Artist's Opinions On Piracy

During the week, I got time to sit down with Marblehead High School's very own Sophia Capalbo, also
known as, Fia James. Fia and I have been friends for years but she has recently blown up in the music spotlight. Her passionate singing and song writing skills have really stood out around the school. Sophia has lived in Marblehead her whole life. She plays the guitar and sings. Interestingly enough, she can not sell her own music yet because she is waiting on copyright privileges. Another way she promotes her music is through recordings. If someone asks for a recording she will send it via the internet or she will burn a CD for them. Fia also claims she does not care if people were to download her music illegally. She said "it's really easy to download illegal music so I don't have a problem with it." However, Sophia ultimately believes in buying artists music. She states that it is acceptable when a band is new and trying to boost their popularity to download illegally at first, but to switch to purchasing the music soon after. Sophia has been performing at small local venues recently and is hoping to extend to larger venues as soon as possible. Fia James is currently in the process of creating her own website but for now can be reached through her Facebook page Fia James Music or through YouTube.

Stevie Wonder is a famous musician. He has been blind since birth but still manages to feel the music through his body and rock the stage. When asked about copyright laws Mr. Wonder said this "Record companies, publishers, radio stations, retailers, artists and others in our industry must take a very strong position against the stealing of our writing and music or else those writings and music will become as cheap as the garbage in the streets." What Stevie is saying is that once people start "stealing" music, it loses the value that it once had. When an artist creates music it is made with extreme value. Many times the song is a story of the artists life, struggles, or accomplishments and for someone to download that for free is disrespectful to the artist. I also completely deteriorates the music itself making the music "cheap as the garbage on the streets."



Another artist against music piracy is Brad Paisley. A country singer who who has had 10 songs hit number 1 on the charts. When asked about music piracy Paisley said "My producer, my co-writers, my musicians have a big part in my albums. When you download music illegally, those folks don't get paid." People do not think of the men and women working behind the scenes. Paisley brings this to light in his quote. Many think that these big name musicians do not need anymore money, however, it is not just the artist getting paid. Everyone the artist is associated with is impacted by music piracy. From the manager to the person in charge of special effects. More than just one person is affected by piracy so stop music piracy. It is unfair to the artist and everyone associated with the artist.