So you want an example of why copyright doesn't do shit for real-life artists who aren't already fucking rich?
One of my friends got their music sampled by Timbaland. Those of you who know anything about Timbaland are probably saying "oh for fuck's sake" right about now. For those who know nothing: he does this shit A LOT. And a LOT of artists use Timbaland for production because he's famous. They couldn't give a rat's ass what he does to smaller artists, because as it turns out, once you're at a point of being sufficiently successful, you usually just stop giving a fuck. Especially in pop music and rap/hip hop.
The resulting song got used in a big musician's album. I don't wanna doxx them and they want to be private, and disclosing what would expose them. So, suffice it to say: it was a successful album.
Anyway, she sued.
They settled for $12,000. Which the IRS wanted money afterwards. They took home about $7.5k or so. Oh and the lawyer wanted a cut too. I don't remember how much they got, but it wasn't anything remotely life-changing.
They used this money to buy a used car. A very shitty used car.
Meanwhile: he made millions off the song upfront for his work.
That wasn't punishment or a deterrent, that was an accounting rounding error.
Timbaland still routinely does this, by the way, and most artists actually don't even bother fighting back, they put him on blast on social media and then nothing happens, because that's about all they can do.
That's how copyright works in the real world.
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