Essay #2 Final Paper

Nathan Sansing
Sansingeng201.blogspot.com
Eng 201.501
Essay #2 Final Draft
1,539 Words

Generation Download

Programs such as Kazaa, LimeWire, Napster, Morpheus, and BearShare have changed the way people look at music today. These programs have revolutionized the music industry, and the recording industry is fighting hard to stop programs like these, which are causing a major financial decline for the record companies and musicians alike. The ease and portability of these programs has caused them to flourish. Imagine any song you want, you can have. For free. So why wouldn’t you take advantage of programs like these? Millions of people already have, and some have suffered the consequences of the battle that the recording industry is fighting with those people who download their music illegally, as well as share the music that they downloaded with others across the internet. Millions of dollars have been spent, lost, and won in this battle, and it isn’t anywhere close to coming to an end. Every day more and more people start downloading music illegally from programs like these for many different reasons, regardless of the consequences.

Downloading music has become more and more popular over the past couple of years. There are programs that allow you to download music legally, as well as programs that allow you to download and share music illegally. Those programs that are illegal are causing the music industry to suffer. The IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry) reports that 95% of music today, that is downloaded online, is done illegally. Since last year there has been a 25% increase in music downloads. There was also a 7% decrease in the worldwide music markets value (BBC News). All of these figures are said to be a direct relation to the widespread popularity of free music downloading software’s.

Since downloading music illegally through certain programs is free, more and more people are gravitating towards it. People today are faced with an economic crisis, and when you see something that you can do for free, chances are you’re going to take advantage of that opportunity. That’s what people see when they have the ability to download songs for free, versus pay $1 for every song that they want on programs like iTunes. iTunes is however, the most popular program for downloading music that is legal, due to the popularity in iPods, but many people can’t afford to pay for the music that they want to listen to. Sometimes you will hear a song that you like on the radio, so you go home and you want to download it. If you have only heard that song one time, you might not want to pay to download that song. So instead you illegally download it for free and save your money. Then you listen to that song a few more times and you don’t really like it after all. You just liked that one 30 second clip you heard on the radio, or on iTunes before you bought it. So instead of being out a dollar for that song, you can just delete it from your computer and never have to hear it again. It saved you money, and it saved you from having to listen to that song you don’t like, but had to pay for in order to find that out. It was estimated that in 2008 over 40 billion songs were downloaded illegally, compared to 1.4 billion that were downloaded through legal programs. (BBC News).

The internet has helped the music industry expand faster than ever. However, what was once the source to the growth of many new artists trying to get spread their music to new listener’s and become the next big thing, is currently causing the entire industry to suffer. Musicians have embraced the digital world, helping to promote and license the use of legal programs for downloading music (Ernesto). They are constantly trying to lower the number of people who download music illegally, and they hope that by creating more programs that are legal, people will become more knowledgeable of these programs and start using them over illegal ones (Ernesto).

Although downloading music for free is very helpful and convenient for you, the consumer, it is a very harmful action that affects the music industry financially as well. A recent report states that the music industry has lost between 700 million and 1.5 billion dollars due to the growth in illegally downloading (Facts about the Music Industry). Total album sales fell 14% in 2008, following a drop of 15% in 2007, resulting in an all-time low in record sales. Nearly 33% of all music sales last year were done digitally, a number that keeps increasing at a very high rate every year, as downloading music has become the easy way for people to acquire music. It takes a lot less effort to just be able to click “buy song” or “buy album” on iTunes versus going to a store and purchasing the actual CD. One study has shown that illegal music downloading has cost the global music industry $12.5 billion and 71,060 jobs annually, an astounding number (The Price of Piracy).

There are many lawsuits that the record industry has filed against both individuals who illegally download and share their music, as well as programs that allow you access to any music or other files that you want free of charge. In July of 2006, one of the major file sharing programs, Kazaa, which was the largest file sharing program at the time, was sued by both the music and movie industries for breaking copyright-infringement laws. Kazaa came to a settlement agreement of $100 million with the recording companies (Graham). This was the first major lawsuit against a file sharing program and has led to many other programs like Kazaa to switch over to making people pay for the music that they download. Although, there are still many programs that allow for illegal file sharing.

