Sam Mitchell: Music Piracy Persuasive

Sam Mitchell                                                                                                   Mitchell 1

Mrs. Lomonte

English

December 9, 2010

Music Piracy is wrong

Music piracy is something that is constantly happening throughout not only the United States, but throughout the whole world. It is the stealing of copyrighted music by downloading via the Internet or from applications that can be installed from the Internet. Millions of people are doing this, so the question is brought up- is music piracy a good thing, and is it okay to do? The answer to that question: NO, music piracy is not only illegal, but it steals money from the music makers and producers, which can potentially put them out of business.

If you ask a large number of people who download copyrighted music for free, odds are that only a tiny amount would not know that that act (piracy) is actually illegal. The majority of file-sharers (another term for music pirates) however know for a fact that what they are doing is illegal. The majority of these file-sharers also would not ever steal something from an actual store. So, why do they believe that it is perfectly fine to steal over the Internet? The consequences for music piracy are almost exactly the same as stealing from a store. The downloader can be fined, the amount depending on how much music was actually downloaded. According to the RIAA, the minimum fine for piracy is $750 per song. Pirates can even be imprisoned if they steal masses of music. The RIAA flat out said: “It’s a criminal act… When you make illegal copies of someone’s creative work, you are stealing and breaking the law.” They also say: “Criminal penalties for first-

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time offenders can be as high as five years in prison and $250,000 in fines.” This shows that this is a serious offense, and has its severe consequences.

Aside from the fact that music piracy is illegal, it also hurts the profit of music makers, producers, and record companies immensely. Studies show that $12.5 billion is lost annually due to music piracy. The workers of many music companies are also affected by this loss of money: they have smaller salaries and some even lose their job. The RIAA says that around 71,060 jobs in the music industry have been lost in the past year due to file sharing.

Music piracy is a serious problem in our world today, and it needs to be put to a stop. People should realize that it is illegal, with many consequences, and it affects the music industry in a very horrible way.