ART Act Indictment for Distribution of Pre-Release Music

By Eric Goldman

Robert Thomas of Milwaukee and Jared Bowser of Jacksonville have been indicted under the ART Act for pre-releasing four songs by Ryan Adams in August 2005, a month before the commercial release of Adams’ album. Allegedly, the songs originally came from a legitimate pre-release copy sent to the media. This may be the first prosecution under the pre-release restrictions under the ART Act (there has also been at least one indictment under the camcordering provision of the ART Act).