Addressing the Internet Music Piracy
This paper discusses the issue of internet music piracy and proposes solutions on how to fight this kind of activities. It also presents the effects of illegal file sharing among recording companies and in the entire music industry. Cited in this paper is the case of Napster and its adopted ways of encouraging legal music downloads.
Introduction
The advent of internet has paved the way for more technological advancements. It serves as an innovative means for doing business but also as a venue for illegal activities such as piracy and unauthorized file sharing. The common of these file sharing activities are music files or downloads which are distributed peer to peer. Downloading music files from the internet without paying or acquiring the appropriate permission is a breach of the copyrights law. However, these kinds of activities continue to proliferate due to lack of awareness about the law and the leniency on such offenses.
Undeniably, Internet music piracy has become a perennial problem for all recording companies. File sharing undermines the music industry and lowers the music sales since the record companies are unable to derive income. In general, the entire industry suffers tremendously. The impact is felt not only by the recording companies who have to recover their investments but as well as new artists who rely on these companies to invest on their music.
Evidently, there is the compelling need to address this problem. In so doing, the music industry together with the government must work to restrict the growth of illegal file sharing and promote legal download services. Top of these solutions is the reinforcement of copyright laws. By taking legal action against violators, the government will be able to establish its seriousness about the problem. Another is to raise awareness about the law and the penalties. By educating the public especially parents, they will be able to monitor whether their children are engaging in file sharing activities. This would also prevent them from possible litigations and other penalties.
Similarly, the academic and corporate sector must also be part of the campaign. Students are among those with greater exposure to the internet and thus the greater propensity to unauthorized music downloads. The team up of Dell and Napster in offering discounted academic rates will encourage students to purchase legal music downloads. Indeed, online distributors provide greater means of acquiring legal access to music downloads. The record companies on the other hand must do their part by cooperating with these online distributors.
File Sharing/P2P
By file sharing, individuals make files on their personal computers and make them available for downloads to others. This activity is illegal especially when the material shared is copyrighted and the permission form the holder is not sought. A lot of media attention has been given to file sharing or peer-to-peer (P2P) mainly because of the legal issues associated with the distribution of copyrighted music. Basically, P2P software is downloaded from the internet by the would-be file sharer. A shared media is then created that opens up for other file sharers that enables them to share and exchange music and other ( 2005).
Intensifying File Sharing Detection
The British Phonographic Institution (BPI) identifies infringements through the IP address of the infringer. After which, the BPI obtains a court order that will require the service provider to disclose the name and the address of the internet account (2006). By intensifying the detection of file sharers, BPI will be most likely to track down major and minor pirates.
Automated scanning software is utilized by copyrights holders to identify infringements. With the building of locator bots commissioned by the music industry association, IP addresses are scanned systematically to see if there are active sharing programs of common music. Violation notices are sent after the bot reports the IP address to the authority. All details of the violation can be determined including the name of the infringing file the time when it was shared. Furthermore, those music under the file sharing programs allows anyone to download a copy. In turn, this makes the person a distributor of the copyrighted materials and thus making him liable of breaching the copyright law ( 2007). Such process allows the file sharer to be notified of the violation committed and at the same time, the authorities are provided with the basic information they may use to file legal suits.
Taking Legal Action
A copyrighted work available in the internet requires the permission from the copyright holder. Copyright holders are protected by the Copyrights, Designs & Patent Act 1988 which states that the illegal distribution of copyrighted recordings is a breach of the law ( 2006). With this law, unauthorized file sharing is an illegal act. Such activities undermine the Music industry since music investors are not paid for the music they have invested.
Litigation is one way to combat the problem of piracy and illegal file sharing. Because of the fear of legal action for uploading music files through the internet, the active file-sharers are likely to be cut down. By reinforcing this law, uploaders will be discouraged to do file sharing and acquire music file through illegal means. Additionally, seizures of pirate discs and CD copying equipment must be reinforced.
Raising Awareness
Awareness campaign about illegal file sharing needs to be promoted to the consumers especially among children. This way, they will be able to be educated about the copyright law and the penalties associated with the breaching of the said law. Moreover, the threat of being litigated is an essential part of raising the awareness.
In June 2005, the British Phonographic Industry launched its major campaign of educating parents about the danger of file sharing with the cooperation of international children’s charity Childnet. According to them, an estimated 50% of school age children have used peer to peer networks. A study from the London School of Economics showed that with the 84 % of ages 9-19 who use the internet on a daily or weekly basis, about 45% download music. Only 12% of parents though know how to download music from the internet.
Children are among the active music pirates who are illegally distributing music on the internet. Once caught by the authorities, they are compelled to pay in compensation. According to BPI, most parents of children are shocked and unaware of the illegal activities engaged by their children. Hence, they have to pay up for the offense committed by their children lest they will be facing possible court cases. It has been estimated that around thirty percent of internet downloaders are among the age group of 12-19 (2005). Parents can be held responsible for what is happening on their home computers regardless if they themselves did not engaged in such activities.
