Catch A Falling Star

In what prosecutors claim is the first karaoke-related copyright-infringement conviction, a 43-year-old Burnsville, MN. woman was found guilty yesterday of illegally distributing pirated karaoke music. According to the Associated Press, Tracy Ann Brock faces a $250,000 fine and five years in prison:

Prosecutors claimed that Brock, as president and co-owner of Star Music Inc., distributed hundreds of thousands of illegal copies of karaoke recordings that were loaded into computer hard drives and then sold on eBay and other online auction sites.

Prosecutors alleged that Brock conspired to sell the infringing copies of the music from April 2004 to July 2006 -- when the FBI searched her house in Burnsville. Special agents seized large numbers of compact discs, computers and other equipment to copy, store and distribute the pirated music.

The case was part of the Department of Justice's broader initiative to prevent online computer piracy, the U.S. attorney's office in Minnesota said in a news release.

Apparently Star Music put on shows by a group called The Singing Stars, whose MySpace page can be found here. A blog post put up late last night—presumably by Brock—reads as follows: "Dont believe all the hype in the media. I got stung for the wrongdoings of my FORMER Business Partner SONNY FREEMAN...those of you who know him know what he's like....shows rock on as normal as usual!!!!"

ASSOCIATED PRESS: Burnsville karaoke owner guilty of copyright infringement