Deerhoof to Release New LP, Offend Maggie, in October; Offer Fans Chance to Interpret a Downl

By David Nadelle on 06-03-2008

Here’s TMT’s irreverent recap of recent Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) activity:

1. RIAA Ordered to Pay Fees of Accused Pirate

Not long ago we could have reported that the saga between the RIAA and Tanya Andersen and Tanya Andersen and the RIAA was continuing with no end or excitement in sight, but now we have word that this sorry mess may indeed be coming to a long-overdue close. A recommendation for the RIAA to pay Anderson's lawyer fees and Bill of Cost was approved last October, but in mid-May a U.S. Magistrate Judge recommended the sum to be paid be $107,834. It is not exactly a stiff penalty to the fat cat labels, but the finding is important for future decisions between the RIAA and those accused of illegally downloading its music.

While many accused have settled their file-sharing cases out-of-court, Andersen decided to stand up to legal threats by the RIAA and its questionable bullying collection tactics by countersuing the association under conspiracy laws. While the RIAA claims it is merely trying to take vigorous but appropriate measures in an attempt to curb music piracy (which supposedly costs the U.S. record industry $3.7 billion annually), Andersen's lawyer, Lionel Hutz, I mean Lory R. Lybeck, says that there are flaws in RIAA's identification of suspects through their IP addresses and that the cases against those accused are not about money lost but rather "it's about an extortion campaign" (BusinessWeek, May 5, 2008).

We believe that Andersen has been unfairly targeted by the RIAA, but then again, you never know: the same article in BusinessWeek mentions that Andersen lives with her Maltese-terrier mix, "Tazz." Surely everyone knows that Maltese-terriers are the sneakiest and stealthiest breed of dog. There's a reason canine circles refer to them as "the illegal file-sharing pirates" of the dog world. And yes, there are canine circles.

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2. RIAA Drops Suit Against AllofMP3

The RIAA is trumpeting its victory against AllofMP3, despite dropping its rather large lawsuit against the Russian-based company. Papers were filed in a Manhattan federal court on May 20 voluntarily withdrawing the suit which was originally sought by the RIAA, Warner Music Group Corp., Vivendi SA, and EMI Group Plc.

Jonathan Lamy, a spokesman for the trade group, says "The site is now defunct and out of business, the result of a successful anti-piracy initiative." According to John Crossman, who represented AllofMP3’s owner MediaServicesLLC said of the dismissal, "The RIAA, et al] never correctly commenced the proceeding in the first place" before adding, "Maybe [dropping the lawsuit] was a rare triumph of good sense." He then placed his index finger delicately to his lips and looked slyly at the camera like [Mr. Roper used to do in Three's Company. Regardless of legal technicalities and producing proof, I'm not sure the RIAA would have won the damages it was seeking in the case originally filed in December 2006: $150,000 for each of the 11 million songs illegally downloaded from AllofMp3 from June to October 2006!. A bit steep, but when it caught wind that the site was not forwarding any profits to artists and was providing songs for much, much less than every other retail music website, it had to put its foot down.

What it either doesn’t realize or is conveniently neglecting is that the folks who created AllofMP3 have a new site up called Mp3Sparks, which is based on the very same business practices that the RIAA frowned upon when the site was known as AllofMP3.

AllofMP3 had approximately 5.5 million subscribers who paid an average of 10-20¢per song, bringing in $30 million annually to the site. The 411 on the mysterious Mp3Sparks is unknown (hey, if the RIAA doesn't know about them, how is TMT supposed to?). I'm sure it's all an oversight by the RIAA, who are probably devising a plan to terminate the site's operation as you read this. Whether it will be successful in quashing other illegal music sites in Russia, where this kind of activity is more popular than potato vodka, will remain to be seen. "Cpaciba!"

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3. RIAA Doing Other Stuff

- According to TMT’s freelance snitches (our most reliable avenues for news), we have found out that RIAA officials are increasingly taking part in such shady activities as desecrating war heroes graves, milking seniors out of their pensions with social security scams over the telephone, and charging around schoolyards kicking kids in their stomachs right after they have eaten lunch. A spokesman for the RIAA denies the claims, saying "The RIAA has done nothing wrong..." or something like that. Yeah, yeah, we know! You never do anything wrong, do you?

- Danity Kane’s Welcome to the Dollhouse album has hit the "Gold" certification for sales... ALL LEGAL!