A Record Label vs. the RIAA?

Hold on to your flash drives, boys and girls. Armageddon has come, it's the end of the world as we know it - except in this case, all I'm feeling is euphoria about it!

Yes, the title says it all. A major Canadian record label, Nettwerk (Avril Lavigne, Sarah Mclaughlin, Dido, Barenaked Ladies) is standing up against the lawsuits brought by the RIAA, in SUPPORT of a defendant. Wowzers.

"Suing music fans is not the solution; it's the problem," Terry McBride, chief executive of Nettwork, said in a statement this week.

“Litigation is not ‘artist development,’" McBride said. "Litigation is a deterrent to creativity and passion and it is hurting the business I love. The current actions of the RIAA are not in my artists’ best interests.”

Nettwerk has hired Chicago-based Mudd Law Offices to represent (the defendant). Attorney Charles Lee Mudd Jr. has represented individuals subpoenaed and sued by the RIAA since 2003. The record company said it would also pay any fines should the family lose the case.

Mudd declined Friday to discuss his legal strategy against the RIAA, until he files his response to the complaint, which is due Feb. 24. In general, however, Mudd said the RIAA has "misused" U.S. copyright law, and said the people he has represented against the industry trade group are average Joes who get caught in litigation for doing something they didn't realize was illegal.

Fucking awesome, isn't it? It's about time somebody spoke up in defense of this. My argument has always been this: if file sharing is illegal, why was the technology made available? Why aren't they going after the people who created the technology, rather than the people who used it AS ADVERTISED?

Because the ones who build it have the money to defend themselves, so the RIAA figures they'll go after the user base and get the companies from the "back door", so to speak.

Bastiches.

Here's hoping Nettwerk wins, because baby if they do it's a whole new ballgame.