Downloading music from the internet

[Jules_C]

I was just thinking - now that music is so available on the internet, on sites such as Youtube etc, music sales are falling.

It's so easy to download it from these sites, rather than paying for it in download or CD form.

Is this right? Or is it morally questionable? Some people have said to me that it's nothing better than common theft.

 

[Sparkey]

That would depend on the copyright and license for the particular piece of music. "Availability" doesn't enter into it.

In order to expand the question (while not trying to answer it) consider the person who records music from an FM radio broadcast and listens to it later. Here's the point, is there a difference between intellectual property (music) that is broadcast through the air (which is free and public) and that which is broadcast over wire (which isn't "free") and not through the air?

Copyright law in music makes two crucial distinctions. First, it distinguishes between the composition itself and sound recordings of the composition.
read more at http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/fallsem98/final_papers/Tada.html

 

[Jules_C]

Yes, but music that is clearly copyright protected can easily be found on Youtube and other sites.

 

[Knotical]

Yup, really it has to do with any violation to a copyright that is on the material. That being said, it really is a moot point, considering artists make way more touring than they would ever make on music sales.

This whole idea of a "problem with copying music" has actually been around since the first time you could record something off the radio. But it has only become a "huge" problem since the advent of file sharing which arose in the 90's.

I don't know if you have ever done this, but anytime you upload a video on youtube there is a script that runs through your video that searches for copyrighted material. If any is found a disclaimer will appear with the video. Also, if you are able to upload a video with say a song from "Mercy Me" you must indicate that you have no rights to music and it all belongs to the original artists.

 

[Sparkey]

I posted a link (in an edit to my previous post). Here it is again:

Read more at the Harvard.edu site: http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/fallsem98/final_papers/Tada.html

 

[Jules_C]

I don't know if you have ever done this, but anytime you upload a video on
youtube there is a script that runs through your video that searches for
copyrighted material. If any is found a disclaimer will appear with the video.
Also, if you are able to upload a video with say a song from "Mercy Me" you must
indicate that you have no rights to music and it all belongs to the original
artists.

Yes! I would think twice before uploading any music to Youtube for this very reason.

It is a somewhat gray area, isn't it?

 

[Knotical]

Yes! I would think twice before uploading any music to Youtube for this very reason.

It is a somewhat gray area, isn't it?

Not really, since youtube will post or not post your video depending on what is available in the copyright of the material you are uploading. Also, even if they initially approve it, they sometimes will come back and take it down if they receive a complaint and request to have it removed.

I highly doubt anyone would come after you for uploading a video on youtube that contains material you do not have the right to use since they will just take it down.

 

[evenifigoalone]

Personally I use YouTube to listen to music a lot. It's a great way to preview an artist's or album's songs and decide whether they're worth buying or not. I listen to them on YouTube, may add them to my favorites. If I like what I hear, when I get the money I buy my favorite songs or the whole album.

I don't know whether it's morally wrong to download music from the internet or not. I think it's best to play it safe, though.

 

[Jules_C]

Some people in my church are VERY categorical on this subject! I can see other sides.

 

[Obadiah]

I just don't know if I feel sorry for the "artists" or not. I've been hearing them whine about how they are loosing their shirts and going broke because of this stuff for at least 30 years now, but yet I still see them on TV as they are arrested in their Beverly Hills mansions for their high end expensive drug addictions, etc. It used to be that you only weren't allowed to copy music if you were going to sell it for a profit. Now that I can understand. But then these greedy drug addicts went to court trying to get a ruling saying that we can't even record a song to listen to it later, just so they can make even more money to support their deviant and expensive lifestyles.

As for me, I've never been able to figure out what we are actually allowed to do anymore, so I figure if it's out there and recordable, and I want it, I'll record it. I don't make a profit off of it, and I don't feel guilty. If that causes some multi-millionaire drug addict musician to loose a couple of dollars because I only bought one of his overpriced CDs and copied it instead of buying several separate ones to keep in my car, work, etc while I sometimes wonder if my near future career may involve standing on a corner with a cardboard sign, well, I'm not feeling very bad about that. Ok, rant over.