Recently in June, a woman in Minnesota was ordered to pay $1.9 million in damages to the recording industry for violating federal copyright laws on sharing music. She was convicted of sharing 24 songs online and was charged $80,000 for each song (Winter). In another similar and recent case, a graduate student at Boston University who admitted to illegally downloading and sharing 30 songs was ordered to pay $675,000 to four record labels, approximately $22,500 per song. According to federal law, the recording companies were entitled to $750 to $30,000 per infringement. But the law allows as much as $150,000 per song if they find that the infringements were committed knowingly (Associated Press). There are constantly new lawsuits that are being filed against people and companies for breaking copyright laws. The recording industry looks very hard at these cases, and takes the illegal downloading and sharing of music very seriously. The RIAA has sued more than 30,000 people over the past few years, with most of those cases settling out of court for a few thousand dollars (Kravets). ####

In August of 2008, the government passed the Higher Education Opportunity Act which is set to take effect in July of 2010. This act states that “universities must develop a plan to combat the unauthorized distribution of copyrighted material” (qtd. in Greenwood). The law states that they must offer alternatives to illegal programs that are used to download and share files. It also requires that schools should educate their students about programs that are legal to use (Greenwood). This is one of the many steps that are being taken by the government and the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America), to fight the spreading popularity of illegal file sharing programs. The RIAA is a group that represents the recording industry. It tries to create a business and legal climate that supports its member’s creative and financial vitality. Approximately 85% of all recorded music that is sold in The United States is from an RIAA member (RIAA). ####

More and more people are starting to discover the benefits of being able to download any song they want without paying for it, but are failing to realize the laws they are breaking and the punishments that they could become faced with. Not only are they putting themselves in danger, but they are also endangering the very people they are breaking the law to get to, the music industry. They are taking money away from the people who create the music, and if it continues at the same rate, it could possibly cause the artists who make the music, to not financially be able to continue making music. If they are not receiving money for the music that they are making, then how are they supposed to continue to make more music? Then, we would be faced with a whole new problem altogether. People would have caused the end to what they needed so badly that they broke the law to get it cheaply. Then they would be forced to ask themselves if it was all worth it. Most people though, won’t look at the situation that way, and don’t necessarily need to. It an extreme of what could possibly happen. But regardless of that people will always continue to download music illegally simply because it’s free and cost them nothing, until they get sued for millions of dollars.

Works Cited

Associated Press. “Jury Awards $675K in Music Sharing Case”. AOL News. 31 Jul. 2009. 11 Aug. 2009.

Ernesto. “Music Piracy Not That Bad, Industry Says”. Torrent Freak. 18 Jan. 2009. 20 Aug. 2009.

“Facts about the Music Industry”. Silver Dragon Records. 11 Aug. 2009.

Graham, Jefferson. “Kazaa to $100 Million to Settle Copyright Lawsuits”. USA Today. 27 Jul. 2006. 11 Aug. 2009.

Greenwood, B. "Campus Crackdown: Law Targets Music Pirates". Information Today 1 Feb. 2009: ABI/INFORM Global, ProQuest. Web. 11 Aug. 2009.

Kravets, David. “RIAA Qualifies Statement on No New Copyright Lawsuits”. Threat Level. 23 Dec. 2008.

“Legal Downloads Swamped by Piracy”. BBC News. 16 Jan. 2009. 11 Aug. 2009.

"The Price of Piracy; A new report says music thievery costs our economy billions. Are such numbers reliable? " PC Magazine 6 Nov. 2007: Research Library Core, ProQuest. Web. 11 Aug. 2009.

RIAA. “What We Do”. 11 Aug. 2009

Winter, Michael. “Minn. Woman Must Pay $1.9 Million for Sharing Online Music. USA Today. 18 Jun. 2009. 11 Aug. 2009.

