RTP-area local music and culture

[bendy <bendy AT blackstrap.org>]

This one is the most hypocritical too, since this form of filesharing is 
exactly what has promoted the biggest selling rappers of the last few 
years, and seems to have been condoned if not actively supported by the 
majors.

Monkey Boy wrote:
> This is different than the RIAA suing grandma for a couple of grand
> because her grandson downloaded a few songs. This is a federal
> racketeering charge that also could result in the RIAA suing for
> triple damages.
>
> Will this be the end or the entrenchment of the RIAA?
>
> One link:
> http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/18/arts/music/18dram.html
>
> > From news sources:
> "On Tuesday night DJ Drama was arrested with Don Cannon, a protégé.
> The police, working with the Recording Industry Association of
> America, raided his office, at 147 Walker Street in Atlanta. The
> association makes no distinction between counterfeit CDs and
> unlicensed compilations like those that DJ Drama is known for. So the
> police confiscated 81,000 discs, four vehicles, recording gear, and
> "other assets that are proceeds of a pattern of illegal activity,"
> said Chief Jeffrey C. Baker, from the Morrow, Ga., police department,
> which participated in the raid.
>
> DJ Drama (whose real name is Tyree Simmons) and Mr. Cannon were each
> charged with a felony violation of Georgia's Racketeering Influenced
> Corrupt Organization law(known as RICO) and held on $100,000 bond."