Music Pirates

The phenomenon of the Internet comes with a price. Because it is so “new” to the world there are many legal aspects that have not been decided on and that are currently being observed. One of the most notorious topics of the internet debate is the topic of ownership. When someone puts an idea on the internet for the world to see, who really owns it? This question has created tension in the music industry. The internet makes it extremely easy for music to be pirated.

Many things are in fact being done to stop piracy for all types of entertainment that is available for download on the internet, for example: (from Wikipedia)

• RIAA suing file-sharers that share music over P2P networks
• MPAA encryption of DVD movies using the CSS cipher and prohibiting the distribution and use of DeCSS, while also having the effect of banning free/open source DVD player software.
• "Coded Anti-Piracy", also called CAP codes, as a way to put a forensic identification on the film to trace back illegal copies of films to the source.
• Microsoft removing Windows Vista and Microsoft Office from various torrent trackers

Why haven’t any laws actually been enforced? Why is music piracy still happening despite the efforts that are being made to stop it? I can go on LimeWire or The Pirate Bay right now and download an entire album for free. But nothing will necessarily happen to me. Why do I not feel guilty about this? I am actually stealing music. What is it about the internet that disconnects us from our behavior? Maybe because it’s just so easy! In an actual record store, if you have morals, you will not go ahead and slip a CD into your purse. On the internet, we feel that no one is watching us- so we do it. Since it would take a ridiculous amount of time to monitor our behavior on the internet as individuals, officials go to the source of the problem- by suing the company (e.g. Limewire or The Pirate Bay).

Sometimes I wonder why sites to search for torrents are still available for the public to use. The thing is that sites like The Pirate Bay, for example, do not host any of those files — like Google, the site is nothing but an index of where those files are located. The actual files are hosted on millions of computers around the world, and some of them may only have a small part of the original file. If they sue the company, and these companies seize to exist, the files will still be out there and people will continue to download music for free.

I must admit, I used to download my music for free. I didn’t feel guilty about it at all. I stopped after a while because I started to understand the effect it has on the music industry (the industry I plan on belonging to eventually). People do not realize how much they are hurting the industry. A great analysis by the Institute for Policy Innovation concluded that global music piracy causes “$12.5 billion of economic losses every year, 71,060 U.S. jobs lost, a loss of $2.7 billion in workers' earnings, and a loss of $422 million in tax revenues, $291 million in personal income tax and $131 million in lost corporate income and production taxes- about 20% of the Industry's income every year.” (www.ipi.org.). That’s a lot of money!

The odds of you getting caught are very small, because it just takes too much time and money to prosecute every single person in the world who is illegally downloading, but remember, it is not impossible. Once you download something, your IP address gets recorded immediately. Stop stealing music and you won't have a problem. And don’t your favorite artists/bands deserve their benefits for their hard work and their entertainment to you? There are so many online radio stations (such as Pandora) that you can listen to music all day for free.