A New Age of Music Piracy

In this day and age, it's not just physical things being stolen: basically everything that can be digitally distributed can be cracked by some tech guy and uploaded onto one of the thousands of illegal websites. No matter how many countermeasures the creators set up, there will always be somebody who will be up to the challenge of busting through them. and there are no reppercussions to these blatent thefts unless a pirate is dumb enough to admit his crimes on the internet.

I’m afraid that the issues that had to do with the rights for creators of content (authors of music, books, papers, etc.) to be able to profit from their work without being deprived of their livelihoods due to piracy, was confounded due to the ignorance of law makers about the nature of the Internet (the free flow of ideas, the ability to collaborate with people from all over the world and engage in thoughtful discourse and debate, etc.). Further, the influence of money and pressure being brought upon the government to pass the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA) by very wealthy and influential organizations (see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_organizations_with_official_stances_on_the_SOPA_and_PIPA ) created undue pressure to get Congress to act without thoughtful investigation into the

The parties finally reached a settlement of 105 million dollars distributed to the various companies respectively. While the record companies asked for the maximum penalty of 1.4 billion dollars, they hoped that the huge victory would show other piracy sites and services that what they’re doing is not a game. Illegal downloads hurt the people who have put in the hard work, day in and day out. The RIAA’s chairman, Mitch Bainwol said it best, “As the court heard during the last two weeks, Limewire wreaked enormous damage on the music community, helping contribute to thousands of lost jobs and few opportunities for aspiring artists.”

Music piracy is the large-scale, unauthorized duplication of recorded music with the intent to defraud the copyright holder of his/her royalties (English).

When people buy music, they get legal rights to that purchase, known as Intellectual Property (IP). But some people do not like to buy music. Whether they know it or not, they use piracy as their way to get music. They use softwares, look music up on the internet, or find somebody selling it. Piracy can be destructive to people or organizations like the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). People

We all know that downloading pirated music and films is illegal, but what exactly is it? The term piracy refers to the copying and selling of music, films and other media illegally; in other words you are copying and selling copyrighted media without the permission of the original owner (NiDirect, n.d.). With the massive growth of the internet and its ability to store and capture vast amounts of data, we have become much more reliable on information systems in all aspects of life, but it does not come without the risk of information technology being used unethically. With the number of IT breakthroughs in recent years “the importance of ethics and human values has been underemphasised” often resulting in various consequences. Not surprisingly one of the many public concerns about the ethical use of IT is that “millions of people have downloaded music and movies at no charge and in apparent violation of copyright laws at tremendous expense to the owners of those copyrights” (Reynolds, Ethics in Information Technology, 2015). This essay covers the ethical issues of downloading pirated music and films and the impact it has on music corporations and recording and film companies.

“Before the days of YouTube and the Internet, a band 's chances of striking it big depended on record companies. If a band was lucky enough to get a record deal, it gained access to a label 's vast resources and connections. The company paid for the band 's studio time, … and got its music played on the radio, reaching millions of record buying Americans” (Majerol, 1). Now, anyone with talent can post a video of themselves and become an internet sensation, only to then receive a deal with a label to continue growing their career. The issue is, with the Internet came digital downloading, and with the growing popularity of digital downloading came illegal downloading, known as Digital Piracy, which has affected the music industry greatly. This issue affects everyone involved in the Music Industry. From the small CD store owner to the Artist on stage, everyone has and continues to be affected by the growing popularity of digital downloading services. Artists, producers, and songwriters lose an estimated 12.5 Billion USD every year to illegal digital music services. Further, the economic impact from [digital downloading] is an estimated loss of 2+ Billion USD (Storrs, 1). This money affects the “little guys” in the industry and the average worker within the industry.

The first massive strike on the record industry (RIAA) reports that music sales in the United States have dropped 47 percent since Napster came out in 1999. The availability of free music has cost the music industry $12.5 billion in economic losses. To regain some of these losses, the record industry has filed lawsuits against individuals who have been found to own downloaded music files. In some cases, some of those individuals have been sued for thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars. According to Northwestern University

