Are MP3 blogs legal?

Lately I've seen an abundance of blogs that have streaming MP3's by popular US artists on them.


This is something that appeals to both my love of blogging and love of music, but I do not see how the bloggers get away with this.


Isn't this illegal and is the RIAA cracking down?


If I wanted to start a blog and post "Beat It" by Michael Jackson, would that put me in the slammer?

Are MP3 blogs legal?
No they are not legal.





The RIaa are aware of this and they are attempting to track these people down and prosecute. Of course most people who sign up to create such blogs do not use their real names, they use proxy addresses to get to the blog so that they are difficult to track back to. The RIAA will issue takedown notices against files on RapidShare, MegaShare and the like, but the files just get uploaded again.





If they could track back to your real name, your actual IP address, etc that the blog was one one which you as an individual have the ability to post, then, yes, your Michael Jackson upload would get you in trouble. Probably not jail time though. They would typically approach you with a "proposed settlement" of several thousand dollars. If you didn't pay it, they would take you to court. The recent courtcase that has been in the news is the woman who is just barely making ends meet on $30,000 a year that the court awarded $220,000. To get that kind of money, she will have to take out life insurance on someone and have them die.... A sad state of affairs.....
Reply:RIAA have not (yet) targetted mp3 blogs. Record co's are aware mp3 blogs are powerful promotional tools, and even send some mp3s to share. In short, some mp3 blogs are legal (have permission from artists), some are strictly illegal and many sit in 'grey area'. ‘Fair use’ law may apply to some. Report It

Reply:Also it's not true most don't use real names. Perhaps shadiest don't, but typical indie artist-promoting blog authors do. P2P downloaders are the ones taken to court, mp3 bloggers have had somewhat of a free pass so far because they often promote artists not selling that well. Report It