The Promulgation of Music Piracy

"Over the last two years, the music industry has fed the media stark statistics about "piracy," the act of copying digital music content to a blank CD, or uploading or downloading it on the Internet. According to various newspaper articles, an estimated 3.6 billion songs are illegally downloaded each month in the United States.In 1999, the music industry estimated that one in four compact discs of new music was actually an unauthorized copy.By the end of 2001, it was estimated that as many CDs were burned and copied as were bought.In Europe, blank CDs are outselling recorded CDs (although these blank CDs might have also been purchased for legitimate reasons, such as to back-up personal computer files).And since 1999, ownership of CD burners has nearly tripled.6 This trend of consumers sharing their music rather than purchasing it may be attributable to many factors, including the slow economy. However, the music industry seems to believe that the most likely culprit in this trend is the rise of digital music,7 i.e., free online file sharing, and the growing popularity of CD burners."

"In an act of self-defense, the largest record companies are developing anti-piracy technology to protect their copyrighted music against the information technology industry's movement toward increasingly user-friendly digital hardware and software. The United States Congress also has an eye on this power struggle between digital music owners and IT electronics manufacturers. It is currently considering a bill that would require IT manufacturers to protect copyrighted digital music from piracy by making significant alterations to the CD players and personal computers that they produce, thereby preventing unauthorized copying. However, there is already a federal statute in place that permits and regulates the home recording of copyrighted music. This current law provides a solid foundation upon which to build an up-to-date legislative solution that will satisfy all parties involved without unduly burdening one industry in favor of another."


STOP MUSIC PIRACY!!


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