- Downloading a song you don't own from a major label artist.
It is legally and morally incorrect, but everyone does this and always justifies it. You don't own the song, so you are still stealing it when you download it for free. This is bad sharing-you should pay for these songs when you download them. Even though the artist makes a lot of money and the label does too, you are still stealing. I think that it is fine to download this kind of song once in a while- artists make make millions of dollars for just making and singing a song and going on tour. I think that is ridiculous. There are people who work all day long and do so much more and receive nothing.
- Downloading a song you don't own from a struggling independent artist (who doesn't give you explicit permission).
This kind of file sharing is maybe the worst, even though I think its fine to do it once in a while too. I hate paying for music, but whenever there is a new struggling artist, I always pay to support their music and their jobs.
- Downloading another copy of a song you already own.
This kind of downloading is fine. If you have previously purchased this song and have some copy somewhere else, it is ok. It is hard to set rules on this one because its hard to prove that you have the song already. My reasoning for saying that this is fine is that it makes no difference if you download it again or if you copy the file from your hard drive or just copy the cd. The only way it would matter is that if the song you are trying to copy has protection encoding and you cant make a copy of it-- then you go download the same song for free.
- Shoplifting a CD from a store.
People who do this should be punished. I know that it is basically the same thing as downloading a CD, but it is actually completely different. Entire CD's are on youtube and many other sites for you to listen to whenever you want. You can't download them, but its almost like having the CD-you can stop, play, and pause it whenever you want. When you shoplift a CD from a store, you are going through a lot of trouble just to get that CD. You know you will be punished if you get caught. If the CD cost 25$ for example, you would be pretty much stealing money (even though the cost to make CD's is extremely low, and artists and labels are probably making 5000% profit or more from them)
- Downloading a song to "try it out" - if you like it enough, you'll buy the CD.
I think people that do this are very responsible and have integrity. Even though I think it is fine to just download music for free, trying a song out and then buying it is the right thing to do (if it is a struggling artist and he is not overpricing his/her product).
- Copying a CD from a friend, or ripping a CD you own to your hard drive, and then giving the CD away
This is fine just as long as you don't sell it. If you are making mass copies of it and making money from it, you should watch out because that is a bad thing to do.
- Making music you own available online to share with a couple of friends.
This is fine too- it is pretty much the same thing as burning a CD or copying it to a hard drive and then giving it away. As long as you don't make money from it, you are fine.
- Making music you own publicly available on the Internet, such as through KazAa or Limewire.
You should be a little bit more careful with this. I am not sure what to say about this because when you are making it publicly available to the masses, you are making the artist lose a lot of money. Instead of everyone being able to download it, they would have to pay for it.
- Creating and giving away "Mix CDs" of music you like to friends
This is perfectly fine. I don't see anything wrong with this. You are not making money off of it. It is obviously not exploiting the music, just SHARING it.
- Creating and selling "Mix CDs" of music you like to anyone who wants to buy them
This is not ok. You are making money off of something you didn't invent. If I made a painting I wouldn't like people to scan it and make money off of it.
No comments:
Post a Comment