Music Piracy

The music industry like any other wants to make profit. Money, Money, Money is the main goal for large corporations, like I had previously talked about in Culture vs. Commons. A small group of individuals make the decisions regarding everyone. After reading these articles, I would say the main reason piracy happens is for just that reason, the inability to afford the content. Even if people can afford the content, if you could get it for free, wouldn’t you? In my own experiences, I’m not a huge music person, but if I ever put music on my iPod or made a CD, it came from other peoples laptops, who downloaded it illegally through itunes or limewire. The only person I know who buys their itunes music is my Dad (lol) and I’m pretty sure he just doesn’t know how else to do it.


Steinmetz, K., K. Tunnell (2013) describes digital piracy as ‘‘the illegal act of copying digital goods, software, digital documents, digital audio (including music and voice), and digital video for any reason other than to backup without explicit permission from and compensation to the copyright holder’’. I think this definition explains the rules and laws to protect copyright and prevent piracy. I must say before reading these articles I hadn’t really thought about music piracy as a criminal act, because it is so easily accessible and almost everyone I knew participated in it, it didn’t cross my mind that it is illegal. What I found most interesting about Steinmetz, K., K. Tunnell (2013) article was the four motivations for engaging in piracy, (1) to share culture=content, (2) to sample, (3) the inability to afford content and (4) to undermine the current copyright regime. Many people believe that data is put out there to be shared amongst everyone, also no one wants to purchase something and then find out that they don’t like it or aren’t interested in it, so they sample the music beforehand. As I mentioned above, Steinmetz, K., K. Tunnell (2013) state that 41 percent of the participants said they can’t afford the content and this is why they “steal” it. Others simply don’t support the recent industry, as they are making the money, not the artists. I found it extremely interesting that people said if they could directly pay the artist they would, instead of having to pay these large corporations. They want to cut out the middleman, and support the music artist, the talent, I don’t think that this would ever work, as these companies pay big bucks to market the material, but nonetheless it is a cool concept to think about.  

The internet (as we learn in this class) is becoming a large commons, and a place where everything can be shared for everyone to hear. In some cases it is making life easier, cheaper as information is becoming more easily accessible. Even though this is the case for the internet and its users, I have to agree with McCourt, T., P. Burkart. (2003) that this won’t cause record companies to go under, although it provides new challenges against piracy laws, it can also benefit them as they can buy and sell and create packages for online consumers. The article talks about using subscriptions to make more money because they are paid in advance and while they encourage heavy users, they also make money off people who only visit once in a while.

As I said before, I don’t really participate at all in music piracy, I’m not the most tech-savvy and didn’t really have the time or interest to download music to “sample” for myself. Therefore the laws against music piracy don’t directly affect me, but that being said from reading these articles I think the companies (Big Five) should make a better attempt at pleasing the consumers. Perhaps focus on the people buying the products rather than just how much money is being made through the process.



References

McCourt, T., P. Burkart. (2003). When Creators, Corporations and Consumers Collide: Napster and the Development of On-line Music Distribution. Media, Culture & Society. 25 (3), pg. 333-350

Steinmetz, K., K. Tunnell (2013). Under the Pixelated Jolly Roger: A Study of On-Line Pirates. Deviant Behavior. 34 (1), pg. 53-67