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Recommended: Impact on music piracy
About 5 years ago Napster, a network software application, was being used to download music files. The network was growing faster than anybody who ever started it would have imagined. When artists, songwriters, and all of the other people involved in making CD's realized that this wasn't going to slow down any time soon, they decided that they needed to stop Napster. Little by little, Napster was being less used and it became harder to find the songs wanted until nobody used it anymore. When all of this was happening, other applications were made available. Kazaa and Grokster are probably the two most used Peer to Peer, or P2P file sharing networks you can find, although there are many others. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) wants to let the public know that this file sharing that is going on is illegal. The only way to stop this is to start lawsuits. The RIAA has been making attempts for a couple years to inform the public that file sharing is illegal, but now that nothing has happened appropriate action needs to take place (RIAA 1). Singers and songwriters need to make a living somehow. They know that downloading music is a way to get their voice heard, but they also know that it is significantly hurting the business. "When your product is being regularly stolen, there comes a time when you have to take appropriate action," said RIAA president Cary Sherman (RIAA 1). There are a lot of people involved in the music scheme when it comes to who needs to get paid by the revenue. From the sale of one CD, singers get one small fraction of the cost, another fraction goes to song writers, musicians also get some of the profit along with retailers, engineers, technicians, warehouse working, and ever... ... middle of paper ... ...nd a strong message that the illegal distribution of copyrighted works has consequences, but if individuals are willing to step forward on their own, we want to go the extra step and extend this option" (RIAA 1). The RIAA just wants the public to know that what is going on is not only wrong, but illegal. There are ways around it, use them. Singers and songwriters make something we consider to be highly valuable. You can listen to CD's in your house, in your car, and while working out. It is a very widely used form of entertainment. When you buy a CD you are getting your money's worth. Walking away from this article the reader has two choices; keep on downloading, risk getting caught and fined, depreciate the value of the music being made by forcing singers and songwriters to find day jobs, or stop downloading and buy the valuable music used greatly every day.
The RIAA believe that Napster has helped users infringe copyright. The threat of the lawsuit has been around since the conception of Napster and was actually filed four months after Napster went on line. The case is not as clear-cut as it first appears. RIAA argues that most of the MP3's on Napster's site are mainly pirated. Therefore, by Napster allowing and actually making it easier for users to download MP3's this means that they are assisting Copyright infringement.
“It is estimated that such illegal product costs the music industry more than 300 million dollars a year domestically.” This is why the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is taking a strong stance against MP3 piracy. The damage done to the recording industry in lost profits, increased prices, and lost jobs is overwhelming. In an attempt to put a damper on file swapping, and recapture lost revenue the RIAA has been suing people ...
Peer-to-peer (P2P) networks have had a staggering growth in the past few years. Since Napster, dozens of P2P networks have been created in its imitation. Due to the growing accessibility of broadband, which increases the speed of downloads, P2P networks generate nearly 1.8 billion downloads per month. Popularity and acceptance is still continually growing.
In 2011, after five-years of litigation, Judge Kimba M. Wood of the United States District Court ruled in favor of Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and ordered a settlement of $105 million from LimeWire. The lawsuit was initiated by RIAA in 2006, for copyright infringement violations, against LimeWire for the illegal file sharing of music by its consumers. More than 9,000 recordings were identified by music labels that LimeWire users unlawfully distributed. RIAA sought the maximum penalty of $150,000 for each song totaling $1.4 billion in damages. Although RIAA was not awarded the full amount, they hoped it served as a deterrent for music piracy by other companies in the future.
Big time record companies and artist are losing billions of dollars due to people illegally downloading music files. The
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is suing Napster for allegedly enabling music piracy through its proprietary MusicShare program. MusicShare allows music lovers to open up their stores of MP3 files to all other Napster users. Whenever a user is online, his MP3s are up for grabs, with the only stipulation being that users upload a file for each one that they download. The RIAA says that many of the shared MP3s are illegal bootlegs, but Napster insists that it "does not, and cannot, control what content is available to [users] using the Napster browser." Citing the many legal issues of its program, Napster makes a firm case.
