Why downloading MP3 music for free should have stricter punishments.
Katy Perry's album, Teenage Dream, took 4 million dollars to make. Sums like 100,000 were being passed over tables. The producers spent 250,000 on getting just the first single on to Top 40 radio. Did you know that there are sites out there, like the infamous LimeWire, to exploit this by allowing people to download it for free? LimeWire boasted while it could 11,000 songs infringing copyright laws. That is taking away all the money that goes to the producers, writers, and singer/s that work for sometimes months to produce music that might not even make back their investment. Their pay check gurgles down the drain as people exploit this loophole in the law... I call for harsher crackdown on these sites.
I know of people who have stumbled on one of these sites, not knowing what they are doing is wrong, and taken music. A famous saying is that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. If people knew to step away from these sites, there would be no point in making such websites and then the whole illegal music business would collapse. Then, no interference would be needed from police to remove the content anyway!
Whole websites exist to illegally offer this content. A prime example is the website and organisation named The Pirate Bay. They were founded in Sweden in 2003. The Pirate Bay exists to share torrent files and magnet links that allow the downloader to use and share copyrighted material for free. Not only do they offer music, but tv shows, movies and podcasts are also available. They have avoided being shut down by constantly switching servers and encouraging users to use the ‘PirateBrowser’ that is downloadable on their site able to bypass internet censorship. Thousands of people use this website, most not knowing that what they are doing is wrong.
Did you know only one person ever in New Zealand has been prosecuted for pirating music? He attempted to illegally download a Rihanna album, incurring a few months in jail and a several thousand dollar fine. Many people who may have downloaded this same album have gone unchecked. The situation has gotten ridiculous.
If this illegal downloading business continues without penalty, then the billions of dollars being pumped into the economy because of lawful purchases of music will cease to exist. Even though it is not a primary source of income for a successful artist, it is their rightful money. It is the same as stealing a taco vendor’s tacos for yourself, meaning that the taco vendor will not make his money to feed himself that night.
So what could we do to stop this? First off, awareness, awareness, awareness. If people knew what to do in these situations, a huge amount of downloads would never happen. Then, an organisation perhaps could work on tackling these websites and repeat offenders. Fines would be the best thing to issue here, as then the artist and those who get paid every time people buy songs could get their rightful slice of the profit.
So, in conclusion, downloading music is wrong and should have harsher penalties. If everybody took this issue seriously, the music industry and pretty much every other entertainment department would be a much happier place. If you could take just one thing away from this speech, can it please be: You wouldn’t steal a handbag, you wouldn’t steal a car; PIRACY IS STEALING!
2 comments:
But why should we have to pay for music. Thousands of people out there have never heard of Rihanna or Katy perry. They barely have enough money to buy food so downloading it through MP3 is the only way the listen to music. Yeah that guy went a bit over the top downloading the whole of the Rihanna album but I think a couple of songs is all right.
Katy Perry's album should not have cost 4 million dollars, it would have cost $100 in coffee and paper but all that other money was the music video and a whole lot of other useless and overpriced things. All the fans care about is the music and when you have to spend $10 on an album that earned many, many millions through concerts and deals. If the music industry had a problem with Limewire then it wouldn't exist, it would be taken down in an instant.
No-one ever has gone onto a free music download site WITHOUT knowing exactly what they are about to do. Even if they magically found it in a advert, even though websites like this have an IQ high enough not to advertise, the surprising amount of free music would scare off most sensible people.
The Pirate Bay is bad, I know this. I personally hate people who pirate video games off the website but again, why would someone come across a website that they did not explicitly Google or follow a link to.
Sure many people have downloaded Rhianna's album, but how many more have brought it? As long as stars and corporations get enough money to pay off the price of production and maybe buy a new car they don't care about what people do with their songs.
First of all the first sentence of this paragraph doesn't make much, if any sense at all, quite a few grammatical errors. Anyway, taco dealers and singers are very different. Taco dealers work hard to earn their money, they spend effort to create delicious Taco's and they deserve the money. On the other hand singers earn millions a year from concerts and album sales, 10 dollars doesn't matter to them!
People are already aware of these websites. People who don't like the idea of shady websites with even shadier ideas while people who pirate things don't feel any guilt all it is for them is clicking a download button on a website, they don't care.
Downloading music is wrong, if you do it to often. A song or two every few months is fine as long as the singers don't need the $20 dollars to survive and pay rent. Their are artists out their who give their music out for free yet they still earn an income through donations which kind people give because their music is amazing and they aren't making it for a profit they are making it for fun.
I don't personally Pirate music as often as others I know but I still don't know if it should be as illegal as you think it should be...
Post a Comment