Am I crazy or are a crapload of bloggers and message board posters looking at potential jailtime here? I'm surprised this hasn't gotten more attention:
A pair of apparent Ryan Adams fans ran afoul of a new law making it a crime to publish songs before their release to the general public when they made portions of the singer's latest album available on a Web site frequented by his fans, federal authorities said Thursday.
Robert Thomas of Milwaukee and Jared Bowser of Jacksonville, Fla., were indicted under a provision of the Family Entertainment and Copyright Act (FECA) law that makes it a separate federal crime to pirate music and movies before they are released to the public, Memphis-based U.S. attorney Jim Vines and FBI special agent My Harrison said.
The indictments are believed to be the first under the prerelease provision of the 2005 FECA law. The men are alleged to have posted portions of Adams' "Jacksonville City Nights" on a fan Web site about a month before its official release last September...
I doubt this would ever go beyond picking a few off here and there to make examples of them, considering the legal expenses that'd come with each case. But even still, I wonder how many people know they are holding a ticket for that lottery right now..
Can't believe they still haven't realized that this strategy of criminalizing the consumer will never work.. it's just dumb on numerous levels. I'm willing to bet that if you compiled stats for major label releases that did get leaked early and ones that didn't, the pre-leaked albums would turn out to have similar sales figures if not better.
