The Damage of Free Music Downloads

Desiraye Rosamore

11/20/12

Eng 101 C3

Wallin

The Damage of Free Music Downloads

The use of the internet has impacted the music industry`s sale of music. Listeners no longer have to go to a store to purchase the music they desire to listen. All a listener has to do is log on to their computer and access a file sharing website to download free music. Websites post music without any regard for copyright laws. Once the music is downloaded no money is sent to the record company or the artist that recorded the music. Music that has been downloaded for free now has an effect on music that is for sale. Recorded companies raise prices on CDs and find alternate ways to sale music and make profits on the music. Downloading music for free infringes on copyright laws and monetary earnings for the record companies and recording artist, and forces legal actions to be taken against file sharing websites.

There are specific websites dedicated to downloading free music off of the internet. File sharing websites are illegal and have no regard for copyright laws. "The two most common ways of downloading music illegally are through P2P, or peer-to-peer, file sharing programs and YouTube converters" (Rijhsinghani 1). Free music downloads sites are fast growing websites that distribute music illegally. Websites such as Youtube Converter, MP3 Raid, and Frostwire offer free music to internet users. These websites do not create any of the music, own the music, or own the copyrights. The music downloaded on these websites does not provide the artist with their monetary rewards. The sites do no pay any type of fee to a musician or record company to post or distribute the music online. Artist work for months on end to create music for their fans, and they hope their hard work will pay off monetarily. The music is posted online and can be downloaded an unlimited amount of times. I have a friend who feels like fans make the artist who they are for supporting their music career. He feels artist make millions of dollars and will not miss the little amount of money that comes from downloading music illegally. Artist and record companies lose money when vast amount of their music is downloaded for free online.

File sharing online causes changes in the music market. Free music that is found and downloaded on the internet has a negative effect on legitimate music sales. "Recording industry revenue has fallen sharply in the last three years, and some observers attribute this to file sharing" (Rob and Waldfogel 1). Online file sharing is a major contribution to the drop of music sales. Music is not being purchased from stores, but taken for free off of the internet. Listeners who download music for free are stealing from the creators of the music. Royalties are not received by the artist. Thousands of songs can be downloaded without paying any money at all. The record companies who support the artist also loses large amounts of money due to free downloading of music. When music is taken from the internet website owners and those who download the music are infringing on copyright laws. I have a friend named Scott who never pays for his music. He has a fancy Samsung MP3 player filled with over a thousand songs. He downloads all his music from Youtube Converter. All he has to do is convert the music video to a MP3 file and he now has the music for free. Downloading music for free causes a substantial loss of money in the music industry.

The music industry now tries to use internet technology as an ally to make profits. Music companies can now sell their music online. "Finally, the end of 2003 and the beginning of 2004 have seen the roll out of several new distribution channels utilizing legal MP3 downloads on a subscription, single track, or full album basis, starting with iTunes for Windows in October of 2003"(Blackburn 8). Music for sale online still is no completion for free music online. Prices for online music push listeners to download free online music. Songs on ITunes are now priced at $1.29 plus tax. Listeners do not want to pay this money when they can get music for free on another online website. Now record companies are losing money along with Apple are losing money on record sales. Companies try to make up for these losses by upping prices on music which pushes more listeners to free music downloads. My older cousin Adriene use to be a user of ITunes when he first got his IPod. He used ITunes when songs were $0.99. Then when ITunes up the prices on songs he switched to downloading music for free. He always says he is not paying that much money for one song. Alternatives for music downloads are now present online, but music is still downloaded for free in protest of high music prices.

Artist and record companies are fighting back against free file sharing websites. Law suits are being filed in a court of law to stop free sharing of music. "Downloading copyrighted material is illegal under the current legal