eDonkey Pays the Recording Industry $30M

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

eDonkey Pays the Recording Industry $30M

Posted by ryuzaki0 on Tuesday September 12, 2006 @08:11AM from the sound-of-falling-dominos dept.

ColinPL writes, "MetaMachine Inc., the firm behind online file-sharing software eDonkey, has agreed to pay $30 million to avoid potential copyright infringement lawsuits from the recording industry. The company also agreed to take measures to prevent file sharing by people using previously downloaded versions of the eDonkey software. The eDonkey application now displays the message, 'The eDonkey2000 Network is no longer available. Please see eDonkey.com for more details.' After that message is displayed the uninstaller is launched automatically." If you visit edonkey.com, it logs your IP address. How much will the demise of eDonkey matter, given that most who access that P2P network do so using the open-source eMule?

26 of 270 comments (clear)

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

recording industry? by doti · 2006-09-12 08:14 · Score: 4, Insightful

The so called "recording industry" is just not needed anymore. Just get your fortune and invest in another productive area, and get over it.

Go away. Please.

--
factor 966971: 966971
1. Re:recording industry? by aplusjimages · 2006-09-12 08:48 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  I don't know if they should go away, but for crying out loud adapt to the Internet. This is the new format. They all need to work together and remarket their products. They still expect people to buy their CD's by the billions as if CD's are still new technology. They still think they can put out 1-2 songs and then throw in 8 other songs to fill up a disc. The market is changing, so they need to change with it.
  
  --
  Can I bum a sig?
2. Re:recording industry? by lymond01 · 2006-09-12 08:51 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Their tactics could use some updating certainly, but there's a lot of money to be made in creating the next big star. Recorded music is still a commodity, and what drives the price up of concert tickets? A: Who is most famous. How do they get famous? A: Recording industry promotes them.
  
  What would happen without the recording industry? A: They'd become popular by internet vote and word-of-mouth, someone would claim to have "made them famous" on their website and demand some of their earnings from concerts, videos, commercials. Other people would hop on that bandwagon, realize it's easier to promote people if they work together, and they'd call it the WMIA, World Music Industry Association, claiming rights throughout the world as an "international" (ie internet-based) company.
  
  You'd think the way people talk that big industries are just a bunch of small people being greedy. Well, you'd be right.
3. Re:recording industry? by arevos · 2006-09-12 09:05 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  also, most artists have no experience marketing, selling, or dealing with the right people that will get them the high-paying gigs they need to continue performing and feed their family and or make the rent.
  
  Yep, presumably artists will still need outside help to help them finance, organise and arrange large live gigs. However, I think there's less of a need for recording companies to market and distribute music from artists. Distributing music via the Internet is obviously cheap enough not to need financial backing; I need hardly go into the details of that on Slashdot. But marketing music is also a industry I expect to decline in the next few years. Music is an odd thing, in that one cannot 'sell' a piece of music in the same way one would sell a car. The customer either likes the piece of music he hears, or he does not. No amount of salesmanship will get him to change his mind, as it boils down to personal preference.
  
  Because of this, marketing music consists largely of getting people to listen to it. Unfortunately, people have limited time on their hands, and cannot listen to every piece of music, so recording companies market selectively, using bands they know have a wide appeal. It's a broad, scattergun approach, and I can't help but think that one could do a far better job with a large database and some social networking software.
4. Re:recording industry? by yaphadam097 · 2006-09-12 09:50 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Music is an odd thing, in that one cannot 'sell' a piece of music in the same way one would sell a car. The customer either likes the piece of music he hears, or he does not. No amount of salesmanship will get him to change his mind, as it boils down to personal preference.
  
  I disagree with this fundamentally. A lot of people, especially young people, buy music for reasons that have nothing to do with the quality of the actual music but have more to do with a certain image or subculture. I grew up listening to punk, and while some of it actually does qualify as good music, much of it is less about the content and more about expressing an opinion on the culture (Kind of like /. ;-) Rap/Hip-hop music too is often about an image - the clothes, the cars, the attitude, etc. - and not about the quality of the music. All of these things are expressed outside of the music as well. e.g. by the artists appearances, actions, and speech on radio/television, live concerts, etc. This "artistic image" is a kind of marketing and has always been exploited and/or manipulated by the recording industry. In this regard, there is quite a bit of salesmanship in the industry, and the artists are to a large degree dependent on the industry to get that image out via appearances in other media.
5. Re:recording industry? by talksinmaths · 2006-09-12 12:33 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  A lot of people, especially young people, buy music for reasons that have nothing to do with the quality of the actual music...
  
  You misspelled shallow. :)
  
  --
  Don't you have someone you'd die for?
6. Re:recording industry? by Oddster · 2006-09-12 13:12 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  Rap/Hip-hop music too is often about an image - the clothes, the cars, the attitude, etc. - and not about the quality of the music.
  
