Do you feel like a thief when downloading your favorite song online? Certainly for the majority of the people the answer to this question will be “no”. According to the results of a survey performed by Pew Internet and American Life Project exposed in the Applelinks’ article called Is Music Piracy Stealing?, “two-thirds of Internet users who download music are unconcerned that they are violating copyright laws, while only 29 percent say they do care and 6 percent have no opinion on the matter.”
The majority of the issues regarding intellectual property infringements are somewhat related to the non recognition of people who do it as a bad thing and online music piracy is not the exception. One could say downloading music is like a little white lie: you know it’s not good, but as far as you concern, you can benefit from it without causing much harm to others. Of course the record labels would think otherwise, since they are the ones who are being tricked!
Putting aside the moral considerations, the big picture can be explained by analyzing the roles of the players involved in the online music piracy game. Consumers download music because they don’t have to pay for it; artist and record labels are against it because their profits are being diminished; and legislative authorities have to protect both actors’ rights and rule their relationship.
Given the current status of the issue, in which is a reality the widespread availability of means and favorably behavior towards downloading free music, one is tempted to think that the answer is in the hands of the regulators. As long as the benefits of downloading music outweigh the costs, people are going to continue doing it! It’s not rocket science. If the problem has to be solved, authorities should make downloading free music not only against the law, but also costly through consequences derived from the enforcement of the legislation, without stopping making a continuous extraordinary effort to keep up with technology changes.
Another alternative? All the players can simply accept the benefits derived from online music downloading, including record labels who perceived an increase exposure for their artists, and find new ways to compensate for the downsides. As explained in the article The End of Music Piracy? O RLY?, this could be done by creating non-replicable experiences that allow music fans to connect with the art and artists in ways that that cannot be copied and can be sold for real money. Ten years ago people took specialized courses to learn how to use a computer. Today, 5 years old kids already have computer notions and are well prepared by the time they finish school. Those schools offering this type of courses had to change their course or went out of business. As bold as it might sound, maybe record labels and artist should do the same.
You have actually brought up a good point about how to prevent music downloads. But i feel downloading music online cannot be stopped. as you said, 5 year old children know how to use a computer an some of them own one. The world is evolving day by day, people only get wiser the more they try to restrict piracy(downloads) the more people will try to hack and download more, they always find their ways.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely the RIAA has managed to involve many in a witch hunt. They have found that controlling the Internet is only through legislation, legal actions, punishment or enforcement.
ReplyDeleteThey forgot that the Internet is a new marketing channel and have not tried to create business models that allow legal sales of digital products taking into account changes in economic models among others. If manufacturers of digital products act thinking this way would avoid the attack on Internet freedom for the benefit of mankind.