Are you ready to break out a fork and knife and help the RIAA on their upcoming crusade against windmills?

So before the land of the internet existed do they include the loss profits of people recording songs off the radio?
I so did that! XD

I think they must have factored that in, cause the money they're asking for exceeds that of all the money ever made by the Recording Industry since Thomas Edison and his popularization of the phonograph.

The judge should have jailed everyone who wasn't a janitor for contempt for showing that much hubris.

I think they should have fined the RIAA for wasting the court's time. Don't they have murders, rapes, robberies, and cool explosions to preside over? They're wasting the peoples' time and money.

This is a civil court. They wouldn't have anything to do with criminal cases anyway.

Heh, shows what I know! Good point.

What I'm still trying to figure out is: how does the downloading or recording of songs acquired digitally by people that NEVER HAD ANY INTENTION OF BUYING SAID SONG OR ALBUM constitute as a loss of sell?

Perhaps that is a per song, per person thing. But 75 trillion is a ridiculous number.

I think the main purpose of all the litigation is to try and set a precedent- "Don't fuck with the RIAA", or some kind of intimidation to that effect. Ultimately, however, it won't work. The surest symptom of a dying business is when the executives start to openly attack their customers, which is kind of what they're doing. Sure, their targets are people who downloaded music without paying, but the only result of attacking people who are enthusiastic about music is to make people less enthusiastic about music. There's a notable case in recent memory where a woman was sued for $2,000,000 for 24 illegally downloaded songs on her computer. Does that story endear the RIAA to anyone?

I remember hearing about, I think they won but the RIAA lost in the end in a way do to the fact that it cost them tons more to have her prosecuted then the the amount they were suing for.

Uh...could I have some sanity in a box with a side of fries to go please?

You can not has sane. This are Music Industry.

You think that's big? Think of the ass they had to pull that giant number out of. It's the same one their fat head is shoved in.

Bearing in mind that the number is larger than the global GDP... my God, the size of that ass must exceed that of the Earth itself by several orders of magnitude!

Maybe it was the Reapers?

The ass might be bigger on the inside. To which it would be a TARDASS.

As far as I'm concerned, the big names can recall and boycott all media if they want.
Because of the internet, all these little no names are producing excellent tunes that rival the big stars for next to nothing. And would easily fill the void created by the Record companies should they pull a stunt.

Interestingly, the big money in entertainment has fully transitioned to live gigs and venues. People may not buy the music, but they buy the merchandise- it's given bands a lot more independence to make and manage their own money, and maybe that's what's truly scary to management cabals like the RIAA, who have become largely obsolete.

SENSE.
This figure makes none.

Image. Yours is a memorable one.

I think that people filing monetary lawsuits, from individuals to corporations, initially ask for more than what they really want because of how even if they do win, the awarded amount gets reduced on appeal

True enough, but there comes a point when the demands ludicrously exceed the expected settlement, destroying the credibility of the plaintiff- and the RIAA took the exploded remains of said credibility and blew them up again with this latest flub.

I agree. They probably also never try to prove actual harm done to sales and instead prosecute based on the assumption that every downloader would have paid for what they downloaded if pirating were impossible.

"A friend shared it with me"
Napster founder Shawn Fanning when asked where he got his Metallica shirt

Heh.

75 TRILLION?!?!

75 TRILLION DOLLARS?!

THEY WANT 75 TRILLION DOLLARS IN DAMAGES?!

MORE MONEY THAN THE GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT OF THE ENTIRE WORLD?!

Well now I know for sure that the RIAA is crazy. And not just any old sort of crazy, but evil, criminal mastermind level crazy. The kind of crazy that thinks building a laser weapon on the moon is a good idea.

Not only would that amount of damages be absolutely unobtainable, but physically impossible. If every government in the world pooled together to give them that much money, then not only would the entire world be bankrupt, and the Earth renamed "RIAA", but the world would still come up short.

Since no judge on the planet is going to award damages to the RIAA in the billions for one single person, and since the high end they want is in the trillions of dollars range, I think it's safe to say that the RIAA has been kicking and screaming as its been dragged into the digital age since 1995. And if the RIAA seeks to secede from the union, I'd like to see just what kind of army they have.

So to end this lengthy comment, I leave with what is probably the most poignant and relevant piece I can possibly think of.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGM8PT1eAvY

I shed a single, poignant, extra close-up tear for the RIAA, who have had to suffer with all of these awful people otherwise known as human beings.

Plus, I'd never heard that Wierd Al song before! Awesome stuff, thanks for sharing! I liked the slippery slope/"say 'no' to drugs" approach they took.

Funny thing:

That video was released at the same time Weird Al made the song downloadable (FOR FREE) off of his website. :)

Ah yes, proof positive why I don't feel any pity or remorse for these guys. As someone on the article said, did the RIAA remember to put their pinkies to their mouths when they stated their demands?

75 TRILLION dollars! Muah-hah-hah-hah!

Do they accept credit card or pennies?

How much would $75 trillion worth of pennies weight?

More than the mass of Planet Earth, I reckon.

http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/2203316/

... and thus RIAA settlement claims join the ranks of staggeringly huge numbers that only astronomers and Zimbabwean accountants have to deal with.

Hmmm, there's a point - the RIAA didn't specify whose dollars they wanted to be paid in, did they? While 74 trillion US dollars would require at least another two Earths to pay for, the equivalent of 75 trillion Zimbabwe dollars could be paid for out of petty cash

Good point! I don't think they made that legal clarification. 75 trillion Zimbabwean dollars... that's equivalent to about 30 U.S. dollars! I suppose I could fork $5 to the RIAA- they'll need all the help they can get to pay their legal fees.

I have responded to this issue in great detail -> http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/2203316/