copyright laws prevent copying original works, such as music, without the permission of the owner of the?

Question

copyright (usually the reator of the work). Should music sharing on the internet be subject to the prohibitions of copyright law?

Answer 1

Yes.

Artists are protected by copyright law internationally. This include mechanical rights (sales) and perfoming rights (performance) among others.

Sharing on the internet is no different than making physical copies for your friends, which is illegal, but commonly done. People that do this are the reason for increased tariffs on our blank CDs (at least in Canada).

Sites that actually stream the music are technically "broadcasting" which is illegal without a licence from a performing rights agency.

You also can't claim that you are exempt because of cross-border/international issues, as the performing rights agencies have reciprocol agreements to protect each other. Every country in the world either has their own agency or has assigned one to protect their songwriters and publishers.

This is just on the music issue, but I would expect art and literature would have similar rules and procedures.

Without these rights in place and enforced, many deserving people would never see a cent. Behind every great song there are writers, lyricists, publishers, producers, etc. Some of whom you never heard of but helped write some of the greatest songs. They don't make any money from actually hitting the road and singing, just from the royalties produced by sales and other "rights."

Answer 2

Lets turn this around, shall we? Say you just wrote the hottest song on the charts - your record company offers to pay you in royalties off the sale. You sell a few copies but soon no one buys your song, even if its number one because everyone is sharing it for free. Your song then drops from the number one spot, NOT because no one is listening to it, but NO ONE is buying it, which is how number one hits are determined. Your song is no longer played, you havent gotten any roylaties and its all because people "Shared without paying" How do you feel about copyright law now?