Thus, there is the compelling need to bridge the knowledge gap between the children and the parents. Parental education campaigns are therefore to be reinforced so that parents can monitor the file sharing activities of their children. Software applications that can detect file sharing programmes on home computers and can delete such files are also offered to parents. This way, the awareness on the parent and children alike will discourage the activities of file sharing (2006). In addition, academic institutions should be alerted with the risks associated with file sharing. Computers used for file sharing becomes vulnerable to viruses and thus compromising security and running the risks of infecting other machines.
Supporting Legal Online Businesses
The development of the legal digital sector is likely to increase the music sales with the strong growth of legal download both in the US and the UK (2006). Thus, recording companies and online distributors must work hand in hand and encourage legitimate partnerships.
In the advent of Napster website in 1999, it has suffered a great deal of law suits on copyright from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). This has prompted Napster to adopt new ideas concerning copyright. Consumers can still download their music but this time they have to pay for it. With Napster’s complete transformation, it is now offering a pay-for-play service. Thus, subscription service was adopted by Napster to distribute the music from different record companies (2003). The onset of this new service provides another venue for the consumers to enjoy their kind of music with low subscription rate and a wide range of music genres.
Napster and other music download sites have helped in the battle against internet piracy by providing unlimited access to around one million songs to their subscribers. This cost effective alternative encourages the enjoyment of music while compensating the artist and respecting the holders of copyrights. A monthly subscription will allow the consumers to fill their portable devices into capacity. Once subscription is stopped, the tracks will no longer be usable. Children aged 13-18 are also required to have parental permission so that parents can limit the content minor can access ( 2007). This will allow the parents to monitor the kind of music that their children can access.
Unauthorized downloads of music has evidently become one of the most common IT challenges among Universities. Students are among those who are widely exposed to internet. Given this fact, it is likely that illegal file sharing occurs in the campuses. The recognizes the need to establish mechanisms that will provide students with the legal access to digital repositories worldwide. With this, Napster and Dell Corporation have pioneered a new service among the students of the University of Washington. This effort is an attempt to address the growing problem of unauthorized downloads of music among universities. The service will offer students the legal way to download music files free of viruses, spy ware and other security risks that are associated with unauthorized music downloads. Discounted academic rates will be offered to students. Dell will establish applications on the campuses that will deliver Napster music and other contents stored within the campus network (2007).
The Team up of Dell and Napster provides a new approach in downloading music through legal means. Discounted computer systems can also be purchased by the students. Dell will provide the tools that will be utilized to offer Napster services while offering special prices on bundles. The solution combines the digital music provided by Napster and the service and technology of Dell (2007). Such features offered by online distributors can attract consumers to spend even a little in exchange for legal downloads and access to a wide range of music. Such collective effort must be practiced by online distributors and recording companies to stop piracy in the music industry.
Conclusion
Internet piracy is a pervasive phenomenon in the music industry. Because of this, recording companies suffer great losses from their investments. This also has a great impact on new artists in the industry who rely on the recording companies. Indeed the problem must be taken with responsiveness else the music industry will suffer tremendously.
The government together with the music industry plays a major role in addressing this problem. Primarily, copyright laws protect the holders from any unauthorized or illegal distribution of their copyrighted material. This right must be assumed by the copyright holders by intensifying their reinforcement on file sharing activities. Similarly, it must be ensured that offenders will face litigation for their violation. In this way, unauthorized file sharing will decline. It will also encourage awareness among individuals due to the fear of litigation.
Parental education is also necessary so that parent will be able to monitor any illegal file sharing activities of their children. By bridging the knowledge gap between children and parents, incidences of copyright violations may be avoided at home. Additionally, campaign groups provide parents with free software applications that will enable them to detect any file sharing programs in their computer and delete them. Parents must be made ware of the possible suits that their children or they themselves may face due to file sharing. In cases of children offenders, parents are compelled to pay for the violation committed else they will be subject for court proceedings.
The initiative of Dell and Napster in introducing discounted academic rates among universities is a major step to encourage legal music downloads among students. Lastly, the potential of online distributors not only in increasing sales but in combating music piracy as well must be recognized. By way of offering low rate subscription in exchange for unlimited access to music downloads, consumers are encouraged to spend a little for the enjoyment of music. Ultimately, the relationships of recording companies and legal online distributors should be strengthened as it will pave the way for a renewed trend in the music industry.
With the participative action from these various sectors, internet music piracy can be eliminated or at the very least be minimized. Piracy is a form of theft and it should not be tolerated elsewhere. The campaign against this can be intensified by cooperating with institutions such as the corporate and especially the academic sector. Educating the university faculty about the risks of file sharing on their campus repositories will definitely incite them to act on this problem. Additionally, the focus should not deviate from the students since they are the ones who are most likely to engage in such activities.
Indeed, proper education and awareness of the copyright law is the key factor in fighting piracy. Another is the reinforcement of these laws that will intimidate offenders. Lastly, other alternatives for downloading music must be made available to the consumers such that of online distributors.
Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com
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