How to Put an End to Music Piracy Once and For All?

Music can be a coping mechanism, an escape from reality, and even a community that forms new friendships. For this reason, music listeners go to extreme lengths to acquire their favorite music for the fraction of the real price. Whether it is downloading and playing music on unaccredited file-sharing websites or downloading music from stream-ripping apps, various people continue to engage in music piracy knowing that it is ethically and morally wrong. In fact, with the introduction of Napster in 1999, downloading music illegally became an ever-growing trend.

This trend led to the creation of more illegal file-sharing and stream-ripping sites that functioned similarly to Napster. Although some people have argued that file sharing and stream-ripping sites are harmless to the listener and musician, I argue that music piracy is a wrongful act that negatively impacts the music industry, hurts the U.S. economy, and undervalues the hard work of artists. Furthermore, spreading awareness of the consequences music piracy brings to society and enforcing new piracy regulations are crucial for the decline of music piracy.

What exactly is categorized as music piracy? Well according to the RIAA, any act that involves the copying and distributing of music without the consent of the artist or record label company is considered music piracy. This can involve downloading music from stream-ripping apps, downloading music from file-sharing websites, using your computer to burn CDs for commercial purposes, and sending copies of your illegally downloaded music to others (About Piracy). To many, it may seem as if downloading music from unauthorized sites is a harmless act, but there are detrimental consequences for music pirates such as civil and criminal lawsuits.

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Civil lawsuits consist of thousands of dollars in charges and criminal lawsuits can be up to $250,000 in fines or even 5 years in jail (RIAA). It is important to recognize that music piracy is a serious illegal act that could result in years of debt and even jail time.

This so-called “harmless act” can result in many consequences for not only the individuals taking part in the act but also for individuals within the music industry. The most notable negative effect of music piracy is the loss of money for both the recording artist and the record label company. Music recording labels invest thousands, even millions of dollars to record and produce a song, expecting to receive greater revenues. However, as music pirates continue to download music from unauthorized copyrighted sites, album sales decrease. Although music pirates believe that the downloading of a few illegal songs is only a minor indent in the producer’s paycheck, various studies indicate that music piracy has major effects on music revenue. A study done by Pietz and Waelbroeck suggests that music piracy is responsible for about 25% of the decline in CD sales seen in 2002 (Pietz and Waelbroeck, 3). Furthermore, a 10-year study done across 49 countries by Zentner showcases that music file-sharing explains about 87% of the decrease in music sales between the years 1997 and 2008 (Zentner, 13). These decreasing profits lead to excessive debt for the recording label that could affect the production of future music. Not to mention these low revenues are negatively impacting the musician as well. Musicians are tied down to record labels that acquire most of the profit made from an album. These artists are only receiving about 12% of the music revenue while the record label receives more than half (Wang). So, as music pirates continue to decrease the total music revenue, the music artist’s profit decreases as well. Some people have argued that piracy is advantageous to musicians because illegal streaming sites allow for their music to reach a wide range of listeners, ultimately resulting in greater exposure. However, this type of exposure described can’t be measured or seen by the artist. The only indicator of fame and exposure is the rate of their music sales. Therefore, as musicians notice their sales decrease, they may become discouraged by the lack of support they are receiving. Consequently, this may result in the decline of their music production as a whole. Music piracy is hurting the music industry but most importantly it is discrediting the hard work of an artist.

Besides hurting the music industry, it has been noticed that music piracy is affecting the U.S. economy. An analysis done by the Institute for Policy Innovation indicates that because of global music piracy “U.S. economy loses $12.5 billion annually, …workers within the U.S. lose $2.7 billion annually…, and the U.S. federal, state, and local government lose about $422 million in tax revenues per year” (Siwek, 1). These statistics exemplify the negative effects of illegally downloading and sharing music that most people overlook. As illegal music streamers continue to detach themselves from the wrongdoing of their actions, they become even more oblivious to the deleterious effect music piracy has on the country. Many people who download music illegally continue to commit the act even when acknowledging that the act is morally wrong (Bonner, 5). Because music streamers ignore the immediate effects of music piracy on the music industry and the U.S. economy, they continue to use file-sharing services and stream-ripping websites. Therefore, awareness needs to be brought to the public and new implementations are needed to bring an end to music piracy.

