Music Piracy

Arrrggghhhh, I’m A Music Pirate

How do you know you are not a thief? Downloading free music from the internet without permission from the copyright holder constitutes stealing. In the last six years record sales have dropped and illegal downloads have increased significantly. There are two different organizations that are actively participating in the solution to this problem. There are people in the music industry who stand on both sides of the fence. Some say that downloading music without permission is against the law, harmful to the industry and must be stopped, while others believe there is a way to legalize downloads by compensating the copyright holders through indirect payment plans. The Recording Industry Association of America is leading an effort to stop illegal production and distribution of sound recordings through the use of education, enforcement, and litigation. The Electronic Freedom Foundation supports the legalization of shared music over the internet and proposes many solutions to this problem, the strongest of which is voluntary collective