Green Day on sites like Napster. Tenenbaum also conceded that he had deceived the jury during pretrial when he said friends or his family could have downloaded the songs to his PC.

Tenenbaum continued to download illegally, even after his father warned him in 2002 that he could get sued, and even after he was mailed a firmly-worded letter from the plaintiffs legal firm in 2005. Tenenbaum even continued downloading songs after he was sued in 2007.

According to the music companies, they have lost at least six billion dollars over the last few years because of illegal song downloads. Music insiders report that lots of independent artists simply are not able to continue making music to make their living.

The RIAA was pleased with the verdicts and are thankful for the jury’s service and their acknowledging of the impact of illegal downloading on the music community. The RIAA said that they appreciate that Mr. Tenenbaum ultimately acknowledged that music creators and music corporations deserve to be compensated for their work. The RIAA added that from the beginning that’s what this trial has been about.

- Stock Music Pete
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