Copying Music Files

As somebody who has actually recorded (in the studio!) an album or two (although I'm still waiting for that big contract from Sony or Warner) I thought I'd throw a few facts & comments into the mix:

While a few artists (certainly not Janis Ian) are upset about MP3 sharing, it is mostly the RIAA and the big fat record companies it represents who are raising a stink. An artist gets less than 10% of that $17 you fork over for a CD - except for some big names who can command a slightly larger percentage (which goes to the lawyers they hired to get them that larger %...). So the argument that the artists are losing lots of $$ loses some weight.

I think most of us agree that the RIAA and the big five they represent (Sony, BMG, EMI, Universal/Polygram, and Warner-Electra-Atlantic) are the only ones getting ripped off by MP3 sharing. Two questions:

- So is the best way to protest to engage in illegal activity? (hey, it's certainly easier than trying to influence your congressman - John, are you listening?? RIAA buys fancy-dancy dinners for congressmen - I'd be happy to take John to Denny's sometime.)

- Well, so it's big corporations that are making out like bandits on the sale of overpriced CDs. So who IS that big corporation? Hey - it's you!  It's me! It's all of us who have 401ks, and IRAs, and invest in mutual funds. As a semi-pro musician, I think MP3 sharing should be legal (fame and fortu...well, fame, anyway). As a conservative capitalist, I'm in favor of laws that protect my (the shareholder me) profits. My jury is still out.

To clarify a comment made earlier - making an analog recording (i.e. to tape) of a work (CD, vinyl, other tape) for personal use is legal (actually, technically such recording is non-prosecutable). The Audio Home Recording Act of 1992 (AHRA) limits recording only to analog and SPECIFIED digital recorders (e.g. mini-disk & DAT). Ripping a CD to your computer for your personal use is illegal. Bad law, yes. Immoral, no; Illegal, yes. Did USMA teach us first to follow the law, or to do the right thing? I have a hard time buying in to the immorality of copying for personal use.

I hereby publicly confess: I've got almost 300 CDs worth of music on the MP3 player that's in my hand right now. I own every one of those CDs, but I guess I'm willing to go to jail for actually copying them for personal use.  No, you can't have any of them. Except for MY music - the stuff I personally wrote and recorded - I'll gladly send any of y'all a copy of "Suite for the Class of 1980" - 3 files, 8.5 MB. Wait - is that legal?? I OWN THE COPYRIGHT!

On that topic - as best I can figure out the law (thank God for lawyers who understand this stuff, eh??) for me to make copies of MY OWN MUSIC is technically illegal, because it's the copying process itself that's unlawful (unless I use approved equipment - not my own computer). So as a musician I'm doubly ticked about the AHRA.

To answer Pete's question (how would USMA handle this) - my understanding of the incident was that USNA was only reacting to a request from RIAA, and siezed the laptops as evidence of illegal activity. USMA would pretty much have to do the same thing - illegal evidence should be siezed. If cadets (Army or Navy) are doing something illegal, sieze the evidence.  "...to promote the progress of science and the useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries." Article I, US Constitution

I guess I think (being a strict constitutional constructionist) that current copyright and recording law no longer promote the progress of the useful arts, and are therefore unconstitutional. Hopefully the Supremes (the Court, not Diana Ross & Co) agree.