"NEW YORK (Reuters) -- The U.S. recording industry Wednesday stepped up efforts to stop college students from downloading pirated music online and offered students a way to settle the disputes out of court.
The Recording Industry Association of America, or RIAA, said it sent 400 letters to 13 U.S. universities advising of potential copyright infringement lawsuits against students who use their computer networks to swap songs they haven't paid for.
The industry group is asking the universities to notify students they will be sued, but can settle the cases before any lawsuits are filed. RIAA said it will send out hundreds of the letters each month in an effort to stamp out music theft by students.
Previously, the group filed lawsuits against individuals who illegally swapped songs on Internet-based networks like KaZaa and Limewire. The music industry argues the practice has cost them millions of dollars.
More than 1 billion songs are swapped on such services each month, according to Web tracking company Big Champagne.
The record industry, which has seen sales plunge by more than 23 percent between 2000 to 2006, wants music lovers to purchase digital music over legal Web sites like Apple Inc.'s iTunes Music Store or RealNetworks Inc.'s Rhapsody.
A University of Richmond study found that more than half of college students downloaded music and movies illegally, the RIAA said.
"We need to address this demographic," RIAA President Cary Sherman said. "Remember that the habits that they form in college will stay with them for a lifetime."
Under the settlement deal offered by RIAA, students would have to pay a fine and sign a statement promising they would no longer download music illegally.
Sean Foley, a student at Arizona State University, one of the schools expecting RIAA's settlement letters, said, "I know students are active users. But the record companies should be letting people use these services rather than ban them."
Recipients of the letters can settle the cases online at a Web site set up by the RIAA ."
Get serious. People download because the crappy music that the music industry has started to produce is overpriced. The trash I hear on the radio and MTV isn't worth 20 bucks.
It's not going to help the industry at all if they keep suing fans. Get real it's not like we're hurting the industry.
I personally can't stand the debate over pirating music. I've been downloading since I was thirteen and I havent been sued yet. I personally view those who actually do get sued as unlucky. of course at my college the firewall blocks my Limewire, so i have to wait until i'm visiting home to download. but its just so much more convenient, and inexpensive, to do than go out and buy CDs. and let's face it, ITunes and Napster are a joke. 1$ per song? I'd rather go out and buy a $10 CD than buy each individual song and end up paying $14. makes no sense. it should be like 10 cents per song. it's not like it costs that much for them to record and produce the music.
if you're STILL downloading illegally, it was unwise of you to tell the truth in a public place like this. Police have been using networking websites like myspace and facebook to track down suspects. For a crime that seems less minor, I know there was at least one student who cheated on his SAT or his AP exam and said so in a public website like this, and he was tracked down through his IP address and wicked things his way came.
Take care.
Careful, you'll scare her.
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Like what I said in my blog, One of the famous cases where RIAA won against one person 222k for illegal 24 songs is now in jepardy and this person may get a new trial. The artist dont get very much. The ones who belong to RIAA two of the members were the people who invented the CD and they get a piece of every CD made wheither it be from an RIAA music or blank CDs as well as the devices that record the drives. They get portions from the sale of both music CDs, blank CDS, Blank DVDs, and disk drives as well. They are shooting selves in foot.
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