About me

Hi, I'm Adam. I'm a home-schooled student. On this blog you will probably eventually see commentary on the stuff I'm doing, and perhaps even some psychological ramblings. :) As, a Christian, I may start a few theological threads. I just find that sort of thing very interesting. It's great learning more about God and his creation. That's if I ever get time to write!

Welcome to my blog!

Apr. 1, 2009

The Effects of Pirating on the Music Industry

June of this year will mark the 10 year anniversary of the Napster file sharing service. When the Napster client was originally released in 1999, it changed the world of music forever. It was the one of the first file sharing services, and most importantly was the first to focus on music sharing. What is the meaning of music sharing? The Napster Client allowed users to share music ripped off of compact discs over the internet. This illegal practice has been made worse over the years by other methods of file sharing, such as Bittorrent. Why is it such a problem? The ultimate goal of artists in the music industry is to make money. Albums can be worth millions of dollars, and the goal of copyright law is to protect the rights of the owner. When you download a song without paying for it, it costs the owner money. Many fallicies have been invented by pirates to condone their actions. Some of them are listed below. Music artists make enough money! Maybe they do, maybe they don't. That's not for you to decide. At any rate, pirating music will cause the labels to increase their prices, making it more expensive for non-pirates to buy music. If you like an artist, why would you steal from them? The music belongs to me now, I can do what I want with it! Wrong. In the U.S. at least, the right of ownership belongs to the creator of the music. Buying a CD essentially gives you the right to listen to the music, and make copies as long as you personally keep all copies of the album. Music should be free! Music costs money to produce. If it was supposed to be given away, no one would be in the music business. There would be nothing to listen to - and it would all be free. If I listen to the artist's music for free, I'm more likely to buy their CDs later! Although this doesn't solve any moral issues, it seems to make some sense. Unfortunately for pirating proponents, this is statisticly wrong. They average Ipod owned by a teenager has 800 illegal tracks. There is no way that this money will ever be recouped by the artist later. It's only one song! It can't be hurting that much! Though one song may not hurt the music industry a great deal, the effects of music sharing have been enormous. Also, the average person takes more than one song! Take a look at the data below. Click the chart to view it full size. The chart has two main features. One shows the GDP of the United States. The other show the total amount made by the music industry. The vertical bar you see shows date when the Napster client was released. It triggered the begining of the music sharing era. The results are obvious. A successful industry should increase in value at least at the rate of the US GDP. Better industries will increase faster, and poorer industries will increase slower. A failing industry will usually decrease in value even when the U.S. GDP goes up. The graph seems to forecast doom for the music business. Why am I addressing this issue? It may seem unimportant to you, especially if you are one who does not steal music. I am blogging because I can safely say that at least 75% of the people I know pirate music. The problem is considerably more widespread than many think. Do your part. Don't steal music. It's wrong. Sources: Chart by me. :) Teen pirating data by The Times. US GDP values by MeasuringWealth.org. Music Industry values by the RIAA.

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