Paper w/ Hyperlinks

Nathan Sansing
Sansingeng201.blogspot.com
Eng 201.501
Essay #2
1,445 Words

Generation Download

Programs such as Kazaa, LimeWire, Napster, Morpheus, and BearShare have changed the way people look at music today. These programs have revolutionized the music industry, and the recording industry is fighting hard to stop programs like these, which are causing a major financial decline for the record companies and musicians alike. The ease and portability of these programs has caused them to flourish. Imagine any song you want, you can have. For free. So why wouldn’t you take advantage of programs like these? Millions of people already have, and some have suffered the consequences of the battle that the recording industry is fighting with those people who download their music illegally, as well as share the music that they downloaded with others across the internet. Millions of dollars have been spent, lost, and won in this battle, and it isn’t anywhere close to coming to an end. Every day more and more people start downloading music illegally from programs like these for many different reasons, regardless of the consequences.

Downloading music has become more and more popular over the past couple of years. There are programs that allow you to download music legally, as well as programs that allow you to download and share music illegally. Those programs that are illegal are causing the music industry to suffer. The IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry) reports that 95% of music today, that is downloaded online, is done illegally. Since last year there has been a 25% increase in music downloads. There was also a 7% decrease in the worldwide music markets value (BBC News). All of these figures are said to be a direct relation to the widespread popularity of free music downloading software’s.

Since downloading music illegally through certain programs is free, more and more people are gravitating towards it. People today are faced with an economic crisis, and when you see something that you can do for free, chances are you’re going to take advantage of that opportunity. That’s what people see when they have the ability to download songs for free, versus pay $1 for every song that they want on programs like iTunes. iTunes is however, the most popular program for downloading music that is legal, due to the popularity in iPods, but many people can’t afford to pay for the music that they want to listen to. Sometimes you will hear a song on the radio and think that is was a good song. So you go home and you want to download it. If you have only heard that song one time, you might not want to pay to download that song. So instead you illegally download it for free and save your money. Then you listen to that song a few more times and you don’t really like it after all. You just liked that one 30 second clip you heard on the radio, or on iTunes before you bought it. So instead of being out a dollar for that song, you can just delete it from your computer and never have to hear it again. It saved you money, and it saved you from having to listen to that song you don’t like, but had to pay for in order to find that out. It was estimated that in 2008 over 40 billion songs were downloaded illegally, compared to 1.4 billion that were downloaded through legal programs. (BBC News).

Although downloading music for free is very helpful and convenient for you, the consumer, it is a very harmful action that affects the music industry financially as well. A recent report states that the music industry has lost between 700 million and 1.5 billion dollars due to the growth in illegally downloading (Facts about the Music Industry). Total album sales fell 14% in 2008, following a drop of 15% in 2007, resulting in an all-time low in record sales. Nearly 33% of all music sales last year were done digitally, a number that keeps increasing at a very high rate every year, as downloading music as become the easy way for people to acquire music. It takes a lot less effort to just be able to click “buy song” or “buy album” on iTunes versus going to a store and purchasing the actual CD. One study has shown that illegal music downloading has cost the global music industry $12.5 billion and 71,060 jobs annually, an astounding number (The Price of Piracy).

There are many lawsuits that the record industry has filed against both individuals who illegally download and share their music, as well as programs that allow you access to any music or other files that you want free of charge. In July of 2006, one of the major file sharing programs, Kazaa, which was the largest file sharing program at the time, was sued by both the music and movie industries for breaking copyright-infringement laws. Kazaa came to a settlement agreement of $100 million with the recording companies (Graham). This was the first major lawsuit against a file sharing program and has led to many other programs like Kazaa to switch over to making people pay for the music that they download. Although, there are still many programs that allow for illegal file sharing.

Recently in June, a woman in Minnesota was ordered to pay $1.9 million in damages to the recording industry for violating federal copyright laws on sharing music. She was convicted of sharing 24 songs online and was charged $80,000 for each song (Winter). In another similar and recent case, a graduate student at Boston University who admitted to illegally downloading and sharing 30 songs was ordered to pay $675,000 to four record labels, approximately $22,500 per song. According to federal law, the recording companies were entitled to $750 to $30,000 per infringement. But the law allows as much as $150,000 per song if they find that the infringements were committed knowingly (Associated Press). There are constantly new lawsuits that are being filed against people and companies for breaking copyright laws. The recording industry looks very hard at these cases, and takes the illegal downloading and sharing of music very seriously. The RIAA has sued more than 30,000 people over the past few years, with most of those cases settling out of court for a few thousand dollars (Kravets).

