Finally some sanity in the crazy world where fileswapping and taping are killing the music. It more likely that suckyarsemusic™, the Recording Industry's oligopolistic fiefdom and outdated business models, that are poorly aligned to modern ways of experiencing and making music, are really what is killing the music ... if you insist on its mortality. I don't.

Nevertheless, this French judicial activism matters because of France's position in the global music industry. France, and Paris in particular, is one of the most important musical/cultural meccas for artists/musicians in continental europe, from Western Classical traditions in the 19th century to Montmartre in the '20s and '30s for Jazz, to the ultra-modern IRCAM for experimental research in and creation of contemporary music.

Hopefully some of this momentum will trickle back across the pond, meet up with some Canadian common sense and finally have an impact stateside.

Oh yeah, did you know that the RIAA's chairman and CEO is a former chief of staff of the Republican National Committee, circa 1998?