Is downloading music/piracy really all that bad?

Question

If it's really stealing how do we rationalize it so

Answer 1

here's how i see it. legally yes it is absolutely illegal because you are infringing on copyrighted material. it is not a criminal offense but an intellectual law offense of infringement. so it's not like you killed or knifed someone but you took something that someone worked hard to create.

maroon 5 said they were grateful to places like limewire and PSP sharing sites cause not nearly all the people who ended up hearing their music would have otherwise and it helped them get their start. i applaud them for saying and feeling that way. however, not everyone does and they have a right to that too. i think a great solution would be if the motion pic industry (mpi) and the recording arts industry (rai) actually got with the program and made a fair price for digitally transmitted music. if i had to pay say an extra $10/month on my cable modem bill to have unlimited downloads that i could burn to my own CDs when i wanted to i would have no problem with that. i would also have no problem with having a limit on the number of CDs i could burn cause i'm not in it to sell stuff just want the music!! they have some places like that now but you can't burn or load to iPod so i can't use them. i think the industry would make more $ hand over fist then they are now and would reduce the piracy rate. i think i would download more too!! as it stands now i will pay anywher from $9-18 on a cd from iTunes with no case, no actual hard copy of anything and then i have to burn a backup on a blank CD that I paid for too - i think it's a rip!!! so i still buy hard copy CD's and import them now and again and i don't pirate at all - another thing i wanted to add as far as fines - you can be fined up to $150,000/title -so if you DL 10 songs thats $ 1million 500 THOUSAND if you get hit with full penalty!! so is that a fair fine - no and rarely imposed - but say - should i guy who is drunk driving and ends up with a crippled arm be able to sue and win a million dollars, from a hospital cause they couldn't put him back together again?? no - but it happens everyday!!!

Answer 2

Yes. Let's suppose for a moment that you write a song. You publish the song and put out a CD which will sell for $20. Now, for every CD sold, you are going to get $1. A million CD's means $1,000,000 BUT after the first CD is sold, someone puts your song on the internet for easy download for free. that means all You get is a measly $1.

Now, do you really think piracy is all that bad? This is an exaggeration, but it makes the point. You do something to get paid, then when someone takes your work and gives it away without your permission, they are actually taking money out of your pocket whether they make money off it or not. YOU, the artist, loses money which should have been yours.

As for justification, look at Heather's answer: She justifies illegal downloading by ASSUMING that the money made from a CD is not a lot and that the CD Label makes the money as if the CD Label company making money is not important. She then justifies piracy by saying that she buys tickets, tee shirts and bumper stickers so that means it's ok to download free songs. Downloading songs takes money away from those who deserve it for doing the work. Don't do it.

Edit to add: She also justifies stealing from the Label companies because they "front" the bands money. She then takes the total profits and divides it between several members of a band thus making the amount "earned" so much less, which seems to say that since the amount is so low, it's ok to download illegal music.

Let's face the main fact: Whether it is lost by the record company, the intermediaries or the artist, SOMEONE is losing money when you download a copyrighted piece. Justify it all you want in whatever way you want, but stealing is stealing no matter who loses the money. That is after all why they call it ILLEGAL downloading.

Answer 3

Very soon Hollywood power brokers are going to approach congress for a mandatory death penalty for piracy. Seriously...
how the existing penalties can be justified is beyond me. All up, unless you are commercially selling them, what is the average value of most peoples collections, even at retail ? Does that amount justify a 10 year jail term ? If you embezzled that amount, would you get 10 years in jail ? First offence ? And mostly, someone somewhere has paid for the original you are copying. Personally, I'm waiting for the class action against the movie companies for some of the false advertising in their promo's, telling me it's must see/hilarious/compelling/superb etc etc when it's been cra*p.

Answer 4

lol, personally, if it was me writting this paper, i would write how it is good, now im not sure if you choose this topic or not, but i love piracy, im a poor little 13 year old boy without any money, and i would be lost without piracy!!! haha lol anyway, have fun, sorry if i wasn't much help, but do you honestly think anyone is going to write this paper for you?

Answer 5

Remember when illegal downloads got hot? Like when Napster first got big? The music industry thought it was the end of the world. Not much has changed, people still pay for music. It's nice to have the option of not paying.

Answer 6

no its not. how can people really say that piracy is that bad? say we're talking about the U.S. alone. there are 300 million people here. Saying that half of them listen to music. 150 million. now i guarentee that a good percentage of them, lets say half, dont even know how to download free music and most of them are willing to just buy it anyway. thats 75 million people. so you people are sayin that there still not going to get there money. bullsh*t. there is no reason that the music artist needs to but there 3rd hummer or there 2 mansion. its bullsh*t. there not going to loose that much money that there not going to be able to live nice wealthy lives. the concerts and the clothing and everything else they sell will make them more money. im not saying its right but its shouldnt be so harsh of a crime that they all say it is.

Answer 7

The only people making a big deal about piracy is the music labels, because they are the ones losing out on cd sales. The artist's don't make very much off of cd sales....I go to a lot of concerts and support the bands that I listen to by buying there merchandise, shirts, stickers etc.....so me downloading there music for free online is justified in my eyes. I'd rather support the artist, not the label.

*added*

*Marvinator*- I pay $60.00+ for EACH show that I go to....and buy atleast a shirt for no less then $25.00 at each show I go to....not a $.50 bumper sticker. If you really want to break down the whole money thing that the artsits DONT get off cd sales...we can. The labels FRONT bands hundreds of thousands of dollars to record their cds, which needs to include studio time, production, mastering, etc....once the cd is done....and is out being distributed....the front money needs to be repaid by the band/artist back to the label....which is where 99% of the money off of cds goes to, back to the label. So in the end if you have a 4 person band....and they made 1,000,000 off of cd sales....and 400,000 of that needs to be paid back to the label....split that between 4-5 people, that have to pay taxes on it...and they each get less then 100,000.....So I will stick by my first statement, thanks!

Answer 8

I can't understand it. the only way I can figure is that the song writers/singers still want you to spend the money to buy their songs and if you can get them for free ( I mean millions of people doing this) do you realize how much money the singers will be losing?

on the other hand, then the sites that play them should be banned instead of the downloading but then it would be hard to do that and still have the radio.

I guess I am in the same boat as you are.

Answer 9

I like a lot of singers and all of them are millionaire why I have to help them get more money? they living on a mansion, with hot cars, expensive clothes, and I'm paying rent every month I work so hard but that not enough to live like a queen. honestly Steve jobs doesn't need more money . I won't buy songs if almost everybody is downloading them for free.

Answer 10

How would you feel if you work and every day someone (not the government, i'm not talking about tax) comes and steals a few dollars or a few cents off of you. Maybe a few days you'll think.. who cares... then after a while you'll start realizing that someone's benefitting off of your work. Maybe after the first day you'll already be offended.