In August of 2008, the government passed the Higher Education Opportunity Act which is set to take effect in July of 2010. This act states that “universities must develop a plan to combat the unauthorized distribution of copyrighted material” (qtd. in Greenwood). The law states that they must offer alternatives to illegal programs that are used to download and share files. It also requires that schools should educate their students about programs that are legal to use (Greenwood). This is one of the many steps that are being taken by the government and the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America), to fight the spreading popularity of illegal file sharing programs. The RIAA is a group that represents the recording industry. It tries to create a business and legal climate that supports its members creative and financial vitality. Approximately 85% of all recorded music that is sold in The United States is from an RIAA member (RIAA).

The global switch to digital music, whether it’s done legally or illegally, has impacted many different facets of today’s world. More and more people are starting to discover the benefits of being able to download any song they want without paying for it, but are failing to realize the laws they are breaking and the punishments that they could become faced with. Not only are they putting themselves in danger, but they are also endangering the very people they are breaking the law to get to, the music industry. They are taking money away from the people who create the music, and if it continues at the same rate, it could possibly cause the artists who make the music to not financially continue to make music. If they are receiving money for the music that they are making, then how are they supposed to continue to make more music? Then, we would be faced with a whole new problem altogether. People would have caused the end to what they needed so badly that they broke the law to get it cheaply. Then they would be forced to ask themselves if it was all worth it. Most people though, won’t look at the situation that way, and don’t necessarily need to. It an extreme of what could possibly happen. But regardless of that people will always continue to download music illegally simply because it’s free and cost them nothing.

Works Cited

Associated Press. “Jury Awards $675K in Music Sharing Case”. AOL News. 31 Jul. 2009. 11 Aug. 2009. http://news.aol.com/article/student-joel-tenenbaum-to-pay-675000-in/535370

“Facts about the Music Industry”. Silver Dragon Records. 11 Aug. 2009. http://www.silver-dragon-records.com/Mus_Ind_faq.htm

Graham, Jefferson. “Kazaa to $100 Million to Settle Copyright Lawsuits”. USA Today. 27 Jul. 2006. 11 Aug. 2009. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2006-07-27-kazaa_x.htm

Greenwood, B. "Campus Crackdown: Law Targets Music Pirates". Information Today 1 Feb. 2009: ABI/INFORM Global, ProQuest. Web. 11 Aug. 2009.

Kravets, David. “RIAA Qualifies Statement on No New Copyright Lawsuits”. Threat Level. 23 Dec. 2008. http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2008/12/riaa-qualifies/

“Legal Downloads Swamped by Piracy”. BBC News. 16 Jan. 2009. 11 Aug. 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7832396.stm

"The Price of Piracy; A new report says music thievery costs our economy billions. Are such numbers reliable? " PC Magazine 6 Nov. 2007: Research Library Core, ProQuest. Web. 11 Aug. 2009.

RIAA. “What We Do”. 11 Aug. 2009 http://www.riaa.com/whatwedo.php

Winter, Michael. “Minn. Woman Must Pay $1.9 Million for Sharing Online Music. USA Today. 18 Jun. 2009. 11 Aug. 2009.

Another Possible Source

Marc Parry. "Online Educators Won't Be Forced to Spy on Students, New Rules Say. " The Chronicle of Higher Education 12 Jun 2009: Research Library Core, ProQuest. Web. 20 Aug. 2009. The recently reauthorized Higher Education Opportunity Act requires accreditors to monitor steps colleges take to verify that an enrolled student is the same person who does the course work. Language in the law made some distance educators worry that they would need expensive technology to ensure that other people don't take students' tests. Educators feared the cost could endanger programs. But proposed federal regulations about fulfilling the law, worked out this May, would allow colleges to satisfy the mandate with techniques like secure log-ins and passwords or proctored examinations, according to people involved in the negotiations. Has good background information on the new Higher Education Opportunity Act.

