QotW3: To download or not to download...

Information in the virtual world is easily accessible. It is not difficult for a person to download a file and share it among his peers. Here comes the issue of copyright. Especially in the music industry, artistes have lament over their music being illegaly dowloaded. This means that their music is being circulated for free. According to The Copyright Act of 1976, the items of expression such as literary, dramatic, and musical works; pantomimes and choreography; pictorial, graphic and sculptural works; audio-visual works; sound recordings; and architectural works have the right to be protected. (Copyright Website, 2006) When these works are protected, it means that only the rightful owner have the authority to reproduce the work, to distribute copies of the work, to perform the work publicly and to display the work publicly. (Copyright Office Basic, 2006) If these works are misused or circulated without permission, the owner is able to take legal actions. The owners have the right to take credit for any use of their work and also to gain monetary profit from any sales of their work. So, if the rights of the content creators are protected, does that mean limitations to the public?

Over the years, the music industry has been fighting against piracy and illegal file-trading, claiming that they are the reason for the declining music sales. File sharing software such as Napster and Kazaa have been slammed with many lawsuits. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has taken several measures to curb the problem of illegal downloads. Hundreds of individual file sharers have been tracked down and sued for infringement of copyright. (Will Knight, 2004) The RIAA believes that these acts will make users switch to legitimate uses.

Unfortunately, even with the copyright law, illegal file sharing continue to rise. How then do we benefit both parties? In one situation, the music industry is suffering because copyright laws are infringed, on the other hand, public still download illegally due to certain reasons. Users are aware of the law but they do not see it as a threat. Researchers, Oberholzer-Gee and Koleman Strumpf believe that most downloading is done over peer-to-peer networks by teens and college kids, groups that are "money-poor but time-rich,"... In fact, illegal downloading may help the industry slightly with another major segment, which Oberholzer and Strumpf call "samplers"—an older crowd who downloads a song or two and then, if they like what they hear, go out and buy the music. (Sean Silverthorne, 2004) If downloading can actually help the music industry, we need to do it in a legal manner. Artise and songwriters will seek to benefit if music downloads are charged accordingly. This way, profits can be shared among file sharers and rightful owners. "We need a mechanism that collects a pot of money from file-sharers and divides it up among artists and copyright owners... Known as "voluntary collective licensing," the concept is simple: the music industry forms one or more collecting society, which in turn offer file-sharing music fans the opportunity to "get legit" in exchange for a reasonable regular payment, say $5 per month."(Fred Lohmann, 2004)

I think such a solution will bring about the best of both worlds. Users can now share their music without any worry of breaking the law. The solution also create a balance for both content creaters and the public. With the copyright act, public are not given the opportunity to express their freedon and creativity. Now, since they have paid for their download, they can then have the right to do what they wish with their music. Artistes on the other hand gain monetary benefit from the music downloads.

References

Copyright Office Basic . (2006). Retrieved February 3, 2007 from
http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.html#wci

Copyright Website. (2006). Retrieved February 3, 2007 from
http://www.benedict.com/

Fred, L. (September 29, 2004). Law.com:Is Suing Your Customers a Good Idea?.
Retrieved February 3, 2007 from http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1095434496352

Sean, S. (June 21, 2004). Music Downloads: Pirates—or Customers?. Retrieved February 3,
2007 from http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/4206.html

Will, K. (March 2003). Net music piracy 'does not harm record sales' . Retrieved February 3,
2007 from http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn4831