Whenever I hear that that the RIAA or some record/similar company is suing someone for a ridiculous amount of money for downloading a few songs, I become pretty angry. Where is the money they demand going? Into their own pockets! Okay, I will agree with everyone that stealing is bad, but look, (digitally) it happens ALL the time! For someone with a very eclectic taste in music, there is NO WAY that person can afford all the music to listen to. Additionally, (not trying to stray from the topic), but even software piracy is everywhere today. Having Microsoft Office and the newest Operating System on your computer is almost mandatory in this day and age regardless of the alternatives.
Dance crews that perform at competitions (where money can be made for winning) use mixes and mashups of MANY songs (most of the time popular mainstream songs). Is this a improper use of music? Without music a dancer can't dance!! (I guess to some extent they can’t) The remixing of songs that coincidentally we can hear at almost any night club, is this an improper use of music? Will the RIAA try to sue all DJ's and dance crews?
Maybe its only me, but I think what they are doing is ridiculous! They are trying to profit off of a very well established industry. Although I can't think of a solution, there shouldn't be such a high penalty on illegally downloading music! Seriously, 1.5 million dollars for 24 songs (http://torrentfreak.com/riaa-wins-big-against-file-sharer-15m-for-24-songs-101104/)? A quick Google search reveals that the national mean income is $44,400! At that rate, it would take this person ~34 years to pay off this debt, assuming all of it was saved. I kind of feel like its such a JOKE because there is NO WAY the average person can pay that off! If you read the article, the money is going "to fund new anti-piracy campaigns"... Reaaaaaaaally?
A simple Google search consisting of a title of a song ending with download will most likely take you to a website where you can download that song. Illegal? I pay for the internet, the internet took me there, my computer downloaded the song, I really didn’t steal anything, my computer did! Punish my computer! Seriously, the availability of content to download is so abundant. Maybe the RIAA should focus on eliminating the source (even though they will NEVER take everyone down), rather than going after innocent people who just want to listen to some good music as they go throughout their lives. No, not everyone can afford a million songs. Similarly, most upcoming artists can’t afford instruments, beats, etc. They sample and remix!!
Trying to stop remixing and sampling is like trying to put a choke on creativity. Again, this is nothing but a joke to me, you put a hold on someones creativity and they find a way around that hold. History can prove this for me. I do not support stealing whatsoever. If I like an artists music, I will go to their concert and support them. I can choose how I support my favorite artists, not the RIAA. If I like some music so much, yeah I will go buy it. If I don’t then I don’t!
How do you feel about this? I am curious on what others think about this issue.
Hahaha, I completely agree with you. It is near impossible to police this, and no one is going to stop downloading music anytime soon. I thought it was interesting that the show Glee is now JUST getting mentioned about mashups. There's is a complete double standard, and the record companies cannot claim to be looking out for the artist because they never ask them for permission to use their material. People are always going to find a way to get the music/film he or she wants as long as the Internet continues to grow.
ReplyDeleteI agree - it's ridiculous how people can be sued for "pirating" songs that are readily available via the Internet. For me, stealing means forcefully taking something that isn't yours - it doesn't mean taking something that has been offered to you! And that's just what the Internet is doing - it is offering millions of songs from millions of different websites to be freely downloaded with a simple click of a mouse button. I liked how you pointed out that the companies willing to sue people for pirating songs should start by eliminating the sources from which they come. Many people don't even know that they are doing anything wrong when they download an illegal song - and it is just as wrong to prosecute them as it is to prosecute a person who has wrongfully and unknowingly been offered a stolen gift - how is the person to know that the gift was stolen??
ReplyDeleteLOL, anyways... I completely agree. "Pirating" songs on the Internet is ridiculous.