Music Club Activity #1

[laynie.livejournal.com]

Hey Music Club Members! It's time to have a discussion/debate. It's no secret that in the past 5 or 6 years, the music industry has experienced a sharp downturn, mostly due to peer-to-peer file sharing programs such as Napster. The music industry's largest target market (teens and young adults) have turned to the internet for their music needs, where songs can be downloaded for free. After numerous lawsuits, programs such as ITunes have popped up...where songs can be purchased for a small fee. However, illegal music downloading still continues.

So here's the question: Do you think it's wrong to illegally download music, and why? Do you download any music, legally (ex. ITunes), or illegally (ex. peer-to-peer filesharing programs)?

Note: Everyone's opinions WILL be respected here. And there are good points to be made for both sides of this issue.

Brooke / Gryffindor

Comments

[cherrysk8fan.livejournal.com]

I really think it depends. If an artist specifically opposes file sharing, as a fan of the artist, one should respect his/her opinions. On the other hand, some encourage sharing of their music: word of mouth publicity is a beautiful thing.

From a personal standpoint, I've definitely been known to download music via LimeWire...however, usually when I only want a song or two, or if I'm looking for something ridiculously obscure, like random concert band pieces and bits of classical music skaters are using in performance. I buy full albums if I think I want the whole thing. If it's a single, I'm much more likely to just download it and go. If it's the entire soundtrack to, oh, let's say, RENT, which I will listen to in its entirety half a million times, I buy the CD.

I go to a large university, and my computer is plugged into the university network, which has been known to track file sharing. It's rather dangerous to share music files, unless you want to pay the extremely heavy fines. (And when it's higher than four years of tuition...trust me, SO not worth it.) Our administration is currently working to sign us up for some sort of subscription service (the name escapes me at the moment) which will allow students connected to the university network to share files without being charged a fee. (At least for one semester.) Personally, I think that's a brilliant solution, at least at the college level, providing there are actually files shared in the new program.

Caitlyn//Ravenclaw