Copyright Conflicts...Why Bother?

If I could make a statement for myself, but let my word be heard, I would say "Downloading music and movies should NOT be restricted to the public." Times are changing rapidly and the media market is pushing people to adapt to new styles. People are sharing information about themselves and posting pictures with profanity and illegal practices. Lifestyles that consist of web browsing, pools of entertainment, and the latest information. Why is it that people are being restricted to file sharing?

People have access to just about anything on the World Wide Web, with a simple hypertext and a two "clicks," they are ready to go. People, nowadays, rarely go out to stores anymore for entertainment, they get them "on demand," by the power of their own hands. Technology is forcing people to access new forms of media without leaving their homes. It unethical to think that such a brilliant resource is being solid by a couple of bad seeds.

Being a fan of both movies and music I have done my share of downloading. "YES I said it!" "I download & upload, I steal online files, I copyright!" To me its more like sharing a CD with someone you don't know, and then uploading the songs on your computer so you can listen to them whenever you want to. I realize companies by into the making of these Cd's, recording labels, getting the band to sign, release dates, shipping, and store space all cost money. In fact design and layout of the CD typically costs an average of $4,000 (Cost and Sales). Taking this into critical thinking these companies have to be making quite the pocket change. Warner Brother Records estimated roughly 2.5 million dollars in sales in December of 2007 for the Instant Karma CD (Warner Brother Records). Now this may be just a "guesstimate," but why all of a sudden are these corporations attacking their buyers?

If I could compare this situation metaphorically, its similar to a mother telling her child "no cookies until after dinner." Well, if mother didn't put the cookies in reaching range, the little kid wouldn't try to go for them, and if mom didn't make so many cookies maybe she wouldn't notice one missing cookie. The problem becomes a hassle when mom has eight kid's and each kid starts taking cookies--maybe sometimes two cookies. This is when mother notices that cookies are missing and comes after the culprits. Well... when mother waits and see that Junior who loves those chocolate chips so much comes back for one last cookie. BAM!!! Junior is caught and gets put in time out. The same thing works with File Sharing and Downloading.

With the creation of RockBand and Guitar Hero more kids are learning about the older bands their parents grew up listening too. What to curious children do nowadays if they want an answer. They look it up on the Internet. They find out about these legends of rock and roll and download more of their songs. discover new opportunities of creating music and learning from old music.

The music industry has changed dramatically over the years finding more reasons to start suing and protecting their profits from the real talented musicians. The online infringement of copyrighted music can be punished by up to three years in prison and $250,000 in fines. Repeat offenders can be imprisoned up to six years. Individuals also may be held civilly liable, regardless of whether the activity is for profit, for actual damages or lost profits, or for statutory damages up to $150,000 per infringed copyright.

From what I have seen from "Music History 101" the obscenities went from complaining about obscene gesture on television (From Elvis), Revolution movements(from John Lennon), Boogie Nights (enough said), Lyrics and vulgar content destroying children's minds and school shootings (Marlyn Manson, Limp Bizkit), copyright infringement over Cd's and file sharing(Napster). The copyright infringement has been growing steadily since 1999 when Napster was first created at Northeastern University by Shawn Fanning. (Seth Green's character in The Italian Job "Lyle/"The Real Napster" claims that Fanning stole the idea from him--that was actually Fanning in the movie.)

I realize that I shouldn't fall to one side of this case. I thought to myself, "if I were a music producer I would want to protect my profits and slap the hands that tried to take money from my pocket." Even if these corporation wanted to they couldn't post a copyright label on an MP3 or MP4 file. Evolution plays a huge role in society, as well as an effect on big business. If they want to survive they have to find an alternative route to promoting music. If I were to make a suggestion to these companies I would invest more money into band promotions or music on demand.

Another solution for movie and music lovers would be to sponsor and create more bit torrent sites. Bit torrent is a P2P site that allow file sharing to take place. People upload their music and share with other users. The page is like a MP3, MP4 web page farm, which you can pick and pull music as you please.

People break the rules everyday, whether its from running a stop sign, cheating on a exam, or ripping the "Under penalty of Law Tag" from the pillow you sleep on. Whatever the case maybe people still get away with downloading and file sharing no matter the risks. It's only up to the consumer to put a stop to all this mayhem. As the consumer, the listener, and the fans people demand that they get their music.