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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.
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