I’m a huge computer geek (hence the blog) so I’m usually familiar with what’s going on in the industry. I hear a lot of discussions about piracy (the file sharing one, not the ship one) and since it relates to personal finance, especially for young people, I thought it would make a good post.
The Beginning
First of all, I feel like piracy and the supposed problems it has caused the music and movie industry could have easily been reduced or eliminated at the beginning. Napster came on the scene in 1999 and developed a massive user base. The RIAA could have figured out a way to leverage these fans. Those who used Napster the most clearly had a broadband Internet connection – a relative rarity in 2000. That means that people with high speed connections probably lived in nice areas with disposable income to purchase music. College students of course have had access to fast Internet for quite some time and they like to spend money on music – and beer.
A Lost Opportunity
The RIAA could have turned Napster into the place to buy music. They could have made it supported by advertising or charged reasonable prices. Without the cost of tape/CD manufacturing, they could pass the savings onto consumers. They could have made it the destination to purchase concert tickets, along with merch.
Instead, the RIAA fought tooth and nail against Napster and against a change a change in medium. They shutdown Napster and started suing dead people and robbing college students of their life savings. Check out a front page article on Digg about piracy and you’ll actually find people who pirate on purpose, more than they usually would, just because they despise the RIAA’s tactics.
File Sharing Isn’t Stealing
I’ve explained this to friends and family before and they’ve all agreed with me. I hope you do too… Stealing implies that you’ve taken something and because of that, the original owner of the item no longer has it to use or sell. I know what you’re saying: “But Ryan, if you download a song then you won’t buy it so the seller has actually lost money!” That’s true if, and only if, you were going to buy the song in the first place. I can tell you from my own file sharing (purely for experimental purposes, of course) that I wouldn’t have bought those songs if file sharing didn’t exist.
The Ridiculous
Downloading a song you didn’t pay for from an unauthorized source is of course copyright infringement. But where is the line between copyright infringement that needs punished and regular use? If I record a song off the radio onto my cell phone or into my computer, have I broken the law? Big wigs at the RIAA might say yes, but the general public wouldn’t think I need to pay $3,000 per “infraction”. Furthermore, what about about ringtones? If I buy a song off of iTunes for $1.99 and want to use part of it for a ringtone, I have to pay an additional $0.99! That everybody, is complete bullshit. I don’t understand how it’s legal.
So What’s the Answer?
Honestly, I’m not sure. Helpful, right? I won’t get all self-righteous and claim that I have a right to download free music or that “art wants to be free”, cause that’s lame. But I can say that the music industry hasn’t lost much, if any, money from me. If anything, they’ve gained. Thanks to file sharing, I know way more artists and am much more likely to actually purchase music in the future.
The best thing the industry can do is stop treating their customers like criminals (even if they technically are). They need their product to be as easy and convenient to purchase as possible. iTunes and the Amazon store are great, but nothing compared to what an official Napster store could have been.
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Luckily, the recording industry has stopped suing regular individuals.
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Unfortunately, they’ve decided to go to Internet Service Providers and ask them to turn off your Internet if they detect file sharing activity.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Don’t artists make most of their money from their tours anyway? So stealing an album is taking money away from Sony or EMI whom most people don’t have sympathy for anyway. I know way more college students that are willing to pay for a concert than a record. I haven’t bought recorded music in years and I don’t really plan to. To be honest, the music industry has been making away like bandits by gouging people on CDs, I can’t see how they’re so surprised that people aren’t putting up with it anymore.
Amen!
In my opinion, the RIAA has been granted an unconsionable monopoly over the music industry that has harmed both artists and consumers for decades. Also, they have been granted what I believe is an immoral anti-trust exclusion that increases the contract length, which impinges upon the rights of the artists.
If our government (and the governments of Europe) had any integrity, they would open the music industry up to real competition and more money would flow directly from consumers to artists. Fortunately, technology is making this possible where our governments have failed us.