Music piracy used to be rife, it seemed like everyone was doing it, and there are still thousands if not millions of people who do download music for free, but was it really such a menace? Well when you discuss the problem with people they fall into three camps, you have the people who just don’t care either way, then you have the people who would never even think of doing it and are appalled that others do, finally you have the diehard downloaders who think it is their right to get music for free and that the artists earn too much money anyway.
Now first off then it is illegal to download music for free, it doesn’t matter what justifications and excuses people give, it is against the law and can get you into trouble. I think it is only that threat of legal problems that stopped the music industry being crushed by illegal downloads. People are right that the recording artists do earn countless millions from their songs, but that does not give anyone the right to steal that work without paying, no matter how much they earn. Anyone who believes that justification could argue it is ok to steal someone’s wallet just because they are rich.
I think that music piracy could have become a real problem if not for two things, the music industry starting to crack down on offenders, and the rise of alternative legal download sites. Before the crackdown where some prolific downloaders were found and charged in high profile cases, then people generally thought it was ok and they could get away with it. After the reports of those cases hit the media then people knew they could get into trouble and I am sure lots of people stopped doing it.
At the same time as the prosecutions were happening then the legal download sites started to take hold. Before they came out then the only alternative was to buy a physical CD from a store, or have it delivered, I am sure the convenience of being able to download songs straight to your computer helped to fuel the illegal download culture. Once the legal sites provided the same amount of convenience and took away the threat of legal action, viruses and the other problems associated with illegal downloads, then suddenly people didn’t have any excuses not to pay.
That doesn’t mean the legal download sites have wiped out people downloading music for free, there will always be a group of people who like to beat the system and get a thrill out of it, but it certainly turned the tide and stopped new people getting sucked in. I don’t think it will ever be stamped out completely, there is no way to securely protect the music files, and too many legal loopholes that allow peer to peer software to continue being available.
For people who still find the cost per track to be too high (it soon adds up!) then you can do what I do and join a subscription site like Napster.com. I pay about 7 or 8 dollars a month and get access to listen to millions of different songs. I can only download 5 a month, but I can listen to any songs in their catalogue all month as much as I want. For me this is the best option as I can get all the latest music, listen to it until I am bored of it, then move onto newer stuff, without wasting any money on tracks I am not going to listen to anymore.
If you are buying a lot of music then you need to think about backing it up in case anything happens to your computer. A colorful way to backup is with a pink flash drive, find out more at PinkFlashDrive.com.
Tags: music, music downloads, online, Sound & Music
