When A Leaf Turns

It seems that the title for worst copyright infringers might actually belong to the Record Companies (at least in Canada for now). For the last twenty years they’ve been releasing compilation and live CD’s without actually getting permission from the artists first. They would instead keep a list of the songs that were used so that they could later go back and get permission from the artist(s). At least, that was the plan. What actually happened was the list just kept growing and growing with little or not real attempt to do anything with it. Such activity has been called “exploit now, pay later if at all.”

Now they’ve been called to task for it, and it doesn’t look good for them. A bunch of artists filed a lawsuit against the CRIA (Canadian Recording Industry Association) after years of frustration trying to get reimbursed for the use of their music. I’m not sure if they’re actually involved with the suit itself, but it is known that such big name artists as Beyonce and Bruce Springsteen are among those who have yet to be paid, so it’s not just a bunch of obscure people involved.

So how bad is it for the Record Companies? Well, according to their own lawyers, each instance of infringement results in $20,000 in damages which must be reimbursed. When they were the plaintiffs I’m sure that amount seemed perfectly legitimate. But what about now that they are the defendants? All of a sudden it seems a bit on the outrageous side. Especially considering that their list contains more than 300,000 songs that are “awaiting permission”. Do the math and it seems that they might be on the hook for 6 billion dollars or more. Ouch!

Of course they haven’t been so successful at bullying people by being bad lawyers, so I’m sure they’ll find a way to argue it down to some ridiculously low dollar amount, but for now it certainly is fun to point at them and laugh.