— Full text opinion

The plaintiffs in this case were convicted for tape bootlegging, which is the recording and copying of live music concerts. Many bands have large followings that try to collect and trade tapes of every concert. Some bands tape themselves and release their work for free, while others charge. A lot of bands don't self-tape, but they do allow fans this right. Recently, companies have developed technology that record and duplicate copies of a concert quickly enough to be sold at the end of the show, although this no longer makes a big difference because of the prevalence of digital recording.