  I hope you know that the type of rap and hip-hop you talk about here is the kind which is foisted upon the airwaves by the recording industry, put on by the likes of 50 Cent, Chingy, etc. I used to dislike this genre myself for this reason.
  
  Then a friend turned me on to good hip-hop. Like Common, Hieroglyphics, and Mos Def to name a few, real hip-hip artists who you rarely hear about through the mass publicity of the RIAA. These artists use intelligent beats and mixes combined with intelligent lyrics, often philosophical, and are actually a counterforce to the mass-market version of the genre - Common and Mos Def actually have lyrics about their college educations. If you want a nice starting point, I recommend Like Water for Chocolate or Be by Common, or Black for the First Time by Mos Def.
Good thing by Vampyre_Dark · 2006-09-12 08:15 · Score: 4, Funny

Good thing they paid up. Uncle RIAA thought it would be a shame if "something should happen to their nice office building".
1. Re:Good thing by pla · 2006-09-12 08:21 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  Good thing they paid up. Uncle RIAA thought it would be a shame if "something should happen to their nice office building".
  
  For some reason you got modded down, but really, I have to wonder about the legality of this...
  
  "eDonkey, has agreed to pay $30 million to avoid potential copyright infringement lawsuits from the recording industry". Not damages awarded by a court, not even to settle a pending suit - To avoid a potential lawsuit!
  
  If that doesn't meet the textbook definition of extortion, I don't know what would.
2. Re:Good thing by BGraves · 2006-09-12 09:45 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  The vast majority of disputes are solved this way, which is a good thing. It reduces the costs created by taking a case to court, and frees up the courts to deal with other, more important disputes.
Morte d' Robertson by Stanistani · 2006-09-12 08:16 · Score: 3, Interesting

Slowly the vise closes in on all P2P... yet filesharing grows year by year...
The media congloms win lots of battles while losing the war.

--
You can't talk about Wikipedia's flaws on Wikipedia
1. Re:Morte d' Robertson by X0563511 · 2006-09-12 08:19 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  They call that a war of attrition. And they are indeed loosing (big lawsuits against few people wont work, they need small lawsuits against teeming crowds).
  
  But that's almost as impractical as SCO's lawsuit(s)
  
  --
  For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
It logs your IP address. by xxxJonBoyxxx · 2006-09-12 08:19 · Score: 5, Insightful

If you visit edonkey.com, it logs your IP address
If you visit one my my sites, I'll log your IP address too. So what - are they following up on each one to see if they are potential pirates?
Never ending gravy train by LiquidCoooled · 2006-09-12 08:21 · Score: 5, Insightful

So, eDonkey wants to stay legit, good on them.
They want to put in place controls to limit copying, good on them.
They then give all their money to the bullys, bad move.
Paying of the artists might seem like a prudent course of action, but once you pay of one group, what about the next?

Theres the RIAA, MPAA and the BSA.
The guitar tab people and the knitting pattern folks and all the other American groups.
Thats not including all the individual software companies who want a piece of the pie, nor does it include all the groups from other countries (like FACT(Federation Against Copyright Theft) or CAAST(Canadian Alliance Against Software Theft)).

What happens when I find software from my company is available on limewire, where do I get my piece of the pie from, or is mine not big enough and is simply enough to get it added to the list of banned searches without any financial payback?

What makes my company different to the RIAA groups?

Let the copyright owners prove blatant infringement, let them show the service is doing illegal things and let the service fix itself.

Don't give into threats.

--
liqbase :: faster than paper
1. Re:Never ending gravy train by rts008 · 2006-09-12 11:44 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  I agree.
  It seems funny I was reading the Sept. 2006 edition of Reader's Digest this morning, and was drawn to an column "Turning Point" featuring Bob Newhart this month and he had something along those lines to say also.
  The article is titled "Finding My Funny Bone", by Bob Newhart.
  
  He was talking about two of his recordings : "The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart", and it's sequel, "The Button-Down Mid Strikes Back". The first went to #1 on the Billboard charts, and got between the two recordings, got him three Grammy's that year. He goes on to say that he just recently started getting royalties on the recordings (they came out in 1960), and:
  "Lately I have begun to receive royalties on the albums on a quarterly basis. Even as a trained accountant, I'm no exactly sure how they calculate these royalties without all of the financial records and contracts that burned up in The Great Warner's Office Fire of '73. But they apparently have a formula. Just last week, I received a check for $1.18."
  
