Exercise name: ‘Mea thief?’
How do you typically acquire new music? What percentage of your new
music acquisition is through legal channels?
Nowadays it is hard to imagine one’s life without listening to music, having a favorite band or singer. Pop industry has penetrated into the life of people by means of television, radio, Internet, new progressive devices, etcetera. I acquire new music from the television channels, public places (often songs are played there), Internet and meetings with friends. In addition, I adore watching video clips online on YouTube or any other video channel. Basically, the development of new technologies has opened new ways to find the music and to listen to it whether it is legal or not. As a rule one does not think of breaking the law while downloading music from the website or if the music has been placed there legally by the website owners or users. In this regard, I assume that I receive nearly 80% of the music through the legal channels. I came to conclusion that television videos, music played on the radio, in the malls and streets can be considered as legal acquisition. Talking about the web search, it is rather hard to investigate if it is legal. For example, on YouTube, users can upload video themselves without the author’s permission and I can get access to it, which is illegal, however, there are plenty of videos posted by the owner, which makes it legal to acquire. In order to avoid breaking the law, it is recommended to download music from the authorized sources.
Based on what you now know about copyright law, how would you
assess your new music acquisition methods in terms of legality?
My new music acquisition methods should be based on the legal access and usage of someone’s intellectual property, in such case music. I am allowed to listen and download it via the licensed sources, on the authorized sites, copy files from the CD I bought to my player, for example. On the other hand it is prohibited to copy music from the pirate sites, stir it with the help of mobile application, record discs and use it for commercial purposes. In addition, it is illegal to upload music for free download on the websites and share it with friends via phones, computers, tablets or any other device. I consider these method as the right path to get the music for free and download it, on the other hand I do realise that downloading music from unauthorised sources is both illegal and immoral.
Do you believe it should be legal to download music for free? Why or why
not?
I believe that downloading music for free should not be legal. This is not only the question of the law, but also the question of morality and appreciation and reward of one’s work. A lot of things can be said about the fact that singers earn much money, however, if people stop buying the product, the singers will go bankrupt. I do believe that people can get the access to the needed videos and music recordings for the acquaintance, meaning for free, however, storing such data on own devices and using it for own purposes should be paid, simply because user possesses it. The work and effort of people should be appreciated and rewarded despite the choice of the profession.
