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Jammie Thomas To Appeal $1.9 Million RIAA Verdict
CNet reports that the lawyers representing Jammie Thomas-Rasset have confirmed she will be fighting the $1.9 million verdict handed down in her case against the RIAA.
"The Recording Industry Association of America said on Monday that it had made a phone call to Sibley and law partner Kiwi Camara last week to ask whether Thomas-Rasset wanted to discuss a settlement. An RIAA representative said that its lawyers were told by Sibley that Thomas-Rasset wasn't interested in discussing any deal that required her to admit guilt or pay any money. ... 'She's not interested in settling,' attorney Joe Sibley said in a brief phone interview. 'She wants to take the issue up on appeal on the constitutionality of the damages. That's one of the main arguments — that the damages are disproportionate to any actual harm.'"
The problem is, the retail cost of the music is meaningless. She did not "buy" the songs for herself, she obtained them in a manner that assured they were available for others to download from her.
You want to ask someone what the cost of buying one song for distribution is? It is almost certainly ore than $60,000 per song. Michael Jackson apparently has left a lot of songs recorded for his children. All estimates I have heard indicate that they aren't going to be in any financial difficultly, ever. I suspect they were counting on getting more than $60,000 per song for the distribution rights.
There is no comparison between the retail price and the price for distribution.
You are confusing retail with the price for distribution.
If I want to buy a song for distribution, what do you think the price would be? I'd guess as a starting point you would figure out how much you might ever make, ever, from retail sales.
So $100,000 a song might not be that low a price tag.