The Problem with Music Piracy by LJ Ortega - February 27, 2009 music piracy The perennial problem with music piracy has gotten worse with the proliferation of downloadable music on the Internet. Why is it that people are tempted to download music files form the Internet even if it’s illegal? The answer is like a wide-eyed monster you need not look in the eye – people do it because it’s FREE. Why would a consumer acquire music from legitimate sources, which usually requires them to shed off some precious dollars, when they can get it elsewhere on the web for free? Some people argue that record labels are charging too much for the music they sell, and that’s why people prefer other illegal means of acquiring the music they want. But most people don’t realize that by patronizing illegal means of acquiring music, they are actually promulgating music piracy and are therefore driving a huge stake against the producers of the music they love so much. By supporting music piracy, they are actually killing the industry. And if the industry dies, they will be deprived of the kind of music they clamor for. According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), the international association of more than 1,400 recording companies, the actual loss in sales brought about by illegal music downloads is approximately 10% of the recording companies’ total revenue. Some would say that it’s not enough to bankrupt big music companies, but it’s actually a big loss for smaller companies, especially those who are just starting up and are trying to make a niche in the industry. It is also a great loss for the artists and composers. Not only are they losing royalty fees for their talent and hard work, it’s a lot harder for them to reach gold, platinum or triple platinum status in terms of sales because less people are buying their albums. It doesn’t mean that less people are appreciating their music. It’s just that more people are buying pirated versions of their music, hence not contributing to the artists’ official record sales. This trend is also disastrous to budding singers or starting songwriters who have yet to earn their first few hundred dollars but already see the downfall of their career. However, recording companies can still see this as a window of opportunity. They can actually learn a lot from music pirates. Closing down sites that offer free music downloads will never be a solution. We all know how easy it is to set up a website or a blog. They can go on suing individuals who are caught downloading or offering free music online, but based on what’s happening now, that still doesn’t stop either pirates or consumers. What music companies can do to compete with pirates is to offer consumers the best value for money that they can offer. Radio was once thought to bring about the demise of the recording industry, but that did not happen. Radio and the music industry became partners in providing and promoting music to the public. That should be the same with the Internet. More people are embracing the idea of downloading music files online for a minimal fee. Music companies can think of new ideas to make their music cost, well, almost free. If they can do that, the public would prefer original content over the pirates. And if that happens, music piracy would eventually die a natural death.  Subscribe to Latest Articles

5 Responses

D.Bone February 28, 2009 12:09 PM The I.S.P's are selling people wide band Broadband. This can only have one purpose for the mass majority. High speed downloads from torrent sites containing media, music or films. Therefore The Internet service providers who are profiting hugely from this, should foot the bill by paying a percentage of their income towards copyright. They would never be able to sell their Broadband, if the public only used their computers for sharing photos or using facebook or simply shopping online. No-one would need anything more than dialup speeds if that were the case. I.S.P's like Virgin Media are making vast sums of money from the very fact that they are providing the means for people to download from torrent sites etc. So they should be willing to pay a percentage of their income. If all the torrent sites were closed down. The I.S.P's would suddenly lose about 90% of their customers. How Greedy can people get. D.Bone

G.Burg March 1, 2009 12:09 PM Firstoff, we have to establish a very noticeable difference here: illegal copying versus music piracy. Music piracy has been defined as people receiving monetary gain for selling bootleg copies of an unrelated musician/group's work. Let's take it back to "pre-Internet" days to make an easier analogy. Borrowing a friend's copy of an album and making a cassette copy of it (or making a cassette copy of an album you have for someone else's enjoyment) is considered illegal. It is not considered music piracy. Making copies of that same album and then making a profit by selling it to somebody else is music piracy. Now, let's bring that to the age of the Internet. Making money by selling files taken from albums for which you are not paying royalties to duplicate (and some sites actually do this) is music piracy. Downloading or sharing music files without the user doing the downloading buying the album from the original source is illegal in most countries, but it is not music piracy. That said, however, I am in strong agreement that finding ways to promote and sell music in a way that allows the potential buyer to see the true worth (i.e. "An album that's great from beginning to end, for only $15???" or "For a $9.99 monthly subscription, I have unlimited listens to this record company's entire catalogue???") will help stamp out music piracy, as well as seriously reduce illegal file sharing. Hopefully, it will also seriously reduce the music industry's long-held practice of force-feeding us cr*p albums by "one-hit wonders".

Frantisek March 3, 2009 12:09 PM well, IMO just the second response has really something to say. i don't think that i'm capable of bringing another fullproof universal theory. i can just say how does it work for me. I see no problem in sharing music because, it generally workas like this: you somewhere hear a song which attracts your attention. then you may get a copy somewhere (maybe the whole album). you listen to that and either you consider it great or you drop it as a lame. if the record is good, then it has to be in your collection as original. if it isn't then you probably won't listen to it (so delete it) so there's no violation of copyright too. only one who loses in this system is record company, who's trying to sell (or pushes you into) bad music. and off course the artist involved. i must also say that i found many artist's and their music which i've later bought on things like LaunchCast. on the other hand, i really don't think that record companies are trying to offer people fair conditions to buy music, so there's nothing to wonder at. here is one tought: i mostly buy LP's and one reason for that is, that for the money you also get a pretty thing which (apart from CD or mp3) has some value itself (because you can't make one at home). so my point is that record companies should sell music and media separately, so in case of destruction of your original, they would sell you a new one for price of the media. same for compilations - if you've paid rights for some song once, they shouldn't want the money again. making and selling copies of something ISN'T a creative work. with this step, they could show some respect for customers, and there would be less need to share instantly.

Devon September 4, 2009 12:09 PM Solution to piracy is surprising very simple and cheap. BRING BACK CASSETTES. CDs are the root cause of piracy. Torrent files and downloadable files are all sourced from CDs. During the age where tapes were the sole medium, home dubbing was a very small scale of piracy. It does not compare to internet downloads. It would noted that several music artists in Zimbabwe, South Africa and other countries have now struck CASSETTE-ONLY deals. People may call it going backwards. But, it works - it is just lot more tougher to upload a cassette onto the Internet. In the excitement of going CD-only, the Music Industry forgot to things - cassettes are ANALOG, they are what is in the studio whereas CDs are not, they are just sampled music. CDs may be pleasing to the ears. But they are less than the original, they are sampled music. Second thing that Music Industry forgot is that going digital would make them "tech-savvy" and increase their sales, but in the end they stop because content is just downloaded.

LJ Ortega October 24, 2009 12:09 PM RIAA CAN BLOW ME! P2P HERE TO STAY MUTHAPHUCKERS

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