I recently read a blog about an
American student Emily White who was working as an intern at her
college radio station. The student stated openly and honestly that
she had downloaded approximately 11 000 songs without paying for them
and had only ever paid for 15 CDs in her life. She was under the
impression like many young people that it was acceptable to download
songs and distribute them for free from the various file sharing
sites available. The student now wanting to work in the music
industry is thinking about the moral implications of her actions on
artists and the industry she loves. There were nearly 500 responses
to her blog posting and raised some very interesting responses
justifying illegal downloading. David Lowery is an academic teaching
music economics as the University of Georgia in the United States and
his response raised many issues that affect musicians and singers
like Great Big Sea.
I have just downloaded my second
officially free single off the Internet by Great Big Sea’s Murray
Foster’s Cocksure Lads “You Have Gotta Stay Cocksure”. The
single was available from the University of Toronto’s official
university magazine page where he did an interview (Murray Foster is
an alumni from the University of Toronto). My first single was Great
Big Sea’s Alan Doyle Mutiny on the Dawn available on his webpage. I
also joined MySpace and have access to a five free songs. I have
never downloaded anything off a computer other than webpages,
documents and images for personal use (basically because I don’t
have the technical expertise and equipment). These songs weren’t
that hard to find. After a brief search I was also able to find a
range of free illegal music available for both concerts and recorded
material made from copies generously shared by people who had no part
in creating it for Great Big Sea and the members of the band.
David Lowery argues society should not
accept the free culture while praising the college student for
grabbling with the moral and ethical implications her actions are
having on the profession she wishes to work in. One of the primary
reasons used to justify illegal downloading is the music companies
and their artists they sign make a lot of money. Not all artists and
musicians make millions of dollars like the Rolling Stones, Madonna
and more recently Justin Bieber. The average income of a musician is
approximately $35000 a year. Record companies pay advances and
specific royalties to artists. And most have to repay the advances
from record sales. If there are insufficient record sales then the
debt may be written off. Under the law music companies are required
to pay songwriters and issue a license. Artists are paid
approximately 9.1 cents for every song they sell. Despite popular
belief artists don’t make money on the road…they go on the road
to support the sales of their album.
David Lowery recognises there are many
moral and ethical issues associated with the implementation of
technology. Copyright has worked well for musicians and artists of
all kinds for hundreds of years and has protected their work, allowed
them to decide how they want to distribute it and make money. But
technology like the internet has radically changed all that. It is
through this change in technology that individuals and organisations
can now exploit artists and make their work freely available. Because
people have unlimited access they may do so without thinking about
the moral and ethical implications for society. These private
corporations want individuals to recognise it is acceptable practice
to download illegal material because we have the technology to do so
even though it is illegal under the law. For example Lyndahere (@lyndahere) uploads her illegal material onto YouTube. Because it is there and we
are able to watch it is acceptable.
David Lowery states “We
are being asked to continue to let these companies violate the law
without being punished or prosecuted. We are being asked to change
our morality and principals to match what I think are immoral and
unethical business models”.
Lowery continues Google supports companies that place
advertisements on sites that support piracy and include “The
Pirate Bay, or Kim Dotcom and Megaupload. They are “legitimate”
companies like Google that serve ads to... They are companies like Grooveshark that operate streaming sites... and over the objections of the artist, much less payment of royalties
lawfully set by the artist”.
Lowery also raises the
issue of file sharing sites charging entry fees to their sites full
of free material. “It turns out that
Verizon, AT&T, Charter etc etc are charging a toll to get
into this neighborhood to get the free stuff. Further, companies like
Google are selling maps (search results) that tell you where the
stuff is that you want to loot. Companies like Megavideo are
charging for a high speed looting service (premium accounts for
faster downloads). Google is also selling ads in this neighborhood
and sharing the revenue with everyone except the people who make the
stuff being looted”. Youtube also
support piracy in that it allows people to establish accounts and
load up illegally copied material. They make their money from massive
amounts of advertising. It is becoming increasingly frustrating to
watch legal videos on Youtube when we are required to watch
advertisements before the video. So there is a catch in watching
allegedly “free” material. Youtube is also full of accounts that
supply music with song words and images collected off the internet
with some having thousands of hits that have copyrighted material.
Some illegally copied videos even have advertising attached so
Youtube must be aware that the account is not the lawful owner.
The Record Industry Association of
America (RIAA) have successfully prosecuted individuals and companies
(RIAA Homepage 2012). Through my research I have found there are
substantial attempts to establish education programs for a range of
people including parents and children and within the education
environment at all levels. But it is difficult to establish if these
are successful. Governments have been unable to successfully monitor
and implement strategies to combat breaches in the laws. People do it
because it seems acceptable behaviour within their culture, and
justify it using a range of reasons including as Lyndahere wrote the
“music should be heard”. People do it knowing they have
little chance of being caught even if reported to appropriate bodies
such as the anti-piracy commission in Canada. David Lowery argues
rather than leaving it up to governments it is in the hands of every
individual like Emily White (and Lyndahere) to examine their morals
and behaviour and decide that stealing music and royalties that
rightfully belong to the artists is not right. It is important to
persuade others of this.
People really love the music artists
produce. There are many things young people and all people can do to
support musicians and other employees of the music industry other
than pirating copies of concerts and recordings. This includes buying
their music from legitimate sources like itunes and directly from
their official sites and at concerts. As David Lowery states how
difficult is it to login on to their site and download music paying
artists the money due. Corporations advertise on illegal file sharing
sites. Individuals can write to corporations and not buy their
products. Google technically does not support piracy. For example I
do not buy any products advertised on YouTube as it supports accounts
containing illegally downloaded material in particular that of Great
Big Sea and other artists. People can also write to their senator or
congressman about the issues such as copyright that currently being
negotiated and direct funds to those that create it. I do continue to
watch videos on YouTube but only those that are associated with
legal sites and any revenue would go to the artists and the industry.
While there are
many people who make ethical choices in their life paying for music
still isn’t one of them. Lyndahere (@lyndahere) Twitter site is full of
retweets of worthy causes and attended events for charity to film and
record Great Big Sea and Alan Doyle and placing them on YouTube.
