A Lesson In Copyright Law

Are College Students The Recording Industry's Worst Enemy?

(CBS)  They used to be the music industry's best customers. Now they're its biggest pirates: college kids.

Instead of buying songs for 99 cents each, legally, on sites like iTunes, the Internet has given them instant access to free music.

"It seems so easy that it's almost not like stealing," a University of Southern California student named Paul told CBS News business correspondent Anthony Mason.

Mason asked college students if they illegally download all of their music.

"Not all of it," a student named Brianna told him.

But they do download most of it, according to some USC students — even though the recording industry has sent threatening letters here. Do the letters scare them?

"No matter what they do, it's never gonna stop completely," Paul said.

A real-time readout of illegal downloads puts the problem in perspective.

Downloaders go by in the hundreds per second — requests for Buddy Holly, Miles Davis, Avril Lavigne and many others.

These are big numbers.

"They're terrifying numbers for the recording industry," said Eric Garland, the head of bihchampagne.com. a research group that tracks illegal traffic.

Today alone, reports Mason, Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run" was downloaded illegally more than 137,000 times.

For every song that is downloaded legally, how many are downloaded illegally?

"At least, very conservatively, at least 20," Garland said.

That’s right, 20 to one. It took iTunes five years to sell 2 billion songs. But there are 1 billion illegal downloads every month.

"The world now, more often than not, gets its music for free, gets its music online and gets its music without permission," Garland said. "That's broken. That is not a marketplace."

And if the music industry can't find a solution, it's looking more and more like the song is over.

[dandlion0099]

An interesting discussion (part 4 - last)
Opinions have stated that lowering the price to a fourth of the current cost might be effective, but I doubt it. I would probably pay twice the current price for this sort of entertainment, if the difference actually was used for something good instead of an "Nth" Hummer or some other "flaunt the wealth" toy. Those artists that really are about the music instead of the wealth generate an audience that buys their music to encourage that artist to make more of the same.
Digital Rights management is at best an attempt to close the barn door after the horses have went over the hill. I for one cannot see any means of copy protection that will not eventually be defeated, and if you accept that as true, stop and realize that by furthering this battle, you are most of all encouraging the consumer to accept the defeat of it. DRM is another piece of the bloat that makes entertainment more expensive than it should be. Every fraction of a cent spent on copy protection, is money taken from the consumer and given to a middle man instead of the real producer, the artist.
(Aside to Monitor, please delete one of the duplicate part three's and it would have been nice to know that comments were limited to 1500 characters ahead of time)

[dandlion0099]

An interesting discussion (part 3)
2. Generate a quality product that creates loyalty from your consumer rather than the usually present "paid way too much for that" feeling we all have with most entertainment purchases.
3. Forget about the current RIAA settlement policy. What you are really doing here is telling the whole world that "yes, you can be ripped off", and considering the threatening and maliciously punitive nature of the policy, "maybe just maybe, you deserve it"

[dandlion0099]

An interesting discussion (part 3)
2. Generate a quality product that creates loyalty from your consumer rather than the usually present "paid way too much for that" feeling we all have with most entertainment purchases.
3. Forget about the current RIAA settlement policy. What you are really doing here is telling the whole world that "yes, you can be ripped off", and considering the threatening and maliciously punitive nature of the policy, "maybe just maybe, you deserve it"

[dandlion0099]

An interesting discussion (part 2)
As always, the base of the issue is mostly about greed. There are thousands and thousands of small time artists out there that produce independent work and make it available to the public without near the losses claimed by the RIAA. Reasonably priced and personal instead of a slicked up (and often misrepresented) package may be (I for one hope)the wave of the future.
I would say that the "lesson in Copyright law" is more that the common consumer is tired of being held up to support the dead-weight involved with the industry, tired of being held up to support the excessiveness of the lifestyles of those involved with the traditional industry.
Rightly or wrongly, I do sense a flavor of "You guy's have been ripping me off for all these years, now it is my turn!" from the general consumer. The technology that is now available does allow downloading and that does cost the real producer of the music: the artist. Do you (as an artist) really want to bring this loss to an end?
1. Quit supporting all the bloat in the industry by producing independently

[dandlion0099]

An interesting discussion (part 1)
CharlesDJohn (under)states "There are more than two sides to this issue..."
It really looks to me like the music industry and in particular the RIAA have become yesterday's technology.
Everyone listening to music (certainly NOT just college kids) pays what has become an exhorbiant price to prop up the bloated industry. Just how much of every dollar that is actually spent for music really ends up in the artists pocket, and just how much is pocketed by the middle men including the RIAA's anti piracy efforts?

[gordon.couger]

I don't listen to music much so this isn't much to me but scientific journals are & there isn't a lot of differace except we try harder to change the law but a lot of people pretty much ignore the law. The same problems and law effects us both.

If you don't pay the artist they can't afford to put out as much music.

The net can replace most of the rest of the music Industry but it will be a lot different. They do provide value added but not nearly as much as they they pay most artist. If the Music industry wants to survive as they are they have to deal with the Internet not try to fight it.

With the cost of a recording studio in every ones reach. The industry lost the lock they had on it. We are all much less likely to steal from the artist than some faceless corporation that has fought us at ever turn and sues little kids because the kid can't afford to go to court.

It will take a while for the artist and the buyer to work out ways to cut the music company out of the loop but the music company doesn't get their act together they will go the way TV & movies are fast headed.

At least I can watch some of the TV shows I miss in a few days on my 24 inch IMac which is the main reason I bought the big screen. And as an added benefit there almost no commercials yet. I don't like Apples ITune model of selling crippled music.

The net is rapidly changing the way most intellectual property is exchanged & laws don't stop the public will if they are too far apart.

Gordon

[kkcbs]

"Now those high school students are today's college students and have learned to take what they can't afford."

Sheesh -- can't afford a new car? NO PROBLEM, JUST TAKE IT! Idiots...

[mountainzen]

Many valid points being made here...

Ease of downloading a file might help sell more songs. If you have to convert from .aap file to MP3 when using iTunes, and an illegal site has the MP3 for free, who is going to go to iTunes? Also, the record industry has copy protection on their songs, but the illegal ones don't, who wants the one that's copy guarded?

CD's are recorded in "WAV" format--that's better than MP3, but not many people know or care. The record industry has to change its model and listen to the consumer instead of suing 11 year-old kids and grandmothers. If they made it *easier* to buy songs, songs that are in the format you want without restrictions they would sell more songs.

[dexter0011]

This segment was a waste of air time.

Tell me something I don't know. How about the need to change the business model and what the industry is doing to make it happen.

[gunnerv1]

Pay the dime, or do the time, There's no such thing as a "free" lunch.