  --
  Down With Slashdot BETA!!! I've been around the corner and seen the oliphant; you can only abuse me from your perspecti
Get this... by Anonymous Coward · 2006-09-12 08:21 · Score: 5, Funny

It also logs the page you requested, when you requested it, and your browser. Everyday, they also rotate their logs and compress them for further statistical tracking at a future point!
it's only natural everybody uses eMule by ranjix · 2006-09-12 08:24 · Score: 5, Funny

historically speaking, eMule comes from eDonkey (eStallion) and eHorse (eMare)... Plus is sterile, RIAA likes that

--
I had another sig before, but this one is better
I wonder... by GmAz · 2006-09-12 08:25 · Score: 3, Insightful

So, does the $30 million go to the 'starving' artists or will the RIAA soak up the money?

--
Click Click Bloody Click PANCAKES!
I have a question.... by dcavanaugh · 2006-09-12 08:28 · Score: 4, Interesting

Where did eDonkey GET $30M to pay RIAA? Or is this a hyped-up announcement of a "settlement" that is never really collected?
1. Re:I have a question.... by shark72 · 2006-09-12 10:05 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  "Where did eDonkey GET $30M to pay RIAA? Or is this a hyped-up announcement of a "settlement" that is never really collected?"
  
  From advertising.
  
  Many people mistakenly see the big players in the P2P game as "white knights" because they make it so easy to get so much music for free. But, make no mistake: they are not in it because "information wants to be free." They are not in it to "stick it to the man." They do it to make money. They are in the business of helping people pirate music, and business is goooood.
  
  It's funny that many of us justify our P2P usage by imagining some record executive in a $3,000 suit. The reality is usually different. The only record company owner I've met ran a ten-person label and paid himself $25K a year. Sam and Jed, the folks who brought you eDonkey so countless teens can "stick it to the man," likely made about $25K every week. The executives at Sharman are also multi-millionaires.
  
  So why are Sam and Jed rich, while my friend the indie record label owner could only afford to pay himself $25K a year? Because my friend paid artists, paid employees, and paid for the production of the music.
  
  --
  Sitting in my day care, the art is decopainted.
Logged IP? by im_mac · 2006-09-12 08:28 · Score: 3, Insightful

Everyone who clicks on the eDonkey link gets this friendly message:

"You are not anonymous when you illegally download copyrighted material. Your IP address is xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx and has been logged."
Great, I only go to the site, they chastise me for 'stealing' music and then write down my IP address. How long until the RIAA sends me a letter regarding my visit to eDonkey.com and requests to view my harddrive to find 'stolen' files?
Let's not forget aMule... by urbanradar · 2006-09-12 08:28 · Score: 4, Informative

And let's not forget... for Linux, there's the ever-excellent aMule client to access the network.

--
Basilisk Digital
your sig by SnowZero · 2006-09-12 08:37 · Score: 3, Funny

I declare a subthread for people with prime user id numbers only.
factor 92219: 92219
FUD! by robpoe · 2006-09-12 08:51 · Score: 4, Funny

Plain old FUD .. EVERY friggin website in the world logs your IP address. It's only that, an IP address.

I went there JUST so they would log my IP address. There! Sue me RIAA. I visited a public website. Boo friggin hoo..

Next they'll be sending secret police to my house to @(*$fiu$#(NO CARRIER)

--
= Grow a brain...
cool! by Supersonic1425 · 2006-09-12 08:53 · Score: 5, Funny

now when I want to know my IP address, I can get a free threatening message with it! awesome.
They agreed to pay? But will they pay? Horseshit! by Simonetta · 2006-09-12 11:59 · Score: 3, Funny

They agreed to pay what $30 million dollars???? I cry horseshit! Nobody who actually has $30 million dollars has ever, does ever, or will ever just agree to give it away to someone. Especially something as legally dubious as an RIAA lawsuit.

Most likely they agreed to 'pay' some absurd amount of money knowing full well that barely more than a few thousand dollars would ever be passed to the RIAA under any circumstances. They agree to some sum that they would never have (after all they aren't any different from you and me, gentle Slashdaughters) if there was any posssiblity that they would actually have to come up with the cash. I would guess that 'E-Donkey incorporated' owes $3,000,000,000,000,000 dollars for their 'crime', and the people and programmers who actually were eating all the pizza at E-Donkey's parties don't have to pay anything. As long as they agree to 'be good in the future'.

If the actual people had to pay even 1/1000th of the this absurd amount for their 'crime', then I'll bet that they would be planning serious mayhem on the RIAA lawyers that were personally involved with this bullshit lawsuit.

Look, I'm against violence and horror as much as the next girl, but, in the real world, when you're up against real assholes like the RIAA, then violence and horror goes a long way to 'equalizing' the legal chessboard. Sooner or later the RIAA is going to figure this out. Probably each lawyer will, individually, as they watch their guts drip out onto the floor of their BMW just after winning another extortion lawsuit for downloading 'Yummy, Yummy, Yummy' against that one wrong person.

Keep your fingers crossed.