Piracy: Theory and Reality
by Scot Hacker
02/01/2000
Participate in a few MP3 discussion forums or mailing lists, and you'll
realize there are two contrary forces at work in the MP3 pirate scene.
In my opinion, one is theory and one is reality.
Theory: The industry (officially represented by the
Recording Industry
Association of America) has held artists financially captive
for nearly a century, leaving them desperately underpaid, ignoring
genuine talent while promoting prefabricated, ready-made stars to the
hilt, and grossly overcharging for compact discs. It's time for artists
to reclaim control over the means of production and distribution. Viva MP3!
Reality: While a few sites--such as the venerable
MP3.com--have
created a true haven for unsigned artists who want to take control of their
own destinies, the reality is that the vast majority of MP3 files downloaded
from the Web are illegitimate, pirated copies of copyrighted works. While
accurate statistics are not available, it would be safe to say that more
than 90% of MP3 traffic on the Web is in illegal material. Despite the
revolutionary fervor of the theory, most people get into MP3 because they
can steal without getting caught.
Ironically, many people involved in posting or downloading illegal files
don't think of it as stealing. People justify the theft to themselves by
hiding behind excuses such as "the record industry has screwed us for
years--it's time to get back at them." Regardless of the fact that this
justification does not wash (stealing is stealing, no matter how much you
dislike the victim), there is a second point that many people fail to make
to themselves: When you participate in the pirate scene, you're not just
screwing the recording industry, you're also screwing the artists out of
their royalties. The odd thing about this situation is that, presumably,
one will only want to download music by artists whom they like and respect.
So why do people steal from artists they like? Who knows.
There's a flip side to this equation: Many people use the "free" music scene
as an analog to the shareware concept--try before you buy. And indeed,
numerous informal polls have shown that people do discover artists
they would not have discovered otherwise, and they proceed to go out and
buy CDs by those artists. There are two problems with this line of reasoning:
- The intentions may be noble, but the fact remains that neither the label
nor the artist has given permission for this transaction. If a label or artist
puts tracks online with the intention of raising awareness, that's their
business. But it's not the business of individual fans to create a shareware
scene out of someone else's intellectual property.
- While some additional sales may be generated by listeners discovering
music they may not have found otherwise, those sales are positively
dwarfed by the number of people amassing collections of music they've
never purchased and have no intention of purchasing.