Executioner's Outline

I. Thesis Statement: Millions of dollars have been spent, lost, and won in this battle, and it isn’t anywhere close to coming to an end. Every day more and more people start downloading music illegally from programs like these for many different reasons, regardless of the consequences.
A. Strategy: State the major programs used and that the recording idustry is trying to stop them
II. Downloading music has become more and more popular over the past couple of years.
A. 95% of music today, that is downloaded online, is done illegally (BBC News).
B. Since last year there has been a 25% increase in music downloads (BBC News).
C. 7% decrease in world's market value
III. Since downloading music illegally through certain programs is free, more and more people are gravitating towards it.
A. Economic crisis causes people to illegally download music.
B. State Convience and ease of illegal programs.
C. In 2008, over 40 billion songs were downloaded illegally, and just 1.4 billion legally (BBC News).
IV. Although downloading music for free is very helpful and convenient for you, the consumer, it is a very harmful action that affects the music industry financially as well.
A. The music industry has lost between 700 million and 1.5 billion dollars due to the growth in illegally downloading (Facts about the Music Industry).
B. Total album sales fell 14% in 2008(Facts about the Music Industry).
C. Nearly 33% of all music sales in 2008 were done illegally(Facts about the Music Industry).
D. The global music industry $12.5 billion and 71,060 jobs annually(The Price of Piracy).
V. There are many lawsuits that the record industry has filed against both individuals who illegally download and share their music, as well as programs that allow you access to any music or other files that you want free of charge.
A. Lawsuit against Kazaa (Graham).
B. State how this led to other major lawsuits.
VI. The recording industry looks very hard at these cases, and takes the illegal downloading and sharing of music very seriously.
A. Minnesota woman sued for $1.9 million (Winter).
B. Boston University student sued for $675,000 (Associated Press).
C. State how much you can be sued by under federal law (Associated Press).
D. The RIAA has sued more than 30,000 people over the past few years, with most of those cases settling out of court for a few thousand dollars (Kravets).
VII. In August of 2008, the government passed the Higher Education Opportunity Act which is set to take effect in July of 2010.
A. Tell what the Act states and everything that's involved (Greenwood).
B. Approximately 85% of all recorded music that is sold in The United States is from an RIAA member (RIAA).
VIII. Concluding Strategy: State how people are causing the music industry to suffer by illegally downloading music.

Essay #2

Nathan Sansing
Sansingeng201.blogspot.com
Eng 201.501
Essay #2 Rough Draft
1,445 Words

Generation Download

Programs such as Kazaa, LimeWire, Napster, Morpheus, and BearShare have changed the way people look at music today. These programs have revolutionized the music industry, and the recording industry is fighting hard to stop programs like these, which are causing a major financial decline for the record companies and musicians alike. The ease and portability of these programs has caused them to flourish. Imagine any song you want, you can have. For free. So why wouldn’t you take advantage of programs like these? Millions of people already have, and some have suffered the consequences of the battle that the recording industry is fighting with those people who download their music illegally, as well as share the music that they downloaded with others across the internet. Millions of dollars have been spent, lost, and won in this battle, and it isn’t anywhere close to coming to an end. Every day more and more people start downloading music illegally from programs like these for many different reasons, regardless of the consequences.

Downloading music has become more and more popular over the past couple of years. There are programs that allow you to download music legally, as well as programs that allow you to download and share music illegally. Those programs that are illegal are causing the music industry to suffer. The IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry) reports that 95% of music today, that is downloaded online, is done illegally. Since last year there has been a 25% increase in music downloads. There was also a 7% decrease in the worldwide music markets value (BBC News). All of these figures are said to be a direct relation to the widespread popularity of free music downloading software’s.

