If you do not have legal permission, and you go ahead and copy or distribute copyrighted music anyway, you can be prosecuted in criminal court and/or sued for damages in civil court.
Criminal penalties can run up to 5 years in prison and/or $250,000 in fines, even if you didn’t do it for monetary or financial or commercial gain.
Having the hardware to make unauthorized music recordings doesn’t give you the right to steal.
February 28, 2005
SESAC Joins Music Coalition – Including Recording Academy, AFM, AFTRA, CMA, GMA, Hip-Hop Action Summit, Rhythm & Blues Foundation And Others – To Ask Supreme Court To Overturn Grokster Case
SESAC’s Thousands of Members Sound Off On Metro-Goldwyn Mayer Studios, et al, v. Grokster, Ltd., et al, Case
NASHVILLE, Tennessee, February 28, 2005 – SESAC has joined a coalition of music organizations committed to protect songwriters against loss of income from file sharing and other new technology. The performing rights organization has signed on to an Amica Curiae brief in support of overturning a Ninth Circuit court of appeals in favor of file-sharing, in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Inc., et al, v. Grokster, Ltd., et al, case scheduled to be heard by the Supreme Court in early April.
Among the other organizations SESAC is joining in the coalition are The Recording Academy (NARAS), the American Federation of Musicians (AFM), American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), Country Music Association (CMA), Gospel Music Association (GMA), Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, The Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI), Jazz Alliance International, the Songwriters Guild of America and the Rhythm & Blues Foundation.
According to legal documents, the coalition is asking the Supreme Court to overturn a lower court’s ruling in favor of the file-sharing software company Grokster, which shielded the company and other such services from responsibility for the rampant copyright infringement that is the basis of their business model. The brief urges the Court to preserve the ability of creative people (including those who work behind the scenes to produce records) to earn a living, by protecting their copyrights.
“The hope is that the Supreme Court will overturn the lower court decision in order to protect the rights of the music creators whose livelihoods depend on getting paid for their work,” says Pat Collins, President of SESAC. “It’s all about being compensated for your work, as is the case without question in virtually every other endeavor,” he adds.
SESAC, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary in 2005, is the fastest growing and most innovative performance rights organization in the United States. Representing a diversified repertory that includes all genres of music, SESAC is headquartered in Nashville, with offices in Los Angeles, New York and London. To find out more, visit www.sesac.com.
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Contact:
Pat Rogers
SESAC
310-393-9671
progers@sesac.com