Visiosonic, Ltd., Responds To The RIAA Lawsuit Against MP3.com

Cannes, France - Last week in the U.S. the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) filed a lawsuit against MP3.com, Inc., alleging copyright infringement. The lawsuit charges that MP3.com's My.MP3 program is in violation of copyright law. Speaking from the international music industry conference MIDEM in Cannes, France Visiosonic, Ltd., an Internet music company, raises issues brought about by the suit that simultaneously affects both the Internet and the music industry. (www.PCDJ.com) ""It is important to realize what is really at stake here. This lawsuit is a smoke screen. This is not about piracy; over the past two years as MP3 has become mainstream record sales have consistently increased by approximately 10 percent. The RIAA is trying to lock down the Internet for the interests of its constituents - the major labels. Since MP3.com has a database of music buyer's tastes, they can leverage that information. This is an IT (information technology) power struggle in disguise. The RIAA does not care about the rights of consumers or artists. They are really fighting for the same control online as they already have offline. They don't want the Internet to open new doors and eventually end their ability to control artists and their creative works,"" said Laura Betterly, President of PCDJ.com. Betterly continued, ""Musical artists have the most to lose and the most to gain and their future is now in the hands of two interests whose businesses are not centered on making money for artists,"" continues Betterly. ""Just as many of us are discovering new ways to monetize music, the RIAA raises it's greedy head to force Internet companies to pay license fees to record manufacturers who have nothing to do with digital formats. This legal squabble may bring about a legal review of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, and a revision of the law could be unfavorable for the artists who actually create the music."" Visosonic, Ltd., is the creator of one of the world's most popular MP3 media players, the PCDJ Phat player, which allows users to rip, catalog, and play their songs in MP3 and other popular formats or mix them like a DJ. Over the last year Visosonic has expanded the company to include a digital media label, a brick and mortar distribution company (Subsonic Records), a vinyl record e-commerce store, and several internet radio stations. Clearly, the outcome of this lawsuit greatly affects Visosonic and other media companies as well.