There are very few things in today’s age that I can’t stand.
They include but are not limited to: grown men who drive Barbie-sized Mazda Miatas; mothers who verbally and physically scold their children in line at the grocery store; and girls who say Oasis’ best song is “Wonderwall” (in fact, it’s “Slide Away”).
Above all else though, I absolutely can’t stand people who download music illegally and the absurd justifications they use.
The illegal downloading of music is hurting artists not only financially but morally too. Artists who record music should be compensated for their services, end of story.
In the era of free services like Pandora and Spotify, it confounds me as to why people justify downloading music illegally.
Some outright acknowledge that they download because they can’t afford it.
If you can’t afford something, the solution is not to steal it.
Instead, one should save their money and buy the product once they have the cash.
Just because you can’t afford something that is not life essential doesn’t give you the right to take it.
Some who download music illegally justify it by claiming that music artists and record companies already make enough money and that downloading one song won’t hurt
them at all.
I’m sorry, but who gave you the authority to say they already have “enough” money? Last time I checked, there is no law in place capping the amount of money an artist can earn.
I would be more swayed by an argument against capitalism, but then again, most people who download illegally don’t really think in the first place.
Downloading one song illegally may not hurt the artist much, but if a million songs are downloaded illegally then a huge profit is lost.
This entire argument hinges on the self-evident fact that people should be fairly compensated for their services.
Musicians, like every other working person in the world, deserve to be compensated for the service they provide to the world: music.
Those who steal from artists should be treated as thieves.
Stealing something that isn’t tangible, like music, is just as bad as stealing something that is tangible.
Recently, a group of musicians from bands like Queen, the Who and Led Zeppelin signed a letter urging the British government to stop the wave of illegal downloads.
Whether this article will influence much, I do not know. I hope it will, but I’m not too optimistic.
Until then, I’ll continue to listen to music that I purchased legally. Even better than the smell of money – the smell of warm, crackling vinyl.
Shane Newell is a sophomore journalism student and the assistant city editor for the Daily 49er.
Maybe if the economy wasn’t bad and people had money they’d start paying for stuff again. Games and music is nothing but bad release after bad release. People who download stuff illegally may use it as a try before you buy thing. People don’t like wasting money. if you like a CD then go out and buy it. Why isn’t Spotify illegal? You can listen to the same music but some people want to have a large iTune’s library with 20,000 songs.