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LL Cool J threw the first volley: My first question is this: Do people in the entertainment industry have the same rights as other Americans to fair pay for fair work? If a contractor builds a building, should people be allowed to move into it for free just because hes successful? Thats how I feel when I create an album, or if I make a film, and its shooting around the planet for free. LL Cool J said he has seen a gradual decline of his record sales even though he made some of the greatest hits of his career recently. Artists are a huge and extremely important part of American culture, LL Cool J said. Musicians like studio drummers, for example, are seriously affected by illegal file sharing, according to Cool J. Hes not LL, hes not getting the big check and doing the movie thing and all of the talk show stuff that I do, but hes on the drums - hes making a living. Im not against technology, Im not against the Internet, I just wish that music could be downloaded legitimately, LL Cool J said. Chuck D , leader of Public Enemy, vehemently opposes what the industry is trying to do. Technology giveth and it taketh away, and the industry knows this, Chuck D said. The horseshoe makers probably got upset at the train manufacturers because the new industry took away their transport dominance, just as the train manufacturers probably got mad at the airline industry. As an artist representing an 80-year period of black musicianship, I never felt that my copyrights were protected anyway, Chuck D said. Ive been spending most of my career ducking lawyers, accountants and business executives who have basically been more blasphemous than file sharers and P2P. I trust the consumer more than I trust the people who have been at the helm of these companies. The record industry is hypocritical and the domination has to be shared. And lets get this to a balance, and thats what were talking about. Others who testified included Lorraine Sullivan , a college student sued by the music industry for sharing copyright music files;
Coleman said the documents provided to him by the RIAA show that the trade group was fair in targeting only those who had shared substantial around 1,000 copyright music files. However, there is nothing under current law that requires the RIAA to target only egregious offenders in the future, Coleman said. There is nothing in the current law that restricts the scope of the RIAAs use of subpoenas to ferret out unlawful downloaders. On Monday, the RIAA announced it had settled 52 of the suits so far. During his testimony, Bainwol called on peer-to-peer sites to voluntarily change the default settings for their users so people dont unknowingly share files with others, to block copyright works from being downloaded or uploaded, and to clearly disclose to users that such behavior is a violation of federal law. Send it More stories written by Katie Dean Page 1 of 1 Related Stories Soccer Flick Has Legs Online Sep.
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