Music piracy
A Brief Introduction
Widely -and sometimes mockingly- known as the ‘victimless crime,’ music piracy has existed as a contentious battle between the music industry and consumers since the early stages of musical documentation. Though piracy encompasses a wide array of copyright infringements, music piracy can be thought of as the illegal downloading, copying, and distribution of music in the form of MP3 files. It implies the absence of consent from the owner, because music piracy effectively circumvents the standard process of paying for music released by artists.To begin to understand the complex issue of music piracy, it is necessary to further examine the past and present laws regarding piracy, the history of music piracy itself, and the ethics of this practice.
Legality
Ownership in the form of copyright has been of legal concern quite literally since the birth of America. The US Constitution explicitly states intentions “to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.”<site> However, music was not originally considered a product that warranted protection under this copyright umbrella. In fact, the running list of copyright protected products in the U.S., which originally contained books, maps, and charts, failed to include music until 1831, and sound recordings until 1972 <site>. With the Copyright Act of 1909 published work became ‘protected’ and composers/musicians earned a flat rate royalty<define this?> when their music was recorded. However, reproducing specific musical compositions (similar to creating covers) without the consent of the original composer remained legal. Further, sound recordings remained unprotected until the Sound Recording Act of 1971, which extended federal protection to prohibit piracy of phonograms. Soon after, the Goldenstein v. California Supreme Court Case of 1973, in effect, ruled that beyond federal policy, states maintained the right to expand copyright protection through their own anti-piracy laws<cite>. Replacing its 1909 counterpart, the 1976 Copyright Act explicitly laid out copyright protections and terms of fair use. Most notably, it extended to length of protection from the previous 50-56 year standard to cover the life of the author plus an additional 50 years<cite >. For anonymous works, a static 75 year protection was put in place. This, in addition to Title 17 of the United States Code<cite >, remains the basis of American copyright laws today. Since the late 90’s the criminalization of music piracy has intensified. Now, depending on the severity of the violation, the case can be handled as a civil lawsuit (resulting in thousands of dollars in fines), or result in criminal charges which could leave the pirate with a felony record, up to 5 years of jail time, and/or up to $250,000 in fines<cite >. Though in 2011 the Stop Online Piracy, Act (SOPA), which aimed to further criminalize piracy, was strongly supported by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), it received widespread public backlash in the form of online protest from companies like Google and English Wikipedia, and never passed <cite>.
History
Though music piracy is often thought of within a modern digital context, it is not a new phenomena that was born with the internet. Rather, outside of the public eye, pirates flourished in the first half of the 20th century. Because sound recordings lacked federal protection until 1973, as mentioned previously, bootleggers could record live performances and redistribute records in a manner that technically, was not illegal <cite>. Music piracy born from sound recordings became a further commonality in the rock counterculture era of the 1960s. Famous rock bootleg albums include Bob Dylan’s Great White Wonder (1969) which featured high-quality recordings of unreleased songs, and The Rolling Stones’ Live’r Than You’ll Ever Be (1969), from an audience recording of their concert in Oakland, CA<cite>. This insurgence prompted the copyright policy change which the US saw in the 1970’s. However it wasn’t until the 90’s that America truly experienced the extent to which piracy could impact the music industry. Coinciding with increased mainstream computer usage, music piracy in the form of peer-to-peer (P2P) MP3 file-sharing platforms soon became incredibly easy and accessible for anyone with basic computer skills. The most notable P2P technology, Napster, was created in 1999 by nephew and uncle duo, Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker, and reportedly reached 80 million registered users <cite >. Despite its popularity, it didn’t take long for Napster to receive legal backlash; both the RIAA and musicians Dr. Dre and Metallica sued Napster and won their cases. Though it still exists today, Napster was acquired by Rhapsody from Best Buy in 2011 and currently provides on-demand music to brands like iHeartRadio.<cite> Beyond basic MP3 file sharing, P2P sites were also utilized to leak albums before they were released by the artist to the public. Bennie Lydell “Dell” Glover, an employee at a CD manufacturing plant in North Carolina became notorious for single handedly smuggled hundreds of pop and rap CDs from the factory and sharing them on Rabid Neurosis (RNS) -another P2P file sharing site. It’s estimated that nearly 2,000 albums were leaked on RMS around the turn of the century, most of which coming from this North Carolina plant <cite >. Artists such as Jay Z, Eminem, Mary J Blige, Kanye West, and Mariah Carey all had their music leaked on RMS because of Glover’s actions. In more recent history, the Music Consumer Insight Report of 2018 reflects the relative prevalence of music piracy in the modern era of music <cite>. Globally, a reported “38% consume music through copyright infringement.” Among these pirates, it was found that the majority download their music through stream-ripping, cyberlockers, or P2P. However, the present system for acquiring music through legal constraints is not necessarily without critique. Spotify, with 87 million paid subscribers <cite>, has been accused of being a legal version of what Napster and the like once were; with minimal fees for unlimited music consumption, the price of music is ‘free’<cite>
Ethics of Music Piracy
As music piracy has evolved with the music industry and technological development in general, strong proponents and opponents of the practice have always existed.
Pros
Despite the serious legal consequences currently in place to penalize music piracy, many music consumers today still download music illegally. Some justify the practice because of the addictive ‘rush’ it provides, rather than an actual monetary necessity to do so<cite >, while others cite their 1st amendment rights<cite>. Though most understand that it is a crime, the polarization stems from how serious one considers the offense. For instance, many consider the offense to be more comparable to trespassing, rather than actual theft, because piracy does not prevent others from accessing music; it solely circumvents the legal process to redefine who has access to music. <cite> Similarly, the intensity of the legal consequences of music piracy is widely criticized. In recent decades, pirates with relatively minimal violations have been made examples and forced to pay enormous fines <cite>.
=Cons
However, others consider music piracy to be far from a victimless crime, and have played vocal roles in the opposition. Namely, the RIAA has served as a leading opponent since the 90s era introduction of P2P MP3 file sharing, and has taken consistent legal action against the practice. Though the extent to which music piracy affects established musicians is up for debate, many musicians argue that this illegal sharing of music devalues their art, and essentially makes their work free. In this sense it is considered stealing. Likewise, music leaks clearly undermine an artist’s control over their work.<need source>
Ultimately, the contentious and timeless battle of music piracy comes down to the idea of ownership: Who owns art, who has the right to share it, and how can one gain access to it?
