Have you ever wondered what it feels like to file the lawsuit making access to music for incarcerated persons more difficult? Your days of wondering might soon come at an end — all you need to do is ask Universal Music Group.
Several companies (Centric Group, Keefe Group, and others) are in the business of selling pre-made care packages to prisoners, packages which Universal, in a lawsuit filed last Tuesday, claims contains copyrighted material. Universal announced they’ll be seeking “maximum statutory damages in the amount of $150,000 to each copyrighted work infringed.” The defendants (who have yet to comment publicly on the suit) at this point are all for-profit companies selling mixtapes along with any number of other items, and no individuals have been targeted.
Interestingly, Universal’s statement specifically targets mixtapes themselves: “Such so-called ‘mixtapes,’ unless authorized by the copyright owner or owner of corresponding state law rights, are nothing more than collections of infringing, piratical compilations of copyrighted or otherwise legally protected sound recordings and copyrighted musical composition.”
While this lawsuit appears to pit a gazillionaire music company against a company profiting off of incarceration via enthusiastic cooperation with the prison-industrial complex, the result of the verdict could have ripple effects eventually reaching the practice of DJing or even making mixtapes generally, which remains under fire from the major music companies as strongly today as it ever has been.
Universal will be represented by Jeffery Goldman of the firm Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell. Goldman has previously worked for the Recording Industry Association of America in their landmark lawsuit against Napster, and was awarded an Honorary Gold Record by the RIAA for his efforts.