The RIAA has issued many lawsuits in the past years as an effort to put an end to music piracy, but this has only decreased the percentage of illegal downloads by a small amount. However, many people have stated that current copyright laws seem to not affect the public’s access to their favorite music. Many people have admitted that current laws are not enforced enough because anyone can easily access free music and avoid getting caught. Therefore, this indicates that new implementations are required to further decrease music piracy and its dangerous effects on society. A study done in 2018 on 220 undergraduate students at the University of Nevada by Ullman and Silver suggests that new piracy warning icons with a computer, slash symbols, download symbols with signal words, and messages with fining consequences should be implemented because they were taken into account more by students in their study (Ullman,1355- 1356). Implementing icons and messages with piracy consequences can bring awareness to music streamers about the effect music piracy has on the individual. These messages can also invoke fear in music pirates which will decrease the chances of them engaging in illegal music streaming and sharing. Consequently, many people have stated that the reason for engaging in music piracy is to avoid paying full price for their favorite music. Therefore, the music industry should promote the use of authorized music streaming sites such as YouTube, Spotify, and iTunes which offer music for free as well as discounted premium packages that allow for unlimited amounts of ad-free streaming. Another way musicians can counter music piracy is by selling vinyl instead of CDs and digital music. As musicians switch to vinyl production, pirating these records becomes almost impossible which will allow for an increase in the musician’s music sales.

Music piracy has become a huge issue ever since the rise of Napster. This introduced society to new ways of acquiring their favorite music without having to pay for music streaming subscriptions or expensive CDs. Not to mention with the rise of technology, music streamers are becoming more creative with acquiring free music. However, they choose to ignore the harmful effects of music piracy such as the loss of money for record labels, musicians, the government, and overall loss of jobs for the country. Many music streamers choose to detach themselves from their harmful activityvinyls si vinyl which in return allows them to disregard the negative effects that their actions have on society as a whole. Therefore, current piracy implementations need to be adjusted. By implementing stricter piracy icon warnings online, promoting authorized free streaming applications, and encouraging musicians in utilizing vinylsinvinyl instead of CDs and digital music we can end music piracy once and for all.

Works Cited

1. “About Piracy.” RIAA, Recording Industry Association of America, www.riaa.com/resources-learning/about-piracy/.
2. Bonner, Steven, and Eleanor O’Higgins. “Music Piracy: Ethical Perspectives.” Management Decision, vol. 48, no. 9, 19 Oct. 2010, pp. 1341–1354., doi:10.1108/00251741011082099.
3. Martin, Peitz, and Patrick Waelbroeck. “The Effect of Internet Piracy on CD Sales: Cross SectionCross-Section Evidence .” CESifo Working Paper, no. 1222, Jan. 2004, pp. 1–25. ECONSTOR, https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/76503/1/cesifo_wp1122.pdf.
4. Siwek, Stephen E. “The True Cost of Sound Recording Piracy to the U.S. Economy.” The True Cost of Sound Recording Reducing Government Consumption, Piracy to the U.S. Economy, Aug. 2007, pp. 1–28., https://www.ipi.org/ipi_issues/detail/the-true-cost-of-sound-recording-piracy-to-the-us-economy.
5. Ullman, Joanne R., and N. Clayton Silver. “Perceived Effectiveness of Potential Music Piracy Warnings.” Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting, vol. 62, no. 1, 1 Sept. 2018, pp. 1353–1357, https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1541931218621309.
6. Wang, Amy X. “Musicians Get Only 12 Percent of the Money the Music Industry Makes.” Rolling Stone, Rolling Stone, 7 Aug. 2018, www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/music-artists-make-12-percent-from-music-sales-706746/.
7. Zentner, Alejandro. “Ten Years of File Sharing and Its Effect on International Physical and Digital Music Sales.” SSRN Electronic Journal, 2009, pp. 1–24., doi:10.2139/ssrn.1724444.