We've featured several stories during the last couple weeks regarding how excellent live concert recordings are, from the 15,000 hours of live audio featured on Jerry Garcia's website to Bruce Springsteen's plans to allow fans to download live concerts less than 48 hours after attending. This would be a good time, however, to remind you that recording live shows without express permission from the performer can land you in deep with the law. For example, Prince is suing 22 individuals who posted audio of his shows online...for $1 million each.
The performer and label Antiquiet filed a complaint against 22 users of Facebook and Blogger.com. Only two of the defendants are named in the 21-page filing, but each is being sued for the same amount. All of the defendants "engage in massive infringement and bootlegging of Prince's material." In a more interesting detail, Prince is requesting a trial by jury. We're hoping for a People's Court-soundtrack.
In case you're worried about your own misdoings, you should know that all of the defendants here have been involved with bootlegging probably more overt than your own. The two named defendants, Dan Chodera and Karina Jindrova, operated a Facebook account together that specialized in Prince live bootlegs. Not all of the bootlegs were of recent gigs either: One of the defendants was involved in uploading the audio from Prince's 1983 Chicago show to a site called WorldofBootleg.blogspot.com (use it at your own risk...lest Prince come for you).
The performer will be heading out on his 2014 "Hit And Run" tour. Again, record it at your own risk.
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