The RIAA's fight against internet music piracy and its impact on the music industry

RIAA - Internet Music Downloads

In today's modern world, everything is almost easily accessible. With the advent of Internet, communication, business and information research are now easily done. Indeed, getting and 'owning' various information offered in the Internet is just an ordinary thing nowadays.

Music or songs is one of the best examples that can be easily downloaded in the Internet. A lot of people - young and old, males and females - benefit from this because they are prevented from using their money just to buy CDs, DVDs or tapes of the songs or albums they would want to hear.

How Music is Downloaded from the Internet

With the continuing improvements being done with the computer software and programs, playing music to and from the computer has really been made easy. The best example for this is the MP3s, which is a shortened term for MPEG 1 or Moving Picture Experts Group 1. This is used in compressing bulky files of digitized music which in turn make downloading and storing music and sounds easier (Spaulding, 2006).

It must be noted that using and listening to MP3s would require a computer and software, but the needed software is always available in the Internet and can be downloaded also for free. And there is a recent introduction of MP3 and iPod players - electronic devices that can be used to play sounds and music anywhere and anytime even without the presence of a computer while listening (Spaulding, 2006).

With MP3, anybody could quickly download music and sound recordings and to store this with consuming a minimal disk space and in a quality which is exactly like the CD recorded music or sounds. The MP3 files can also be easily attached and sent to any e-mail, even to a number of receivers or even be uploaded to other web sites (Spaulding, 2006).

The Threats of Music Downloading

Downloading music from the internet presents a very big threat to the singers or artists, the producers and to the music and recording industry itself.

The Producers and the Artists

Producers are the one financing the artists and the production of the music albums. Their expectation, of course, is to earn good sum of money after the album was released. Artists on the other hand use their talents and popularity as a means to earn. They are being paid initially for singing and creating the music album, but they will be paid more if the album started selling in the market. This advent of music downloading has extremely affected the income of both the producers and the artists. The number of people who will buy the original albums continuously decline resulting to a record of earning which is also going down. Thus the ultimate threat to the producers and the artists would be the considerable decline on demand for original music albums (tapes, CDs or DVDs). Why would anyone opt to buy these original materials - which cost a good amount of money - when they can have it for free?

The Music Industry

The big threat to the recording and music industry is brought by the fact that downloading the music from the Internet and producing successive copies produce outputs that are extremely identical to the original versions. Unlike in those olden days where the only way to reproduce a sound or music is just by recording from the tape, hence the third, fourth and succeeding copies will sound 'scratched' and will not be pleasing to the ears anymore (Spaulding, 2006).

Needless to say, with today's MP3 and other related technologies, copying or reproducing sounds and music is way easier and will sound just like the original CDs or DVDs. In fact, Jupiter Communication has predicted that the music industry will be able to earn $1.6 billion by 2002. However, nearly 500,000 MP3s would also be available in the Internet (Spaulding, 2006).

Hence, if the artists and producers will not be motivated to create more and new music albums due to the low income returns, what will happen then to the music industry? No new music will be introduced.

The Consumers

At first, it may seem that ease of downloading music from the Internet will produce nothing but positive impact to the consumers. They will be able to get and enjoy music for free. They will be able to share music to their friends without limits or boundaries. However, the fact remains that copying or downloading music from the internet is piracy. It is copying without proper consent from the real owners. It is copying and reproducing without notifying the people who have shed great efforts in producing such music. Thus, honor, credibility and integrity of the consumer is being wage.

Conclusion

Is downloading music from the Internet illegal? The copyright laws say so. Downloading the music from the internet prevents all the members of the music industry - the producers, songwriters and singers/artists themselves - from earning what is due for them. Piracy in this form also prevents the music from growing and developing. Thus, downloading music from the Internet must really be illegalized and wide information dissemination to the public should be made so as to make them realized the impact of doing such activity.

But how can laws prevent people from enjoying without consuming much money? The real cause of the problem is not the advent of Internet phenomenon but the financial aspects attached to buying the original albums. They cost a lot despite the seemingly continuously declining economy of the countries all over the world.

If music can be accessed for free in the Internet, then the music industry should find a way to tie-up with the internet programs so that a give-and-take relationship between the MP3 downloadable websites and the music industry itself will be established.

List of References:

Greene, Michael. (1997)"Building Bridges with Music." Grammy Latino 1: 22-25.

IFPI. 2000. The Recording Industry in Numbers 2000. London: IFPI

The Recording Industry in Numbers June 2001. London: IFPI, 2001 Spaulding, Michelle. "Copyright protection for Music on the Move." The Berkman Center for Internet and Society. [Online] viewed: 30 September 2006. http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/mp3/

Musicland Named in Label Suit." Available online: http://twincities.bcentral.com/twincities/stories/2000/08/14/weekinbiz.html. Accessed 30 September 2006

NARAS. http://www.grammy.com,2000-2001. Accessed 30 September 2006

Rother, Larry. "In the Land of Sun and Music Pirates Play Robin Hood." New York Times 20 May 2001: [section] 4, 3.

Vangie Aurora. December 2004. "When Is Downloading Music on the Internet Illegal? www.Webopedia.com.[Online] viewed: 30 September 2006. http://www.webopedia.com/DidYouKnow/Internet/2004/music_downloading.asp