Recording Industry Seeks 100X+ Exorbitant Damages in Joel Tenenbaum Case

The RIAA and the record labels are asking for draconian measures to be laid at the feet of people who may be guilty–but are asking for exorbidant damages against individuals. For instance, if I were to illegally download 7 songs….shouldn’t I only be held responsible for paying $7 that the music tracks would cost on iTunes (in fact the music companies only make a fraction of that). At worst the crime might merit a punishment of $35 or $70, but nothing beyond. Thats not what the Recording Industry thinks. These are two questions (along with a contributor and commentor Alex at Joel Fights Back) which I hope are asked of the relevant individuals in the recording industry:

# Howard Singer, Warner Music Group Corp.
# JoAn Cho, Universal Music, Inc.
# Jennifer Pariser, Sony BMG Music Entertainment

Q1: Can you name any other case where statutory damages have been awarded to a plaintiff at a rate at (or near) 750 times the ACTUAL loss suffered by the plaintiff?

Q2: Isn’t it true that civil damages are TYPICALLY calculated at a rate of no more than 10x the ACTUAL loss suffered by the plaintiff?

How does the punishment possibly suit the crime? How can this possibly be called justice? If the record companies win anything approaching these exorbitant damages has justice and fairness really been done? And will the record labels actually give the artists any of this money and specifically in proportion to the damages??? Will any of the bands come out against the labels? Apparently “music rights” “copywrite” “IP” and the like are all code words for abuse, harass, and milk the customer for all their worth + more? This is ridiculous and makes a mockery of justice and our justice system? The mere thought that record labels could terorrize a consumer in this way makes me shudder from the inhumanity + cold callusness of the record execs.