Music Artists Rally Support Behind P2P

Several musical artists have told the U.S. Supreme Court that they believe peer-to-peer networks should not be blamed for illegal file sharing. Instead, they are urging the court to keep P2P services alive in order to give musicians another outlet to distribute their work, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday.

According to the filing, the group of artists claims that not all musicians think file sharing is bad. "To the contrary, many musicians find peer-to-peer technology...allows them easily to reach a worldwide online audience. And to many musicians, the benefits of this..strongly outweigh the risks of copyright infringement," they wrote.

The group includes contemporary artists like Jason Mraz, as well several popular artists from years past such as Steve Winwood and Heart. Mraz said in the court filing that illegal file sharing has given him more exposure; according to Mraz, half of his concertgoers found out about him through file sharing.

Shutting down P2P services would rob musicians of an outlet for exposure and additional income, the group says. "Distribution of recordings to retailers was controlled largely by a few large national record companies and by several 'independent' labels" before P2P, the group argued.

They say that while they think copyright infringement is wrong, artists who may no longer be commercially viable still have a way to keep their music out in the open.

The legal posturing comes as the Supreme Court is about to hear arguments on the case against Grokster. The company is accused of aiding users in breaking copyright laws and not doing enough to prevent illicit file sharing from occurring. The court will hear arguments March 29.