RIAA's Subpoena Onslaught Aimed at Illegal File Sharing

Are they really this desparate? Are they out of their minds? From the Washington Post:

The music industry has won at least 871 federal subpoenas against computer users suspected of sharing copyrighted music files on the Internet, with roughly 75 new subpoenas being approved every day, U.S. court officials said yesterday.
(snip)
The Recording Industry Association of America has said it expects to file several hundred lawsuits seeking financial damages in the next eight weeks. U.S. copyright laws allow for the awarding of damages of $750 to $150,000 for each song offered illegally on a person's computer, but the RIAA has said it will be open to settlement proposals from defendants.
(snip)
In some cases, subpoenas cite as few as five songs as "representative recordings" of music files available for downloading from these users. The trade group for the largest music labels, the Washington-based RIAA, previously indicated that its lawyers would target Internet users who offer substantial collections of song files but declined to say how many songs might trigger the filing of a lawsuit.

Five songs. Share five songs, go to jail. Sue for five songs times $150,000, ruin a person's life. Oh, and how much would the artist get if the song was bought legally? Max Sawicky quotes Howard Berman: 8 cents.

I've said it before, if the recording companies would make it possible to download high-quality songs for 50 cents, people would flock to them in droves. Or charge one dollar for new releases, and 25 cents for the back catalog. Instead, they want to protect their outdated business model of recording company-distributor-retailer in the courts. I'm remembering a line from a book about a technological advance: "If they succeed in this petition, I will start a whale oil lamp factory and ask for an injunction against electric light manufacturers."