The RIAA sued a 12 year old girl in New York Public Housing. Her mother settled and paid the RIAA 2000$.
Media changes, vinyl to tapes to CDs to p2p-networks. You cannot sue your way out of progress.
For anyone in the States, Kazaa Lite is a hacked version of KaZaA with some built in protection from the RIAA. I don’t think the RIAA is even scanning KaZaA Lite at this time. You have access to the same network and the same files.
If you want to give money directly to artists I recommend www.musiclink.com