As the Rolling Stones began their tour while welching on the more than quarter of a million dollar deal they made with my Friend, I started this e-Blogazine journal to document some of my experience of the fallout, and to create a forum for discussion and resources to reform the Music Industry. May Artists, Musicians, and Free People everywhere find it useful.
Got Something to say? Are You a Musician, Artist, or Person with an opinion about the Music industry, music downloads, contracts or royalties? Are You concerned about the RIAA and other industries' assault on our cyber-Freedoms? Copyright and Intellectual Property law? Well?
This site is our Music, played on a virtual sidewalk. This button is our hat in front of us. If You dig the Vibe, toss in a few coins so we live. Thanks.
"I Have Not Yet Begun To Fight" -Johnny Deep, Madster President and Founder
Johnny Deep, creator of AIMster and Madster, can be added to the list of those illustrious innovators (like Shawn Fanning of Napster fame) whose genius made them a target of the WTO's (World Trade Organisation) entertainment department, the RIAA/MPAA.
But Deep will not go gently into that good night. He's fighting back. Deep has filed suit against the mammoth entertainment lobby claiming that the recording industries' unfair business practices have damaged him financially.
"The business I conduct in my home in Cohoes, NY, has been damaged by the unfair business practices of the largest corporations in the world" said Deep. "But Aimster and the defense of civil liberties on the Internet cannot be stopped - I have not yet begun to fight."
RIAA members have been playing a sort of legal shell game in their attack on independent music producers and file sharing services. In the filing seeking damages for RIAA member collusion, Madster's counsel openly challenges this tactic, saying: "...Plaintiffs' (the RIAA members) attempt to hide behind a small subset of Moving Plaintiffs should not be countenanced. Plaintiffs continue to seek all the benefits of banding together when it is beneficial to them, and dispersing and hiding behind each other when it is convenient or when one group of them are at risk of an adverse ruling. The recording industry is the driving force behind this action and it should not be able to duck behind the Music Publishing Plaintiffs whenever it suits its needs. The Music Publishing Plaintiffs have never independently asserted any issues in this action until now. Indeed, their complaint only tagged along after all the other actions were filed. All the Moving Plaintiffs joined together to move for a preliminary injunction and should be treated similarly with respect to that motion." (emphasis added - g.moss)
For the reader wondering about what a "Moving Plaintiff" is, here's roughly what it means: The RIAA will file some motions against somebody. Sometimes it files a single motion, sometimes it files the same, or similar motions in multiple courts in multiple locations.
Sometimes, it is an RIAA member company that does this, separately. And, as in this case, sometimes the RIAA member company does this while the RIAA itself does it, too. Hence, the term "Moving Plaintiffs."
That's what I take it to mean, anyway. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong.
The idea is to bury the targeted victim, Madster in this case, Napster previously, and all others in the p2p world eventually, in costly litigation, and a plethora of motions which cost more to pay attorneys to respond to than the average small operator can afford. Like my Father always said - "In this country, You get only as much Justice as You can afford."
In a separate development, Madster Founder Deep has filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy - Reorganisation, and received an Injunction against the RIAA and member companies to prevent them from shutting Madster down. So, everything is still going...If You want a cheap, legal alternative to fascist RIAA arrangements that screw the Artists out everything, go on over to http://www.madster.com and get Yourself a copy - it'll make You money when You swap tunes!
There's a lot of food for thought in this case, and I highly recommend going to get.madster.com to check out the full press release and related links.
