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Man Accused of Music Piracy: Milwaukeean Among 1st Indicted

Posted on: Friday, 10 March 2006, 03:01 CST

By Gina Barton, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Mar. 10--A Milwaukee man has been indicted in one of the first criminal prosecutions in the nation over Internet posting of popular music pirated before its commercial release.

A federal indictment in Nashville, Tenn., accuses Robert Thomas, 24, of posting four songs alt-country artist Ryan Adams last summer, a month before their official release. If convicted of three charges, he could face up to 11 years in prison under a year-old law aimed at protecting copyrighted music and movies.

Thomas and a Florida man, Jared Chase Bowser, 21, were indicted Wednesday in Tennessee on a charge of conspiracy and two counts of copyright infringement. The two were part of a chain of people to copy songs illegally from an advance copy of Adams' CD "Jacksonville City Nights," the FBI alleges.

To stir interest, record companies sometimes release advance copies of CDs to newspapers and radio stations a few weeks before the CDs go on sale to the public. In this case, someone who had a legitimate advance copy played it for a friend who copied some songs, according to the FBI. The pirated songs eventually reached Bowser, who sent the songs to Thomas "with the intent that the songs . . . would be leaked," according to the indictment. Thomas then created a link to the songs and posted it on a Web site for Ryan Adams fans, according to the U.S. attorney's office in Nashville. The songs "Hard Way to Fall,""September,""A Kiss Before I Go" and "Trains" were illegally posted, according to the indictment.

The songs were posted on the Web in August 2005, about a month before the album's scheduled release, according to the indictment.

Thomas and Bowser each were issued a summons and are expected to be in court within 30 days, according to the U.S. attorney's office. Neither had an attorney of record as of Thursday, and neither could be reached for comment.

The case is being prosecuted in Tennessee because several people who live there downloaded the songs and because Adams' label, Lost Highway Records, is there, according to the U.S. attorney's office.

"Any perception that copyright violations are victimless crimes is just plain wrong," U.S. Attorney Jim Vines in Nashville said in a statement. "Whether stolen intellectual property is given away or sold thieves for a profit, the rightful owners of such property are still hurt. Many individual and corporate victims of copyright crimes live, work and create here in the Middle District of Tennessee, and persons who knowingly violate federal copyright law face serious consequences whether or not they intend to harm anyone."

Over the past few years, the movie and music industries have filed hundreds of civil lawsuits against users of peer-to-peer file sharing networks who trade films and songs illegally.

So far, criminal cases are far less common. The case against Thomas and Bowser is believed to be just the second in the country prosecuted under a provision of the Family Entertainment Copyright Act, which was passed in April 2005. Besides making it a crime to distribute pirated songs before their official release, the act also addresses the practice of taking camcorders into movie theaters to illegally copy new films.

The Recording Industry Association of America hopes the indictments are the beginning of a trend, according to a statement released Chairman and CEO Mitch Bainwol. "The ripple effects (of piracy) are felt far and wide throughout the entire music community -- especially when that theft strikes in Nashville, the very heart of our industry," he said.

One of alt-country's most prolific and admired artists, Adams, 31, grew up listening to traditional country music in North Carolina and then veered toward punk rock in his youth. In 1994, he turned toward alt-country with the formation of the band Whiskeytown. Despite widespread critical support, Whiskeytown broke up after its label folded, and Adams embarked on a busy solo career. "Jacksonville City Lights" was one of three albums he released last year, a remarkably busy output contemporary standards.

A representative from Universal Music Group, Adams' distributor, said Adams was in the studio Thursday and unavailable for comment.

Dave Tianen of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.

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Copyright (c) 2006, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

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Source: The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

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