File sharing. I'm sure that everyone has heard about it by now. And, I'm sure that everyone has an opinion about whether or not you feel that it's OK or not. I personally have never done it, but I'm sure that I know someone, either in the "real world," or the virtual world who either has done it or continues to do it on a regular basis. Of course, it didn't really become an issue of any great importance until Shawn Fanning, the creator of Napster got into trouble with the Recording Industry Association of America, (RIAA).
The year was 1999, when Fanning's vision of a world united by P2P technology came crashing down. In his vision,anyone who wanted to, could download file sharing software that would allow them to connect to any other computer in the world that also had the software. After searching those computers for the files, in this case music or mp3's, they could download them to their computer. This seemingly harmless transaction quickly got the attention of the RIAA.
The reason was simple, countless numbers of music files which contained music that was copyrighted by the Library of Congress and licensed by one or more performing right organization, (PRO) were passing from person to person with without so much as a thank you let alone any money. In the RIAA's view, this was not only copyright infringement, but an act of piracy. A law suite was filed and eventually Fanning's company, Napster was sold.
Since then, file sharing has continued, but nowhere close to the extent that it was then. So, why even talk about it? I thought about why or how file sharing is so wrong. First, I went back to take a look at the days of vinyl. If someone bought an album that everyone was into, but not everybody had the money to buy it, they would borrow it from a friend, make a cassette or eight track copy and then give it back. Now, while this may seem like a justification for file sharing, I have to qualify that by saying that in many cases, the copy that was made usually served as a temporary, until the borrower could, and often did buy their own album. This was a statement of how good the music a particular artist was. In fact, many music buyers would make tape copies of their own vinyl collection, so they could store the original away with the belief that it would someday become a collectors item.
Then, there was the Audio Home Recording Act of 1992, which essentially gave people the right to make copies of digital recordings that they purchased, as long as they were for personal use and not for resale or profit in any way. This is also not a justification for file sharing . In fact, I think that this comes closer to what I finally came up with. Anyone who bought a CD from a "brick and mortar," would have what I like to call, purchasers rights.
With purchasers' right rights, you could also do the same thing with digital downloads. If you pay for it, you can copy it as long as you do try to resell it. Now, the internet has always been the home of free stuff. But, when a product is for sale and someone tries to circumvent paying for something, in my humble opinion, this is stealing. Don't get me wrong though. I'm not in favor of suing the eight year old girl from some small town in the Midwest for scavenging a couple of tracks, but if she downloading thousands of songs without paying anything then she got to be stopped somehow. The RIAA views this as an act of theft and as far as I now, may still be going after individual violators.
As a songwriter/artist, I find it difficult to accept someone having access to my work without my permission. The reason is simply this, making a recording can involve a good deal of expense. Equipment is either bought or rented. There are countless hours spent trying to make your recording as good as you can get it. Then you may send it to be mastered, so that it can be given a sound that as competitive as you can get. Then if your making a physical CD, you have to have your music replicated. And lets not forget, you've got to get it into the stores, so you're going to need a distributor. All of these things, and a few more, cost money. The only way to justify the amount of money you spend making a recording is by asking for something, IE money, in return for your effort.
When it's all said and done, you will find that many bands or artists will at times give away free singles or even free CDs. They may also from time to time offer some free downloads. I know that I have done this from time to time. Artists and bands know that fans of their music want to get their music any way that they can. All that they are looking for, is just a little reciprocity. Enough so that they can keep the music coming.
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