I think all music has inherent value, whether it is a recording or a newly written piece. All music is equally valuable and should receive the exact same treatment. So, I do not think that any music should be allowed to be obtained for free if the artists is selling it, but after the artist has died all bets are off and that music should be put into the public domain. I think that if the artist is dead there is no reason that anyone to be making money off of the original song. Although, if someone were to do a cover of the song it would be fine for them to be making money off of their own version. I just don't think its right for the money being made from a song should be allowed to be passed on in a will, like a piece of property. Once and artist has died I think that their music is up for grabs and it should be put into the public domain, and only then do I think its okay to obtain for free. Although, if it's a bands music I think the money from it should be first split between all band members and then if a band member dies the music should then be split between the remaining band members, and so on and so forth until there is one person left, in which case he would receive all the money. But after the last band member dies I think that the music should then go into the public domain. So, the music should stay within the band until the last member dies.
Although I do not believe in the free distribution of music, I do not think that burning a CD to share with one or two friends is too bad. The biggest problem I have with downloading music for free online, is that someone who probably never payed for the music is giving the artists music away for free to hundreds, maybe even thousands of people. So, over all I think that as long as you bought the CD the artist is still getting money somewhere in the process and is only loosing being cheated of a few dollars. Although, when you get music for free online the artist is being cheated of A LOT of money, which is definitely not fair to the artist.
So in all, I think that an artist has the right to be collecting money for their music for life, after their death that music should be put into the public domain. But, if an artist is still alive then obtaining their music for free, whether it be stealing a CD from a store, downloading it online, or burning a CD, is wrong. Although, I think that obtaining any music without paying for it is stealing, out of those options I think that burning a CD for a few friends is the best option, because it is the only option in which the artist is profiting at all. If you want to read more about the laws regarding piracy you can go to RIAA's
website.
3 comments:
So local piracy should be legal, but anonymous piracy should not be? Is the differentiation of the two in that physical interaction is needed? If so, what is to stop someone from burning a hundred copies of a song to CDs and giving them out to their friends to give to their friends? At some point there needs to be a clear distinction, otherwise there will never be any legal action in that regard.
Though your idea of the way a band split's the profitts as each of them dies is quite creative, I believe it could inspire evil intentions in successful bandmates. Who's to stop one member of a group such as One Direction from murdering the rest in an attempt to gain larger shares of the profit? Though this would make an entertaining movie, I fear your system of monetary distribution in musical groups would lead to a skyrocket in deaths due to guitar wounds to the skull.
I agree with the fact that downloading music is illegal but I disagree with the statement that sharing music with friends through CDs because to me, it is stealing either way.
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