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Universal music group boss can't wait to sue british file-sharers

23 September 2004 18:09 by James "Dela" Delahunty | 5 comments

Universal Music Group boss John Kennedy can�t wait to sue British file-sharers. He revealed this at the In The City music conference in Manchester. John Kennedy is set to replace Jay Berman as head of the IFPI, which is like a worldwide version of the RIAA. He defended lawsuits against file-sharing and certainly did like to throw the word "stealing" around. He also praised the "poisoning" of files on P2P networks. Kennedy also vowed to fight to extend European Copyright past 50 years, using the excuse that he wished to bring it into line with the rest of the world.

Kennedy went on to say that he had very little sympathy for the 12 year old victim of RIAA lawsuits who lived in a New York housing project. He called her a "serious file-sharer". Her family ended up paying thousands of dollars in a settlement to the RIAA. He even has less sympathy for songwriters, who receive a very small fraction of the royalties that recordings owners receive saying that it was fair as hits were down to investment in marketing. He said he would be more sympathetic to songwriters the day that labels had 50 per cent margins.

He also went ahead to claim that record labels were still needed stating that no unsigned bands had been broken by the Internet. This leads to only one conclusion, that he's not very familiar with the technology used in file-sharing on the Internet. As file-sharing progresses it seems likely that sites will spring up to aid in the distribution over P2P of music from unsigned artists, that is until of course the IFPI and RIAA try to convince Governments that these services are evil.

Source:
The Register

Permalink to this article

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12-year-old's mom settles with RIAA, P2P association pays the bill (10 September 2003)

RIAA sues a 12-year-old (9 September 2003)

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Discuss this article!
OzMick (Inactive) 23 September 2004 20:10
A**hole [ + quote]
CaNeD (Newbie) 23 September 2004 23:09
is poisoning legal? couldn't record companies maliciously infecting networks with bad files be done for knowingly defrauding people or something? particularly with p2p legal cases yet to be concluded. i think this unilateral action is deplorable. [ + quote]
indienemo (Inactive) 24 September 2004 2:28
P2P isnt killing music. Look at how much the industry gets in a year!! lol, england for the english get those american 'sue' fu**s out�! [ + quote]
dufas (Member) 26 September 2004 20:25
The new Universal Music Group boss John Kennedy as read on a few other site would like to nail people that record video off of their televisions and record music off the radio. His attitude smacks of the witchhunts of the 1940s. One is guilty until he can prosicute his case. Many people that I know are boycotting the entertainment industy. They are not going to movies, buying dvds or vhs tapes or music cds. If enough people start feeling this way and act on those feelings, the entertainment industry will really be hurting. Their propaganda will turn into a reality. I have read reports that the entertainment industry is making nearly as much money in law suits as they would if they were selling good entertainment and the work is easier...... [ + quote]
indienemo (Inactive) 26 September 2004 23:55
Yea, this whole thing is bo**cks, because youll only downlod something to get a feel of the real thing. Nothing beats buying a new album in the shop and playing it for the first time, no matter what kbps mp3s you go, nothing beats seeing a good film at the cinema, not on a 15" monitor, see what im getting at, but soon if these areholes keep pursuing us on this well just turn around and say stfu, im gonna do everything via p2p! rawk on dufas [ + quote]