One of the major groups in opposition to the Recording Industry Association of America is the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). “The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) was created to defend our rights to think, speak, and share our ideas, thoughts, and needs using new technologies, such as the Internet and the World Wide Web. EFF is the first to identify threats to our basic rights online and to advocate on behalf of free expression in the digital age. (EFF: About)” The EFF takes a stand against large corporations and government organizations in an attempt to protect users digital rights. The EFF makes some very good points, emphasizing an approach that gives users and music lovers the music they want and compensates the artists. They say “It's time to face the fact that copyright law currently is broken. It is making criminals out of music lovers and technologists. College students are being sued, ISPs

Digital music piracy has been a worry of the music industry since the creation of Napster in 1998. Piracy is the act of stealing something that does not belong to you which has been outlined in our society as something that is bad or against the law. There are many articles out there that highlight music piracy but four main important ones include: “The Music Industry on (the) Line? Surviving Music Piracy in a Digital Era” by Jelle Janssens, “Neutralizing Music Piracy: An Empirical Examination” by Jason R. Ingram, “The Impact of Digital Piracy on Music Sales: A Cross-Country Analysis” by Mark T. Bender, “Charismatic Code, Social Norms, and the Emergence of Cooperation on the File-Swapping Networks” by Lior Jacob Strahilevitz and many other

Producers of musical content cannot undo the adverse effects that piracy has had on the industry. Because of the internet and the way individuals have manipulated it to obtain music, many people are unwilling to change their habits. Here lies the issue between the producer and the consumer. Acts like the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and PROTECT Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) work against the incentive of many consumers by telling them that they cannot do what maximizes their utility. Producers are thus working against the likings of the consumer. This is wrong.

Piracy is usually determined as a seizure of property (ship, airplane or software) that holds no commission from the owner (“Piracy” 1). It is mostly linked to the dirty, bearded men that sailed the seven seas and robed merchant ships or ships that carried a valuable cargo. This however, was not the case in the late eighties and is definitely not the case today in the nineties. Now software pirates copy software without the permission of the company for their own personal benefits. Since piracy interrupts trade between nations it has been considered to be an offense against international law (“Piracy” 1). While the pirates in the medieval age roamed for plunder on the high seas, pirate radio and television stations broadcast, unauthorized

The industries are losing massive amounts of money from the pirates, due to loss of sales and they seem to be willing to go to further measures these days, to make sure that they can get as much as they can from a person that has stolen property from them (Vijayan 1). This desire of theirs has led to retrials if they were unsatisfied with the outcome of the trial as seen with the Minnesota woman’s case (Computerworld.com 1). A pirate may argue that the artist is not getting any money from the digital downloads from common places like iTunes, or Amazon MP3, and

So what can be done to decrease music piracy? Besides creating new laws, and suing P2P websites for copyright infringement there are other fronts being explored. On the technological front labels are working with several companies in creating a more secure music format. One example is DRM-wrapped digital files and streams. A process used to limit the usage of digital content. Other options include copy-protected CD’s, and products like Data-Play, DVD-Audio and SACD, which basically only allow access of information to one specific user.

While few people may argue that downloading music from the internet should not be illegal, many others realize that it is clearly an act of theft to steal the work of others. The amount of the music being illegally downloaded has risen tremendously over the years causing music industries worldwide to cripple and disappear. As many may say that downloading music illegally is not harmful in any way, they are imperceptive to the fact that it is causing a large amount of decreasing revenue. As Marielena Reyes states “The immediate effects from online piracy can be the sales drop from CD labels and signings with artists, which could then lead to the large sums of money music industries claim to have lost. Downloading music does not have any negative effects to music industry finances, artists credibility, and earrings.” Reyes claims music industries will gain money off of online piracy due to the fact that sales of CD labels and signings with artist will drop but later on this will only cause the music industries to lose billions since that is what they depend on. “Potential know loses to all American Industry could amount to as much as $63 billion, with the current losses occurring at a rate of $2 billion a month. The high-tech industry has an average loss per incident reported of $19 million… continues to increase,” said Neil J. Gallagher, proving the fact that music corporations are losing money “due to piracy of software, music and interactive digital software on the internet.” The less money they are receiving from sales, result in having little to no money for their own incorporation, no money for employees, and no money to sign contracts with artists, leading them to the collapse of the company. By being able to download music online with no coast, the general public worldwide will be able to afford music, as Jessica Martinez said “Individuals have the right to make decisions when it comes to doing the correct action but if one person deals with tough situations such as not having enough money to buy music, free downloaders helps individuals deal with hardships by allowing them to indulge in the act of downloading free music.” Although many people might not be able to pay the price of the CDs or other