What is the punishment for illegal sharing of music files?

Answer 1

The cost of prosecuting everybody that downloaded music would be far too expensive. The cases I've heard about being prosecuted are people that have shared the music, and usually people who put about 1000 songs online for sharing...they want to make an example of the major offenders...

Answer 2

If you do not have legal permission, and you go ahead and copy or distribute copyrighted music anyway, you can be prosecuted in criminal court and/or sued for damages in civil court.

• Criminal penalties for first-time offenders can be as high as five years in prison and $250,000 in fines.
• Civil penalties can run into many thousands of dollars in damages and legal fees. The minimum penalty is $750 per song. (Suddenly, $1 per song doesn't look so expensive. ;-D )

The "No Electronic Theft Law" (NET Act) is similar on copyright violations that involve digital recordings:

• Criminal penalties can run up to 5 years in prison and/or $250,000 in fines, even if you didn't do it for monetary or financial or commercial gain.
• If you did expect something in return, even if it just involves swapping your files for someone else's, as in MP3 trading, you can be sentenced to as much as 5 years in prison.
• Regardless of whether you expected to profit, you're still liable in civil court for damages and lost profits of the copyright holder.
• Or the copyright holders can sue you for up to $150,000 in statutory damages for each of their copyrighted works that you illegally copy or distribute. In the US, statutory fines range from $750 to $30,000 per infringement, but most rights holders will settle for much less than this, typically closer to actual damages.

If you make digital copies of copyrighted music on your computer available to anyone through the internet without the permission of the copyright holder, you're stealing. And if you allow a P2P file-sharing network to use part of your computer's hard drive to store copyrighted recordings that anyone can access and download, you're on the wrong side of the law.

Artists depend on financial support for their work. Without money some musicians could no longer afford to make music.

Answer 3

Sites such as Limewire, that illegally capture music from one uploaded user to the next without compensation the rightful artist(s).

Answer 4

The punishment for illegally sharing music is prosecution in criminal court or being sued if you do not have permission to share the music. There can be a fine of $750 per song.