 

[Jules_C]

I posted a link (in an edit to my previous post). Here it is
again:

Read more at the Harvard.edu site: http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/fallsem...pers/Tada.html

Very interesting article, thank you.

 

[Double]

I am familiar in the department of pirating music, I used to do it until the government took down the source I was using. There are truckloads of music out there that isn't attainable any other way, except through piracy.

Today I am okay with buying music through digital means, but because not every brick-and-mortar/online outlet sells music from every artist or soundtrack (especially music from foreign countries), I am often left with no other choice but to wait for literally anybody to stock it. This could take years, it may not even happen in my lifetime!

Because of that very reason alone, I have trouble calling piracy a sin or thinking that it's wrong

 

[Eugene]

I am familiar in the department of pirating music, I used to do it until the government took down the source I was using. There are truckloads of music out there that isn't attainable any other way, except through piracy.

Today I am okay with buying music through digital means, but because not every brick-and-mortar/online outlet sells music from every artist or soundtrack (especially music from foreign countries), I am often left with no other choice but to wait for literally anybody to stock it. This could years, it may not even happen in my lifetime!

Because of that very reason alone, I have trouble calling piracy a sin or thinking that it's wrong

Hi Double and welcome to CF.net. With that thinking, would it also be alright to kidnap the band and force then to play music for you?

 

[Double]

Hi Double and welcome to CF.net. With that thinking, would it also be alright to kidnap the band and force then to play music for you?

Hi Eugene it is nice to meet you

I don't understand the connection you are making here, why would I want to kidnap the band? I would pay to see them, but they won't come play in my area. It's kind of like that.

I live in the USA and love Japanese music (J-pop in particular), but it is a tough genre of music to come across, especially when it comes to purchasing. The only real way of obtaining that music is to download it off the internet for free, because there is just no other way. Sure you can find little traces of J-pop sprinkled here and there, but the library is obviously unmatched against what Japan would offer in their own music stores. Also, because J-pop is international music, it has to be given legal rights, imported etc. It's just a complete mess, and is almost always costly to the consumer.

 

[Eugene]

Hi again Double and I was being facetious as to kidnapping a band, but regardless of our need or desire can we really justify breaking the law? Where then would be the dividing line? Thanks. ;)

 

[evenifigoalone]

I do download music when I want a fandub of an anime song--because how else am I going to get it in English? I've bought some off iTunes in their original Japanese, but it's nice to have them in English, too. (Although some of the American dubbing companies have begun dubbing the songs as well. But I don't think they sell them.)

I imagine that any Japenese music outside of the songs used in popular anime series would be pretty hard to find outside of Japan.

 

[Double]

Hi again Double and I was being facetious as to kidnapping a band, but regardless of our need or desire can we really justify breaking the law? Where then would be the dividing line? Thanks. ;)

God's word would make a good dividing line! :chicken

When speaking of "Thou shall not steal", I have to admit that I have trouble deciding how far that rule goes. I mean.. all that a music file is, is a bunch of data comprised of 0's and 1's.

 

[Jules_C]

OK, well if someone lends me a CD and I load it into my computer, am I stealing that music? It is a very common practice amongst many of my friends.

 

[Sparkey]

Nope. Your friend may lend you their CD. The area of concern would be when your friend makes a copy of the CD and "gives" you what has not been paid for. But I think we all know this intuitively.

 

[Jules_C]

But I think we all know this intuitively.

I can't see the difference if it is given to me as a hard copy, or uploaded on to my computer. Either way, I haven't paid for it and received copyrighted stuff for free.

Of course, we could say that the music industry is a moral cesspit, having raked in fortunes over the years, by beguiling kids with low quality dross churned out by pretty (male and female) pop stars. Now, in today's digital age, they are not making anything like the same sort of gains.

But still, there's an issue there for me.

As I said, my church is adamant on the issue. It's stealing. End of. I'm not saying that those are necessarily my views.