Almost everybody listens to music and has their own personal collection of what they listen to. Whether it is a physical collection of music (CDs, cassette tapes, etc.) or a device that it is all stored on (MP3 player, IPod, etc.) all of these listeners have made their choice of how they want to keep their music organized and also how they obtained their music. I am not sure if everyone else has put as much thought into this subject as I have, but I personally have done it all. I have purchased cassettes, CDs, an IPod, an MP3, I have downloaded music (legally now and also used Nabster for free before the complaints from the artists were highly publicized), I have also bought music from ITunes, I have created online Radio Stations and playlists, and much more. But the question has always been, should music be free?
I remember back when file sharing on websites such as Nabster were completely legal and I personally did not see anything wrong with it. And now that it is illegal I still know MANY people that still continue this trend. There are apparently severe consequences, but I do not know anyone who has suffered any. The people that continue to share files and burn CDS without paying for them argue things like: I should not have to spend money on something that I listen to, what if I spend $20 on some CD I do not even like, or what if I only like one song. However, there are many ways to get demos of songs and ITunes even has a feature that makes this possible. And I found out from doing a little bit of research in this topic that websites like LimeWire are completely legal. However, the purpose many people use it for is not. “Downloading copyrighted music, videos, or programs without the permission of the author is illegal. This is called copyright infringement or piracy.” So the government is not typically going to bust everyday people that just take a couple of songs for their iPod.
I am sure people do not think through and take into account what exactly would happen if all music were free and it were legal to download all music though. Would the artist still be successful at all, would there still be all the same music out there, and what about the CD manufacturing companies? Those are just a few problems with this idea of free music. But a writer from another source online did bring up the point that the companies are still making a profit from selling expensive tickets to shows and band merchandise. However, I still feel like we are cheating them in a way.
There is no way that the government can catch all of the offenders involved in this process of free music so theft of music will continue to be a problem and will continue to have some negative consequences. It is sort of like recycling, it would be perfect if everyone would help out, but that will never happen with our quick moving lifestyles of today.
1) http://www.dukemagazine.duke.edu/alumni/dm31/napster.html
2) http://taskboy.com/writing/fictional/napster.html
2 comments:
I understand what your argument is, but I think you could include more evidence to support your claim. Also you could provide your own thoughts on the subject to make your stance more clear. Adding a link to another source would also be a good way to support your argument.
Thanks! I revised it and cleaned up the spelling a little bit for my blog check up. And I found two of the links I used when I posted this entry the first time, but I couldn't find the source that was the most helpful so I couldn't quote exactly.
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