Since downloading music illegally through certain programs is free, more and more people are gravitating towards it. People today are faced with an economic crisis, and when you see something that you can do for free, chances are you’re going to take advantage of that opportunity. That’s what people see when they have the ability to download songs for free, versus pay $1 for every song that they want on programs like iTunes. iTunes is however, the most popular program for downloading music that is legal, due to the popularity in iPods, but many people can’t afford to pay for the music that they want to listen to. Sometimes you will hear a song on the radio and think that is was a good song. So you go home and you want to download it. If you have only heard that song one time, you might not want to pay to download that song. So instead you illegally download it for free and save your money. Then you listen to that song a few more times and you don’t really like it after all. You just liked that one 30 second clip you heard on the radio, or on iTunes before you bought it. So instead of being out a dollar for that song, you can just delete it from your computer and never have to hear it again. It saved you money, and it saved you from having to listen to that song you don’t like, but had to pay for in order to find that out. It was estimated that in 2008 over 40 billion songs were downloaded illegally, compared to 1.4 billion that were downloaded through legal programs. (BBC News).

Although downloading music for free is very helpful and convenient for you, the consumer, it is a very harmful action that affects the music industry financially as well. A recent report states that the music industry has lost between 700 million and 1.5 billion dollars due to the growth in illegally downloading (Facts about the Music Industry). Total album sales fell 14% in 2008, following a drop of 15% in 2007, resulting in an all-time low in record sales. Nearly 33% of all music sales last year were done digitally, a number that keeps increasing at a very high rate every year, as downloading music as become the easy way for people to acquire music. It takes a lot less effort to just be able to click “buy song” or “buy album” on iTunes versus going to a store and purchasing the actual CD. One study has shown that illegal music downloading has cost the global music industry $12.5 billion and 71,060 jobs annually, an astounding number (The Price of Piracy).

In August of 2008, the government passed the Higher Education Opportunity Act which is set to take effect in July of 2010. This act states that “universities must develop a plan to combat the unauthorized distribution of copyrighted material” (qtd. in Greenwood). The law states that they must offer alternatives to illegal programs that are used to download and share files. It also requires that schools should educate their students about programs that are legal to use (Greenwood). This is one of the many steps that are being taken by the government and the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America), to fight the spreading popularity of illegal file sharing programs. The RIAA is a group that represents the recording industry. It tries to create a business and legal climate that supports its member’s creative and financial vitality. Approximately 85% of all recorded music that is sold in The United States is from an RIAA member (RIAA).

There are many lawsuits that the record industry has filed against both individuals who illegally download and share their music, as well as programs that allow you access to any music or other files that you want free of charge. In July of 2006, one of the major file sharing programs, Kazaa, which was the largest file sharing program at the time, was sued by both the music and movie industries for breaking copyright-infringement laws. Kazaa came to a settlement agreement of $100 million with the recording companies (Graham). This was the first major lawsuit against a file sharing program and has led to many other programs like Kazaa to switch over to making people pay for the music that they download. Although, there are still many programs that allow for illegal file sharing.

Recently in June, a woman in Minnesota was ordered to pay $1.9 million in damages to the recording industry for violating federal copyright laws on sharing music. She was convicted of sharing 24 songs online and was charged $80,000 for each song (Winter). In another similar and recent case, a graduate student at Boston University who admitted to illegally downloading and sharing 30 songs was ordered to pay $675,000 to four record labels, approximately $22,500 per song. According to federal law, the recording companies were entitled to $750 to $30,000 per infringement. But the law allows as much as $150,000 per song if they find that the infringements were committed knowingly (Associated Press). There are constantly new lawsuits that are being filed against people and companies for breaking copyright laws. The recording industry looks very hard at these cases, and takes the illegal downloading and sharing of music very seriously. The RIAA has sued more than 30,000 people over the past few years, with most of those cases settling out of court for a few thousand dollars (Kravets).

