Many Popular Musicians Side With Grokster At The Supreme Court
from the let-it-be dept
A group of well known musicians and artists have responded to those supporting the “recording industry” position in the Grokster case by saying that file sharing apps, by themselves, should be perfectly legal. The group, including Steve Winwood, Chuck D and the band Heart point out that the act of unauthorized file sharing is illegal, but the applications used for file sharing have legitimate uses and should not be punished for how people use them. The filing points out that the “recording industry” does not speak for all musicians — and many of them are excited about the opportunities that file sharing opens up. In fact, it sounds like the filing makes it very clear that the recording industry push is really only designed to protect the business models of the record labels, and not to help musicians. One musician, Jason Mraz, claims that about half of the fans who come see him perform first found out about him via unauthorized downloads. None of this is that surprising, of course, but it’s good to see them make the argument to the Supreme Court. Update: Other interesting briefs filed by a group of computer science professors and the National Venture Capital Association both make excellent points as well, responding to the claims filed in favor of outlawing P2P software.
