Music pirate pays $100m to go legal

[cycocelica]

Sharman Networks, which is based in Australia and is the owner of Kazaa, agreed yesterday to pay the world’s four leading music companies — Universal, SonyBMG, EMI and Warner Music — more than $100 million (£54 million) in compensation for lost sales.

Kazaa had been under mounting pressure after a series of landmark court rulings, instigated by the music and film industries. Australia’s Federal Court found Sharman Networks guilty of encouraging its users to swap songs illegally, breaching copyright law. In June last year the US Supreme Court ruled that file-sharing companies could be held accountable for promoting copyright theft by users of their services.

Rinky Dinky Linky

A great thing as I see it. Every bit helps.

 

[Scarlet Fever]

its good that he went legit, but why pay the record companies? The artists are the ones who need the money!

 

[CorvusCamenarum]

its good that he went legit, but why pay the record companies? The artists are the ones who need the money!

Because the record companies own [some portion of] the royalties most likely.