Italian DJ Fined 1.4 Mln Euros for Music Piracy

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This doesn't affect anyone here in the slightest, but checkitout:

http://au.news.yahoo.com/050216/11/t3lb.html

ROME (Reuters) - An Italian DJ has been fined a record 1.4 million euros ($1.8 million) for using thousands of pirate music files in a nightclub near Rome, police said on Wednesday.

Police in the town of Rieti, near Rome, said they raided a popular nightclub earlier this week as part of a crackdown on piracy and seized 500 illegally copied music videos and more than 2,000 MP3 music files.

Police said the files belonged to a "well-known" Italian DJ.

"For the MP3 files, which were kept on the DJ's personal computer, the DJ has received a fine of 1.4 million euros," Rieti finance police said in a statement.

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) said the fine was the biggest ever slapped on an individual for unlawful music copying and the use of copyrighted music in the MP3 format.

More than 7,000 legal actions have been launched against alleged uploaders in the United States, Canada and countries in Europe as the music industry fights to stop piracy which it blames for a decline over a number of years in CD sales.

― Ian Christe (Ian Christe), Wednesday, 16 February 2005 22:11 (twenty years ago)

how many of those mp3s were made from out-of-print music?

― stockholm cindy's secret childhood (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 16 February 2005 22:15 (twenty years ago)

and would it be any more "legal" for him to play vinyl bought at stoop sales?

― stockholm cindy's secret childhood (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 16 February 2005 22:16 (twenty years ago)

Maybe he can the pay that portion of the fine in lire.

― Ian Christe (Ian Christe), Wednesday, 16 February 2005 22:17 (twenty years ago)

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Wednesday, 16 February 2005 22:17 (twenty years ago)

Copyright enforcement, in Italy???!!!

Yeah, really.

― Tantrum (Tantrum The Cat), Wednesday, 16 February 2005 22:35 (twenty years ago)

Stop whining. Thousands of artists and record labels put hard work and money in to making those records and getting them heard. This DJ is making money off of them, the club is making money off of them, and neither are giving the artists and labels their fair share.

The fine is outrageous, but I'm not that sympathetic.

― Hurting (Hurting), Wednesday, 16 February 2005 23:06 (twenty years ago)

Scandalous and absurd.

― Alienus Quam Reproba (blueski), Wednesday, 16 February 2005 23:07 (twenty years ago)

Um, I wasn't "whining".

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Wednesday, 16 February 2005 23:09 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, but when you buy used records, the artist and label aren't making any money either!

― Mike O. (Mike Ouderkirk), Wednesday, 16 February 2005 23:09 (twenty years ago)

Spencer, I wasn't specifically referring to you.

― Hurting (Hurting), Wednesday, 16 February 2005 23:11 (twenty years ago)

Ah.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Wednesday, 16 February 2005 23:12 (twenty years ago)

As far as the stoop sale argument, I think this question has to be answered with pragmatism. If you buy a used record, someone paid for it once. If you download an mp3, yes, someone (maybe) paid for it once, but an unlimited number of people can now avoid paying for it as a result. Also, a professional DJ (at least one who plays current music) couldn't possibly find EVERYTHING at stoop sales, not to speak of the 500 music videos this guy had pirated.

― Hurting (Hurting), Wednesday, 16 February 2005 23:14 (twenty years ago)

what that article doesn't tell you is that 1,856 of the mp3s were different permutations of dragostea tin drea.

― mark p (Mark P), Wednesday, 16 February 2005 23:17 (twenty years ago)

sorry, i meant DRAGOSTEA TIN DREA

― mark p (Mark P), Wednesday, 16 February 2005 23:18 (twenty years ago)

Dragnetostea

― Alienus Quam Reproba (blueski), Wednesday, 16 February 2005 23:19 (twenty years ago)

The fine is obvious showboating by the IFPI. The IFPI will have a very hard time proving damages of 1.4 million euros in court, because:

* You can be reasonably assured the DJ was not actively filesharing when the bust occured.

* In the United States clubs & bars pay monthly performance dues to ASCAP or BMI, that goes for closets jukeboxes as well as grand casino stages. If Italy has a similar system and the club was playing by the rules, then no expected revenue was lost.

* I've never seen a music video prefaced with the familiar "Not for rebroadcast, public performance, etc." Aren't music videos basically advertisements? Has Glenn Danzig ever broken into a DJ booth and screamed "Take my video off NOW!!"

But the IFPI made its headlines, and that's what's important, after all.

― Ian Christe (Ian Christe), Wednesday, 16 February 2005 23:26 (twenty years ago)

It's odd, because 2,000 MP3s doesn't really sound like much, especially for a DJ; I've got over 6,000 and that's just ripped from my CDs (technically not legal in the UK either, but the BPI seems to be keeping quiet about that, possibly for fear of the outcry over making every owner MP3 player in the UK face a prison sentence).

Does anybody know whether the BPI has got any further with its campaign? They made a big fuss over taking the ISPs to court to fork over names, but after that, nothing...

― carson dial (carson dial), Wednesday, 16 February 2005 23:41 (twenty years ago)

Has Glenn Danzig ever broken into a DJ booth and screamed "Take my video off NOW!!"

he did, but then someone tossed him down the bar.

― stockholm cindy's secret childhood (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 16 February 2005 23:46 (twenty years ago)

Hopeful they can return those mp3s and music videos to their rightful owner.

― Cunga (Cunga), Thursday, 17 February 2005 06:57 (twenty years ago)

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