The global switch to digital music, whether it’s done legally or illegally, has impacted many different facets of today’s world. More and more people are starting to discover the benefits of being able to download any song they want without paying for it, but are failing to realize the laws they are breaking and the punishments that they could become faced with. Not only are they putting themselves in danger, but they are also endangering the very people they are breaking the law to get to, the music industry. They are taking money away from the people who create the music, and if it continues at the same rate, it could possibly cause the artists who make the music to not financially continue to make music. If they are receiving money for the music that they are making, then how are they supposed to continue to make more music? Then, we would be faced with a whole new problem altogether. People would have caused the end to what they needed so badly that they broke the law to get it cheaply. Then they would be forced to ask themselves if it was all worth it. Most people though, won’t look at the situation that way, and don’t necessarily need to. It an extreme of what could possibly happen. But regardless of that people will always continue to download music illegally simply because it’s free and cost them nothing.

Works Cited

Associated Press. “Jury Awards $675K in Music Sharing Case”. AOL News. 31 Jul. 2009. 11 Aug. 2009.

“Facts About the Music Industry”. Silver Dragon Records. 11 Aug. 2009.

Graham, Jefferson. “Kazaa to $100 Million to Settle Copyright Lawsuits”. USA Today. 27 Jul. 2006. 11 Aug. 2009.

Greenwood, B. "Campus Crackdown: Law Targets Music Pirates". Information Today 1 Feb. 2009: ABI/INFORM Global, ProQuest. Web. 11 Aug. 2009.

Kravets, David. “RIAA Qualifies Statement on No New Copyright Lawsuits”. Threat Level. 23 Dec. 2008.
“Legal Downloads Swamped by Piracy”. BBC News. 16 Jan. 2009. 11 Aug. 2009.

"The Price of Piracy; A new report says music thievery costs our economy billions. Are such numbers reliable? " PC Magazine 6 Nov. 2007: Research Library Core, ProQuest. Web. 11 Aug. 2009.

RIAA. “What We Do”. 11 Aug. 2009

Winter, Michael. “Minn. Woman Must Pay $1.9 Million for Sharing Online Music. USA Today. 18 Jun. 2009. 11 Aug. 2009.

Research findings etc..

Over the past two days I have found out many new things that I didn’t realize about downloading music. I have found some good articles on how college campuses are trying to prevent students from illegally downloading and sharing music over their internet connections. Downloading music has almost become an everyday thing and a lot of people don’t realize that the consequences that can come by doing it illegally. I’ve researched a few court cases where people were sued for illegally downloading music and the amount of money that they had to pay was enormous. People today have become more and more accepting of downloading music for free because of the financial relief that it brings. Especially in the current economic state that we are in, people can’t afford to spend $1 for every song that they want to hear. So they turn to illegal downloading programs such as LimeWire. These programs are very easy to use and they could eventually end up costing your millions. The focus of my essay has changed in that I was going to research how people get caught illegally downloading music, but now I’m looking more into the financial relief and the fight to prevent people from downloading and sharing their music without paying for it. I am also not going to focus on the particular programs that people use to download music as much in my paper as what I originally had thought. My working thesis at this point is more and more people every day start to download music for free versus paying for it due to a multitude of different reasons.

Annotated Bib #2

Bainwol, M.. "Courting Success. " Billboard 6 Jun 2009: General Interest Module, ProQuest. Web. 11 Aug. 2009. During the last 10 years, a series of court decisions in the United States and abroad have confirmed that basic property rights in the physical world apply in the online world too. [...] the more salient barometer is that the share of Internetconnected households that download music from P2P sites has remained essentially flat during the past three years, all while broadband access has expanded and legal digital music consumption has grown dramatically. Good stuff on how much digital music makes up music sales.

"Business: Free but legal; Spotify v illegal downloads. " The Economist 1 Aug. 2009: Research Library Core, ProQuest. Web. 11 Aug. 2009. Can legal free music compete with the illegal stuff? It seems so. Firms such as Spotify, founded by Swedish programmers, and we7, based in Britain, stream music on demand to European computers in return for nothing more burdensome than the odd advertisement. Together they have quickly amassed 8m users. It is a bright spot in the music industry's long, perilous journey to the digital world. Worldwide sales of music in the form of CDs and DVDs fell by 15% last year, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). Digital revenues, though rising, are not making up the shortfall. Most worrying is the rise of a generation used to obtaining music illegally through file-sharing, particularly in Europe. Lawsuits and crackdowns have displaced file-sharing from public networks into more secretive ones and into things like e-mail, from which it will be virtually impossible to root out. Good article on a new program that streams music for free, and how they are trying to get apple to make an application for the iPhone.

