Imagine a world where you could never listen
to music that you did not own. The odds are slim of you stumbling upon a
purchase of an album you like without someone sharing it with you first. If our
society never shared music with each other, the recognition of great singers
would be a much slower process. In the entertainment world, the most effective
way for something to become popular is by word of mouth. Similarly, if my
friends could not show me trailers of movies they were excited to go see, I
might never discover those movies either. Preventing people from sharing
entertainment with each other would hurt the entertainment industry much more
than the current situation already is.
Honestly, there is not
much incentive for me to pay for my own copy of all the songs that I like. I will
either hear them for free on the radio, on Pandora, or on YouTube. Whether I
end up with my own copy through a friend, or not, I would not have spent the
money on it anyway. The difference is that I would get to listen to songs I
like whenever I want and this may even allow more of my friends to discover
that they like the songs also. This would cause a ripple effect involving more
people going to a singer's concert or purchasing their products. Not enough
people illegally create or copy products to keep performers from profiting. If
people really care about having their own copy, then they know that the
originally manufactured items have the best quality anyway. Those that are
willing to buy their own copy of products will do so, and those that are not
cannot be forced to.
http://www.ornery.org/essays/warwatch/2003-09-07-1.html
http://arantxa.ii.uam.es/~ssantini/work/papers/recent/s428_proof.pdf
http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=1197470&isnumber=26946
http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=1197471&isnumber=26946
http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=the_control_of_ideas
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/441/when-patents-attack
Were it not for "illegal" sharing of music, the music industries would be in the dumps. They should be grateful that SOPA and PIPA did not pass.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the sentiment that music sharing does a lot to increase the popularity of music. But I don't know where to draw the line. At some point, someone needs to pay for the music.
ReplyDeleteIt is always funny to hear the extreme arguments of a particular party in the legislative and civil process. When I hear these arguments I always earnestly hope that there are brilliant people on the other side of the argument that can tear it to shreds.
ReplyDelete