The first article that has to deal with music and file sharing was published on August 19, 2003, Page E03, in the Philadelphia Inquirer, The (PA). In this article the Recording Industry Association of America states that they will not pursue small violators when it comes to the illegal sharing of songs on the Internet. Also, many different people feel the RIAA is being “excessive” says that Senator of Minnesota Norm Coleman. Excessive seems to be the opinion of many people on this topic.
(Writer, 2011)” People fail to realize when downloading illegal music off the internet that they are hurting and stealing the music producer’s work. Economic losses in the music industry doesn’t just affect the music producers, but the people working in the music industry. With a decrease in profits that lead to fewer staff members, this creates less opportunities to find and work with new recruits and talent, while making it more difficult for people with talent to promote and present themselves as a new artist. “Thanks to growth in Spotify and Apple Music, music streaming has passed the milestone of 100m paying subscribers worldwide.”
The problem is that copyright law hasn’t caught up with the way the music industry has been. The music business has never been completely united on any industry change, and digital platforms and streaming services are no exception. There is a new generation of artists who are not being treated or compensated fairly. It’s imperative for companies that generate enormous revenues to support musicians and artists who have made the platform what it is today. Few industries understand the need to evolve more than music.
“A thief is a thief; whether he or she steals a diamond or a feather;” this old saying is still true today. Did you ever stop to think when you download a music file from a peer to peer website it’s stealing? Many teens around the world could be fine up to over $250,000 for downloading one little song; sound crazy right? But have you ever thought about the hard work a musician’s put into their music just to be stolen? One sources quoted, “Do you think about the days, weeks, months maybe even years that we have put into writing, practicing, recording, mixing, and distrusting that song”(13).
In 1978 the music industry started to call this “digital music piracy” because technically people were downloading “free music”. When music sales experienced a fall the Napster (a P2P program) was immediately blamed for it. According to the IFIP, RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America), and other industry representatives illegal music downloads have had a negative effect on music sales. After discussion, the music industry took P2P companies to court. Some legal action was taken some individual people who continued to illegally download music files.
While downloading a song may not feel that serious of a crime, the accumulative impact of millions of songs downloaded illegally and without any compensation to all the people who helped to create that song and bring it to fans is devastating. One credible study by the Institute for Policy Innovation pegs the annual harm at $12.5 billion dollars in losses to the U.S. economy as well as more than 70,000 lost jobs and $2 billion in lost wages to American workers (Stephen E. Siwek, (2007), The True Cost of Sound Recording Piracy to the U.S. Economy). Copyright is a legal right created by the law of a country that grants the originator of the work exclusive rights to its use and distribution, usually for a limited time of 28 to 47 years (Copyright
Physical piracy-the copying and illegal sale of hard-copy CDs, videotapes, and DVDs-costs the music industry over $4 billion a year worldwide and the movie industry more than $3.5 billion. These numbers do not factor in the growing (and difficult to measure) problem of Internet piracy, in which music and movies are transferred to digital format and copies are made of the resulting computer file. Journalist Charles C. Mann explains why Internet piracy has the potential to be vastly more damaging to copyright industr...
Due to the fact that people pirate, artist can no longer pursue to continue making intellectual properties because people are directly stealing from them (Online Music). One day artist will have to make music on their own time because of piracy; it is very nauseating that some artist can only produce one album or even one song and then they are finished. Artist put lots and lots of effort into their works such as man hours, intense concentration, their heart, soul, and imagination. (Online Music). Artist should get something in return as payment for their commitment; they are blatantly being ripped off as an effect of piracy and all their hard work eventually runs out for nothing! According to the Online Music, “It’s about putting food on the table and covering the rent. It’s about making money… for all that equipment and rehearsal time” (1). Artist are greatly affected by the people who pirate intellectual
Not only is downloading this media illegal, it is also morally wrong. It is our responsibility to know the difference between right and wrong - downloading this media is something that shouldn’t be done. The artists that create the CDs pay a lot of money to make the CDs for our pleasure, and in return they expect everyone to pay for their CDs (its how they make their money). In this respect, downloading illegal music through peer to peer networks is the equivalent to stealing a CD from an actual store.