# Legality of exchanging mix CDs **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 17, 2005, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-exchanging-mix-cds/285106 "2005-01-17T00:13:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ooner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/c67d28/32.png) [@Ooner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ooner)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-exchanging-mix-cds/285106/1 "2005-01-17T00:13:27Z")
A few years ago I started a community on Livejournal to exchange mix CDs, largely as a way for me to find new music to listen to. Without having too many friends that listened to a big variety of music, it seemed like a good way to hear what other people liked and see if I liked any of it and it worked really well. The format was that all participants made 5 copies of a mix CD with songs they like, preferably relatively lesser-known artists and sent them all in, they were mixed up, and each person got back 5 random discs from other participants. While it obviously falls under the blanket category of “file-sharing,” is this something that I could actually get in trouble for? If I wasn’t a participant in the exchanges as I have been in the previous ones and instead only organized the mailings, am I still considered to be engaging in copyright violation? And finally, the reason I’m really asking, if I were to be making money somehow from this (I hadn’t previously, all participants provided their own blank CDs and postage) would that put me in any sort of legal danger? And if so, the hypothetical “it’s not legal but nobody would ever do anything” danger, or the “the RIAA will sue you and force a multi-thousand dollar settlement” danger? ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-exchanging-mix-cds/285106/2 "2005-01-17T00:33:26Z")
Yes, it is illegal and you _could_ get in trouble for it. What your chances are of getting in trouble or what the penalties would be I can’t answer. ---
**Author:** ![akifani](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ba0ec/32.png) [@akifani](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/akifani)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-exchanging-mix-cds/285106/3 "2005-01-17T01:20:08Z")
It’s illegal whether you make money out of it or not. ---
**Author:** ![Ooner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/c67d28/32.png) [@Ooner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ooner)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-exchanging-mix-cds/285106/4 "2005-01-18T20:32:42Z")
_bump_ We have posts in GD about file sharing and copyright law that go for page after page after page. And nobody else has anything to add to this? Should I repost in Great Debates and try to make it sound fighty? ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-exchanging-mix-cds/285106/5 "2005-01-18T21:14:05Z")
> [@Ooner](#): > > And nobody else has anything to add to this? Should I repost in Great Debates and try to make it sound fighty? If you want to start a debate, that’s fine, but in this thread, you asked what the law _is_, not what it should be. What else is there to say but “Yes, it is illegal.”?