Music Piracy - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages... Music piracy is harming the economy in a substantial manner following the robbing of artistes of their creativity and compensation. This also works in the domino effect where loss of revenue in one industry results in an overall loss in other industries; this is because of decreased sales. Illegal music downloads over the internet affects a large number of people ranging from artists, songwriters, audio engineers, computer technicians, talent scouts and producers. All these people are reliant on the music industry for their income and as a source of livelihood, which is based on intellectual property. Denying musicians and their affiliates of revenue puts at risk the jobs of millions of people, as there will be no funds to sustain them at work. In addition, it denies the government of taxes paid by the said population thus affecting the overall development of a nation. Some musicians and producers with recording studios have even been forced to close business to loss of revenue and increasing operating costs leading to losses. On a personal scale, piracy punishes successful artistes by putting them on a level where their rights are not equal to those of other citizens of the world. This is because it is similar to theft or robbery, only that this time it robs an individual of his or her intellectual property. In a normal world, the law punishes robbers and thieves, but in piracy, little is done leading to demoralized artistes and music industry affiliates (Greenblatt 992). This way all those that work closely with the music industry are left at a loss as for clothing lines and no merchandise is rolled out to popularize the music produced. This, in turn, trickles all the way down to the textile industry, finally the farmer, and the global economy. As a result, the music industry is undergoing a slow death owing to increased piracy, and little effort applied to its prevention. In addition, piracy of music affects the internet network used for pirated downloads in terms of bandwidth. This is particularly so as it strips the network to the bare essential leading to loss of productivity, while participating in illegal activities, as is prone in institutions of higher learning (Wade 4). Therefore, in order to prevent music piracy from taking place, a myriad of measures can be taken that are directed to those that engage in the practice. Since most of the pirates in the music industry are students, advertising can play a crucial role. Most companies have taken part in massive campaigns directed at students in an attempt to convince student to stop downloading music illegally. However, this has little effects as students are working even harder to bring down the music industry. Studies show that one of the ways to cut down on music piracy especially in this age of the internet is to understand the mind and the drive behind a pirate’s behavior prior to the action. This is concerning the motivation of the pirate and his or her goals. In this case, a pirate would like access to music but there are inhibitions to getting t to the goal, in the form of monetary requirement. As a result, pirates seek to bypass this barrier by downloading music from illegal sites. Therefore, campaigns targeting definite pirates can be a significant boost against piracy. This is through creating campaign depicting the dangers that one is exposed to ...Download file to see next pagesRead More