Century Media Is Suing Over Illegal Downloads
Tuesday, September 18, 2012 at 12:02AM Century Media has filed a lawsuit in New Jersey against 7,500 people who illegally downloaded titles by their artists, specifically Lacuna Coil and Iced Earth. We are talking about copyright infringement lawsuits here, people. The lawyer for Century Media is seeking $150,000 per case. This fascinates me. As most of you know, I've long been an anti-download girl. I fully believe bands and labels deserve to be compensated for their product. Still, ticking off and terrifying customers isn't brilliant business practice either.
This all gets tricky, too, because lawsuits require, you know, evidence... and that means tracking down the IP addresses of the alleged thieves. Our friends at Metal Insider break it down very nicely. Basically, it's going to be difficult and costly for Century Media to litigate these alleged download thefts.
I bring this up, not really to speak about Century Media, who I quite like actually, but to discuss downloading more broadly. It's amazing to me, all these years after Napster, that there still isn't a clear cut way to 1) stop illegal downloading or 2) punish the most voracious of offenders. Look, I'm not talking about the kid who downloads two albums a year. I'm talking about the pirates that spend their days, trolling for album leaks and popping them online, for thousands to "enjoy." To me, illegal downloading is an economy of scale issue. Yes, it's bad no matter how often the offense, but we have to be practical in what we punish. Century Media has every right to go after thieves and seek some restitution for money lost. I just don't know if these one-off lawsuits are going to net us any real discourse on the subject. I have no answers to the problem here. But clearly the dinosaur model of big music marketing isn't really cutting it anymore. Thoughts?
Reader Comments (27)
I think bands should focus on what they do best- perform their music live for their fans, rather than sit in a studio, put out music and then collect royalty checks. That being said, I have never downloaded illegal material, but I have stolen intellectual property from MB a time or two, and yes, it sometimes still bothers me.
In a certain way, many of the bands who never made it way back when (pick a date) suffered from the same sort of circumstances that are now the norm for too many bands as well: lack of promotion, distribution, fly by night promoters and companies, etc.
What has changed is the deal making for those bands who do make it into rotation. They deal with less companies and take a lot less (which is often not that much more than most bands got back in the day) on the physical sales and deal with a small portion of online sales. That last part is where the dynamics tilt in favor of those crying about the companies with the dying business models. But going it alone is a choice if you have the option, just like it is to sign a deal with Live Nation. A lot of bands simply never had the option, whatever it was at the time.
And a tour provides the monies for those that made it into and stayed in rotation . . . even if it is, again, often far less than the fans think when the production costs are factored in. You have your Big Fours, your Monster Energies, and your Rock Never Stops(es). The list goes farther and farther down until you reach near implosion, grasping at something (for yourself and the fans) like packages (that have been reviewed and debated on this site recently).
So the brave new world offers you this: you have to push merch, self-sell on-demand live CDs or memory sticks, release (on your own or otherwise), or cross-platform yourself to death (again, a new version of who gets to the telephone pole first and second and third with a flyer and a staple gun). It's a long way to the top if . . .
So the next big act is in the same position as Necros, Overkill, and Megadeth were when I saw them in a cramped club a long time ago. They are just less likely to move out of that position now or to do so with any of the same upshot that we see with bands like Metallica or Aerosmith. They may get to some version of Cinderella. But it will be a smaller version, bolstered by less airtime and less video time on conventional and dying formats.
I personally don't download much. I see a new band on a show. I go to the show's website. I hear a new band. I go to their website. If it isn't on Youtube or Pandora (or some such thing), then I probably have it. Or someone I know burns it for me. And that is the funny thing . . . burning CDs is as passe as mixed tapes were and are as passe as most of this will be in a decade or less.
Some companies try (or tried) different models and failed. Some bands blame their lack of success on things that aren't really to blame (projection is old school, but powerful). And some fans will do anything they can to save a dime. A lot of gray then. A lot of gray now.