Thirteen music companies agreed to LimeWire's payment of $105 billion for "massive scale infringement" marking what seems to be the final chapter of the illegal filesharing service that closed in October 2010 (
LimeWire Settles Filesharing Legal Battle for $105m, Guardian Newspaper (UK), 13 May 2011). In a field of peer-to-peer filesharing companies such as Grokster, Kazaa, and Napster, LimeWire was the last to fall for copyright infringement. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) claims that "U.S. recorded music sales fell to $7.7 billion in 2009 from $14.5 billion in 1999," due in large part to filesharing services like LimeWire.
Discussion Questions:- Do you think peer-to-peer filesharing services like LimeWire actually harmed music sales as the RIAA states? Or did filesharing actually serve to promote bands and singers, by getting their music to a large audience very easily?
- Do you think other forms of entertainment like movies and video games actually cut into the profits of record companies? Where do you spend most of your entertainment dollars these days? Do you buy more video games than download music?
- Do you think record companies give artists a fair share of revenues from music sales?
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