If you want your music for free, listen to the radio


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MP3 Bootlegging is wrong. There can be no doubt about that. No matter whether you're emailing a copy of your favorite song to a friend or setting up an FTP site with your entire collection of albums all MP3ed available for download, it's an infringement of copyright law. Unless, of course, you have legal permission to do so.

But very few people are in that position. If you take a quick surf to Kermit, a popular MP3 search engine, you'll find thousands of links to illegal copies of music. No wonder the Recording Industry Association of America (R.I.A.A.) and the major record labels are worried about online piracy. Both they, and their artists, are losing revenue. In 1997, the industry was worth $38.1 billion. That's twice the gross domestic product of Afghanistan!

In 1998 the R.I.A.A. expanded its operations and stepped up its efforts in the first half of the year, unveiling a university educational campaign, expanding it's Internet enforcement team, and sueing at least two Internet sites for violating the rights of hundreds of artists.

"We're continuing to step up our Internet enforcement program to foster a legitimate marketplace for sound recordings," Steve D'Onofrio, RIAA executive vice president and director of anti-piracy, said on the association's website. "The industry is working together to create an environment where emerging technology -- whether it be online or in CD-R format -- is not used illegally. Our role is to protect the artists, musicians, songwriters and record companies who create the content."

The RIAA represents more than 500 companies engaged in mobilizing the talents of musicians, artists and producers to entertain millions of people worldwide. Its members create, manufacture and/or distribute approximately 90% of all legitimate sound recordings produced and sold in the United States. They include BMG Entertainment; EMI-Recorded Music; PolyGram Holding, Inc.; Sony Music Entertainment, Inc.; Universal Music Group; and Warner Music Group, in addition to smaller labels such as Rhino, Tommy Boy, HOLA Records, La Face and Zero House. With this backing, it's of little surprise that the association is committed to countering music piracy.

Currently, the R.I.A.A has no hard statistics on the extent of online piracy. But with known cassette bootlegging decreasing, it's a not hard to assume bootlegging in cyberspace is expanding rapidly. Still, the R.I.A.A. can only provide anecdotal information of losses to the industry based on evidence uncovered in the discovery phase of past litigation against illegal music archive sites using MP3 technology.

If you choose to believe what the R.I.A.A. says about online piracy, here's it claims about the impact of bootlegging on the music industry:

• Consumers lose: Piracy drives up the price of legitimate recordings. The sound and materials of pirated music are also often of a poor quality, and the product can’t be returned.

• Artists, musicians, songwriters and producers lose: They don’t get the royalties and fees they’ve earned -- and 95% of all artists depend on fees to make a living. Their reputations also suffer when the fakes are of poor quality. Retailers and distributors lose: Their prices can’t compete with those of illegal vendors, which means less business and fewer jobs.
  
• Record companies lose: 85% of all the recordings issued don’t even make back their costs. Record companies rely on the remaining 15% of recordings that are successful to subsidize less profitable types of music, to cover the costs of developing new artists and to keep their businesses operational.

As a representative body of the major player in the American music industry, the R.I.A.A. is bound to act against pirates. It's the largest domestic market in the world and its influence extends globally. So, with this in mind, why do people pirate online? Why do people download illegal music? If nothing else, they're ripping off the artists by denying them income. It's not just the suits who drive BMWs that get ripped off.

If you want your music for free, listen to the radio.

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