Monday, November 16, 2009
Thesis
There are those that view downloading music with peer-to-peer networks, or by any other means, as listening to the radio, while others, like the Recording Institute Association of America (RIAA), view it as theft. This brings up the question, why? Why do so many people choose to illegally download music instead of using legal music sites, such as iTunes? Why is this such a big deal? The common mistake is simply that the only people effected by the stealing of songs is the big record labels and the bands, but many are overlooked. People like the guy who made the beat to Kong Fu Fighting, or the guy who wrote the Hey There Delilah, and even the common consumer through trickle back are left short changed. So I find myself wondering, can I take a bite of the apple knowing that it bares a worm even if it is sweet, or do I go organic and gorge myself on the abundance that is iTunes and the other legal sites and methods?
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What steps are being taken to improve their protection of stopping this theft from happening? How do bands or music groups view this?
ReplyDeleteThe RIAA tries to deter music piracy by suing select violators for up to $150,000 per infringement. Some bands don't see music piracy as a big deal because they feel music piracy is just free advertisement. Other bands are against piracy because of the money they loose out on when people download their songs instead of buying them. It really just depends on the band or group.
ReplyDeleteHow come there are so many sites such as limewire or frostwire, that are running and not being shut down by someone? If they were really worried about this, it would seem like these music sites would be shut down by someone.
ReplyDeleteI like your analogy. Although, there are sites that offer music without cost, they tend to still be running based on the advertisments. Is there a possibility that larger companies and busineses are giving a payout to not only the free websites, but the bands as well? What about when the media uses commercials to advertise their product and popular music from bands is used in the background? Do you think it kind of falls under the give-and-take idea? Some bands would never be noticed like they are without the help of commercials and other media.
ReplyDeleteLimewire and Frostwire are intended for legal file sharing. Whatever mis-use of the sites are the individual's problem, not the site's.
ReplyDeleteThere are legal download sites, they are on the RIAA web page. I'm not quite sure how they work, but that would be a logical way to do it with the pay outs. When a song is played anytime in the public, whether it be for a concert performance or background noise at a party in the movies, or song is purchased the artist and writers get a royalties. Downloading music is said to be free advertisement, but the artists and writers don't get their royalties. Kind of a double edge sword.
ReplyDeleteYour thesis is a little bit unclear, and confusing. What is your specific argument?
ReplyDeleteIllegal music downloading = Bad
ReplyDeleteiTunes = Good
How often does the government go after illegal file sharers and distributors? Do you think they would go after every one that downloads even one song, or just people that distribute thousands of tracks over limewire, or bearshare, or frostwire or any other type of file service? Do you think that because the government can't go after everyone, that this has only led to increasing amounts of sharing sites?
ReplyDeletehave you found research on artists or bands raising concert prices in order to compensate for lack of CD sales?
ReplyDeleteIt's not the government who goes after the file share-ers. It is the RIAA and the copyright holders suing the people infringing on copyrights. They don't discriminate on who they chose to sue, whether it be one song or one million songs. I think there are more of these sites because of how easy it is to download. It's hard to track everyone using these sites illegally, so the perceived risk is low, leading to more downloads.
ReplyDeleteI havent found specific bands, but i have found from the RIAA web page a document saying the CD prices are at an all time low. CD prices dropped something like 5%, but the concert prices raised something like 80% or more. Nothing directly relating, but I think this could be what they are trying to do.
ReplyDeleteShouldn't it matter if the big record companies are being affect? Think about if that was your company. People have to earn a living to survive, if everything was free where would we be?
ReplyDeleteIsnt the main reason why people use limewire instead of itunes is because they dont wanna have to pay $1.00 for a song on their Ipod when on average people have like 700 songs on their ipod. thats $700 more then the ipod it self. So wouldnt be a money issue? and who is ur opposing viewpoint?
ReplyDeleteExactly Angie, people make music to earn a living. You wouldn't want someone to take money out of your own paycheck, but people feel its ok to take from bands by not paying for the music.
ReplyDeleteNot wanting to pay for the songs is just someone's excuse for greed. Sorry if that sounds harsh, but thats what it is. You have to see music as a physical object like a CD, instead of an intangible object. This makes it easier to understand why illegal downloads is the same as stealing because you are getting a copy of the music without paying for it.
ReplyDelete