Pirate Or Prank

Pirate or Prank

The invention of the steam engine, mass production of the automobile, and the invention of the telephone; all of these things have brought the world closer together and more accessible. None of these listed however, have had the same impact as that of the internet. This relatively new invention has given the ability to globalize any home computer in the world. Since the web is not based in one plus, but in numerous servers and companies and homes around the world, policing illegal activity has been tough. One of these illegal activities is going to be our focus from here on out.

The United States of America has a way of registering something so that the sole possessor of the rights is the only one that is allowed to distribute or give permission to distribute the product they have registered. This system is called Copyrighting. The Copyright Act of 1976 states that owners have five exclusive rights:

1. Only the copyright owner may reproduce or make copies of the work

2. Only the copyright owner may create adaptations of the work.

3. Only the copyright owner may distribute copies of the work to the public.

4. The copyright owner has the exclusive right to perform the work in public.

5. Only the copyright owner may display the work in public

These five rules are the basis of the controversy of cyber file sharing (Templeton1). It is illegal to share music from one source to another without prior permission of the creator; this is how Napster, Kazaa, and Livewire have all flourished over the past few years. A person downloads the software that connects to the internet and has the ability to look into any other computer in the world on the same program and download something. There is a specific shared folder that limits the outside point of view, but that is the basic idea behind the file sharing software. "Napster software combines chat features, a music player, and lets users share their MP3 libraries with each other." The program uses MP3 music files to transfer from one computer hard drive to the next. An MP3 file is simply a compressed file. MP stands for MPEG (Motion Picture Experts Group), and three refers to the number of layers. MP3 files are about one-tenth the size of uncompressed audio files. One minute of music on a compact disc takes up about 1 megabyte of memory with MP3 compression; without it the same one-minute would take up to 10 megabytes of memory on the computers hard drive (MP3...).

Since the file sharing software is able to shrink the files down, it makes the songs of popular musicians readily available at any time the listener wishes to track it down. This is where our controversy begins. It is a very popular and widely spread practice to download music. Everyone from 8 year old grade school students to 75 year old retired policeman have the ability and are using it. Yet it is illegal. This is a phenomenon that is not usually witnessed in this world. Usually if a law is known, it is followed by the majority of those in the community. So why is everyone so willing to break the law?

The "digital divide" which separates the "messengers of the 1960's youth [music] movement" from the "E generation" is causing conflict over technology (Moore1). The rebellious youth of the new millennium believe that they know all about the internet and how computers function. Computers are just more natural to the young rebels than to elderly rebels. Corporate media plays a big role in defining the "E generation" because they want to define it as being youthful rebels rather than repeats. File sharing is a source that enables youth to refuse to accept "Commercialism" (Moore1). Music lovers should have the right to share music and defy "Commercialism" in the MP3 format. Napster and other sources offer a way for artists and their fans to connect, through chat rooms and the ability to download rare releases directly from the artist. Being part of the E-generation I am going to be providing an argument that supports file sharing.

First, before the positives that may come from file sharing are discussed, the opposing point of view must be raised. As a musician, I am expected to share these point of views; however, I feel otherwise. As stated earlier, if an artist writes a song and it gets recorded, only they have the rights to distribute. For each copy of the song that the artist has distributed they get paid a royalty. A royalty is a percentage of the amount charged for the copy of the song whether it is on compact disc or on the radio. If a song is shared between everyone on the internet, than there is no way of getting any royalty paid to the creator of the song. Lars Ulrich, drummer for Metallica, has angrily denounced internet music exchange and all those associated with it. He has spear-headed a whole anti-Napster campaign and has received a great deal of negative exposure as a result. Ulrich has taken a more "it's the fans fault," approach to his anger with file sharing. His accusations towards the consumers of internet music have turned many people off to the band. When I interviewed a local music store employee Steve Winslow at Slackers CD's and Games he testified; "He has attacked the fans for downloading the music. I mean I have every Metallica CD and I've downloaded their stuff too. It makes me mad when he points the finger at me. He has lost a lot of fans. I've had people come in here and say they hate Metallica now, and forget them or that they'll just burn all of their stuff." Steve's opinion towards Ulrich seems to be widespread (Wagner1). Websites such as "Metallicasucks.com" have sprung up all over the internet. He has attacked internet users and thus turned the web against himself.

Others in the music industry say that there is proof that downloading has decreased sales of albums over the past five years the technology has been available. Even though sales rose 3% in 1999 and 5% in 2000, they have stayed under those sales highs from 2001-2003. This is a good argument for them to bring up, but they conveniently forget to mention the fact that sales in almost every category of commerce has been down in the US due to a recession in the economy (Werden1). Why should the music industry be any different in their financial activity?

As I stated earlier, I am a musician and have the same factors affecting me as the other musicians do. Yet, instead of choosing to condemn the actions that are occurring on the internet, I have decided to use them to my advantage. To explain how this was accomplished