Blogging Ottinger (tim)Sued for Playing The Radio
<sarcasm>It’s a good thing these guys were stopped before a passer-by heard it, liked it, and decided to buy the album!</sarcasm>
This is nuts. Radio is broadcast, and anyone with a receiver can listen. If you let someone else listen when you are playing your radio, it’s an offense?
Wait. Does that mean the RIAA can shut down all those cars that pull up next to you and play their radio on 10 with a kicker? Does it count if it’s a CD or MP3? I guess that’s the upside.
OTOH, what if someone evesdrops on my radio listening? Does it make me a criminal? I was right, this is nuts.
Isn’t that how Muzak started? If I remember correctly the copyright police started out by suing retail outlets who played the radio rather than paying for the music that they piped into the store. The attack on music downloads was just a natural follow-up to their never ending quest for every last penny that they could squeeze out of the (then American, now global) public.
Comment by Walter Moore — 2007-October-22 @ 03:09