Chen, Y., R. Shang, and A. Lin. "The intention to download music files in a P2P environment: Consumption value, fashion, and ethical decision perspectives. " Electronic Commerce Research and Applications 7.4 (2008): 411. Business Module, ProQuest. Web. 11 Aug. 2009. Downloading unauthorized music file, being framed as a problem of crime, is deemed unethical, but the peer-to-peer systems have boosted its popularity and have become the killer application for the music industry. Two factors, cost savings from CD purchase and the low moral reasoning ability of Internet users, have been frequently attributed as rationales for this behavior. Music download, however, can also be interpreted as a value maximizing behavior that chooses between the values from consuming illicit and legitimate music, wherein the consumption value is partly dependent on one's degree of fashion involvement since music is fashionable. This paper presents a conceptual model of music download by looking at and integrating these seldom noticed perspectives with traditional explanations. An analysis of 834 samples drew from a survey of P2P users in Taiwan reveals that: people are maximizing value while downloading music; and that fashion involvement influences the perception of consumption value from music download. This study also found that moral reasoning moderate the relationships among fashion involvement, consumption value, and behavioral intention to download music. Really good stuff on why file sharing has become so popular due to the expense of legally purchasing the music.


Chris Taylor. "Music's new mousetrap. " Time 3 Feb. 2003: Research Library Core, ProQuest. Web. 11 Aug. 2009. If you're under 35 and own a computer with a high-speed Internet connection, chances are you've indulged in a very 21st century vice: sharing and downloading music (on services like Kazaa, Morpheus and LimeWire) without the music industry's permission. And like millions of others, you could now be in trouble. Has good information on how many people use downloading programs and how many songs they use.

"A GLOBAL PROBLEM. " Billboard 24 May 2008: General Interest Module, ProQuest. Web. 11 Aug. 2009. Current German copyright law gives rights owners a civil right to demand Internet protocol data from ISPs only if a criminal action is initiated by the public prosecutor's office. * The German Federal Constitutional Court ruled March 19, in an interim decision, that IP data should only be given out in cases of serious crimes, not for such offenses as copyright infringements. * Rights owners are teen for French-style "three strikes" legislation; meetings with ISPs and the Minister of Justice have not yet produced results. Not relevant to what I’m writing in my paper, although it does have some interesting facts in it.

Greenwood, B.. "Campus Crackdown: Law Targets Music Pirates. " Information Today 1 Feb. 2009: Research Library Core, ProQuest. Web. 11 Aug. 2009. Ever since Shawn Fanning created the original Napster in a Northeastern University dorm room, colleges have struggled to keep students from illegally downloading music over school Internet networks. Over time, anti-piracy strategies have evolved continuously, adapting to the fluidity of the music industry. Recently, the government entered the fray with the passage of the Higher Education Opportunity Act. Signed into law in August 2008 and set to take effect in July 2010, the act states that universities must develop plans to effectively combat the unauthorized distribution of copyrighted material via technological deterrents. Colleges pursuing site-license agreements are finding that fewer companies are now providing them. About three years ago, the Illinois State University kicked off its Digital Citizen Project, the goal of which is to research, discover, and establish best practices for shifting consumption of media on university campuses, according to the project's Web site. Really good stuff on how campuses are struggling to keep students from illegally downloading music.

"The Price of Piracy; A new report says music thievery costs our economy billions. Are such numbers reliable? " PC Magazine 6 Nov. 2007: Research Library Core, ProQuest. Web. 11 Aug. 2009. A new study by the Institute for Policy Innovation finds that global music piracy costs the US economy $12.5 billion in losses and 71,060 jobs annually. The report breaks down losses by physical piracy (bootleg CDs) and illegal downloads on peer-to-peer networks. To derive these numbers, the study estimated "substitution" rates, which assumes that without counterfeit channels, many pirates would purchase legitimate products. Good information on the bad side of illegal downloading.