The New York Times reported in a recent article that Apple App stores have lost $450 million to piracy. Ever since I owned music on the computer, even before iTunes, I knew about pirating. I believe that it is disrespectful to the artist who makes their living off of music—a great art that (until recently) requires a lot of talent! Piracy is just a convenient way to steal.
And it has probably the most detrimental consequences. I remember a few years ago someone pirated 27 songs and got stuck with a multi-million tab to pay to the artists for the rest of his life.
Now people are stealing anything that can be loaded onto a computer. Since music, apps, movies, documents, books, and even homework assignments are becoming immaterial, it does not surprise me that crime rate has also increased for Apple App stores.
However, the quantity of the stolen items is quite alarming, as well as the negative effects it has on the economy. If people actually paid for those $450 million, Apple would be doing a lot better (not that it is currently in a bad state). Since they have sold their product to many other stores (Target, Walmart, Best Buy), those stores are also getting ripped off.
The demand is there and the supply is there, but people are still resorting to stealing. This means that sooner or later, since the demand curve is not shifting and people are still getting the product, the supply curve must shift back. This will decrease the quantity of products produced and increase the price. With a higher price, people will be even more inclined to not pay for it. So how is this cycle broken? People want the economy to improve so badly. How will this happen if they keep stealing and don’t support it in the first place?
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I have to admit, I've done my fair share of piriting music over the years. I know it's not the moral thing to do, but at the same time I don't really have the money to be stocking my ipod with music. By no means am I justifying the act, I'm just saying its hard to say no to the convenience. Plus, until there becomes a serious and consistent threat to those who pirate music, people are going to continue to do so. I also find it hard to believe that someone was forced to pay millions of dollars because they pirated a merre 27 songs. Especially since there are people out there that pirate thousands and thousands of songs. Again, I'm not promoting piracy, I'm just saying they need to come out with a more effective system to rid the world of piraters if they want it to stop. A E
ReplyDeleteMusic artist have been losing a lot of millions because of pirating and it’s not only hurting them but it’s hurting the same people that are downloading the pirated music. Since the artists are not making any profit off their work many are losing interest when releasing a new CD. In my opinion, it will be really hard to come up with a system where pirating will be forbidden because there is always those people who can find a way around, I am not saying it can’t be done but it will certainly not be easy. The longer we take to come up with a system that works the more millions, artists are going to lose.
ReplyDeleteI agree that stopping piracy is a difficult task. I know that I've certaintly done my share of downloading pirated music. I think that in order to deter piracy, record labels and artists are going to have to become more creative in how they market and distribute music. Radiohead's 2007 pay-what-you-will distribution of their album In Rainbows comes to mind as an example of this. (http://wired.com/epicenter/2007/10/radiohead-snubs/)
ReplyDeleteI'm with Minch on this one. Piracy is something that practically every teenager has done. Who has bought every song they have on their ipod? You can't stop piracy; as long as there is the internet, file sharing will continue to take place. Artists still release albums which gross millions even though the entire cd may be available on the internet. Until something drastic is done to stop piracy, piracy will continue to occur. A
ReplyDeleteI feel that there is a general consensus among the class that what we refer to as "music piracy" is immoral as well as illegal, and is fundamentally "wrong". While I'm not necessarily disagreeing with this belief, I feel that more discussion is needed before it can be considered properly justified. With this in mind, in the interest of determining whether the belief that illegal music downloading is wrong is justified, I will take up the position that music piracy is not in fact wrong.
ReplyDeleteStopping online piracy cannot be an easy task. There are millions of people on line at any given moment and it is probably impossible to catch every pirate out there. Until we develop a better way of monitoring criminal actions on the internet piracy is going to continue. I'm not saying that we shouldn't keep trying but this is going to be a difficult issue to solve. A
ReplyDeleteWith my earlier post in mind, here is an argument that there is nothing fundamentally wrong with illegal music downloading. The artists whose music is being currently downloaded are hopelessly rich, and a decrease in their revenue would hardly be tragic. As for the emerging artists who no longer are identified/supported by record companies,other modes of revenue (such as concerts, bookings, and advertisements) remain with which to support themselves. Moreover, the internet provides an easy forum with which to publicize their work. In sum, were music piracy to become even more widespread, musicians will still be able to make a living; they simply won't be able to become rich. Popular music will shift from dominance by a rich relatively small number of "superstar" bands and artists, to a more pluralistic state, wherein artists are more concerned with art than profit. Ultimately, record companies will be the main losers in music piracy, and as they are by no means economic linchpins, the overall impact of there disappearance won't be catastrophic.
ReplyDeleteI've pirated my share of music. I agree with Ryan in saying that it won't be tragic for successful record companies to lose a few bucks to illegal downloading. They get most of their revenue with concerts and other events anyway. Let's not forget that some artists, like the Arctic Monkeys, actually release/released songs for free on the internet so that people could check them out for free and spread the word.
ReplyDeleteAs far as local bands go, I think it's much better to buy their albums and support them, since the gigs they get, if any, don't usually pay well.
A,E
I'd like to clarify; it is not my opinion that illegal downloading isn't wrong. I was acting as the devil's advocate, in an attempt to stimulate a discussion which will generate the best answer philosophically to the question of illegal downloading's "wrongness". I, myself, am actually leaning towards the answer that illegal should be considered "wrong", at least for material that is obtainable through legal channels(oftentimes, I have found foreign music not to be). What I want to flesh out is just why illegal downloading is wrong, as I feel that it is wrong to hold unjustified beliefs. On reflection, I've decided that even if many musicians may not seem to need the money from their songs, the songs are ultimately their intellectual property, and they extend those property rights to record label companies when they sign up with them. Intellectual property, in turn, must be protected for a multitude of reasons. Among them, were intellectual property, not to be protected, books, movies, and software along with countless other publications less able to fund themselves independently of the actual sale of the publicized material, would be subject to similar piracy. Moreover, lack of intellectual property protection in regards to illegal downloading could breed lack of protection against plagiarism and lack of protection against copyright infringement. I hope for further constructive dialogue on the issue, in the hopes of further clarifying the "wrongness" or lack thereof of illegal music downloading.
ReplyDeleteI think that it's not about penalizing music pirates, but it's about people doing the right thing. Obviously, cops aren't going to be online trying to catch everyone, but they shouldn't have to because people shouldn't commit crimes.
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ReplyDeleteFrom what I've heard, artists don't make much from their individual music sales. It's the record companies that claim most of the profit off album sales, which is why big companies like BMI and Warner Brothers have raised much more concern about music piracy than individual artists (save Metallica). Artists are still making a huge profit from signing bonuses, concert tickets, merch sales and royalties just like they always have. I doubt that the person who downloaded 27 songs and ended up with a multi-million tab was paying the actual artist; that money was probably going straight into the pockets of the already über rich record company CEOs.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Alice that stopping piracy is a difficult task. People will always find out the other way to download or share what they have with their friends to save money. Imagine, it will be really expensive if you are a big fan of music...and also like what Bridgett said, most of the profit go to the record companies, not to the artists, but the big companies are claiming that they couldn't do better because of they don't get "enough" money...just personal opinion. A
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