The RIAA Owes Me $22,500 Per Song
I was saddened by an article I first read on SlashDot that seemed to acquire little media attention. Recently, a high court determined that the government has the right to revert something in the public domain back to private ownership, reversing a ruling from a lower court. (A wonderful discussion of this issue was written up in TechDirt.)
My frustration lies with implication that the government can claim eminent domain and take private property as long as it serves a “public use”. Just today I read in the New York Times that the state of New York is taking several blocks in Harlem to resell to Columbia University. While eminent domain can certainly have beneficial outcomes, it evokes a rage in property holders, even though they’ve been compensated. Reflecting on this, I realize I have a right to be angry, too: I have not (yet) been compensated for the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
I want my money as a collective owner of the public domain. The black and white movies, classic books and photos that we collectively owned were stolen. If the government sees a “public use” in taking from the public domain, or ruling in favor of those who take from the public, I’m fine with that. I just want to be compensated.
In the lawsuit against “illegal music downloader” Joel Tenenbaum, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) claimed that each act of infringement, or song, was worth $22,500. Since the RIAA has already gone through all the trouble of determining the worth of a song, the rest is easy. Now, to exercise the totally legal right to remove private property from the public domain for “public use,” the RIAA follow the government’s model and compensate the American public for every work they remove from the public domain. Looking just at the music collection, that’s about $22,500 x 300 million (Americans), or $6,750,000,000,000.00 per song.
Now maybe instead of paying what you owe, the RIAA can let the 15% of Americans who admit to piracy (a felony) just put it on their tab. Seems like a fair deal to me.
Note: This is just a modest proposal. Of course copyright reform would also be acceptable…
