Could Free MP3 Music Mean Illegal Music
If you are searching for free mp3 music files, first beware. Some of the sites that list free music may be free; but may not be legal.
Many shared sites (these are sites where other internet users are sharing their music for others to download) are also sites that are considered illegal by the government and the music industry. First, as a music lover you may wonder why would anyone want to make it illegal to share music. Sounds kind of selfish to you?
Now think about it as a musician or as a singer or a writer of music. These people and others worked hard to have their music heard and recorded. They are in it to share their art, yes. But they also want to make money with it. Wouldn’t you? Would you like it if someone stole your work? Whenever a song is downloaded illegally that is what is being done. The song is being stolen.
Does it still sound selfish to you?
But how do you know which sites carry illegally downloaded music? First, you should learn about the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act and understand it.
This act basically states that recording any copyrighted material without permission is a no-no, (is illegal). The only exception to this rule is if you are recoding it for yourself, after you purchased it. For example, say you just bought the new Danielle Peck CD and you love it. But you don’t want to ruin it and you fear of losing it, it being stolen or broken. You make a copy or two of it for yourself. You want one to keep in your car and one in the house. The original copy you don’t want to play. You just save. This is completely legal. You made the copy or copies of the CD for yourself, for your own use.
Now if your friend wanted you to copy it for her, it would be illegal. It would also be illegal for you to upload the CD or any of the tracks on that CD to a shared (peer to peer) site.
It is hard to estimate just how much the music industry is losing each year because of shared internet uploading and downloading of music. Some estimates say that since 1999 it has lost as much as 20%. Yet, this number could be higher because it is almost impossible to know how many songs have been uploaded and especially how many times each has been downloaded.
The music industry has begun fighting back and has begun prosecuting both commercial and noncommercial cases which involves uploading and downloading illegal mp3 files. These cases are called music piracy cases.
Who is being prosecuted? It is the people who have published some of the shared (peer to peer) sites and even regular individuals who are uploading and downloading these files (including those under the age of 18).
Those who are prosecuted and found guilty are also facing serious fines and jail time. If a person is found guilty of publishing a site that includes illegal music the person may have to pay a fine up to $250,000 and spending as long as 3 years in jail. If this person is found guiltily of a repeated offense, he/she will have to pay a larger fine and could be sentenced to up to 6 years in jail.
As for those individuals (like you and me), if we are found guiltily of music piracy we may have to pay a fine up to $150,000, even if we uploaded these files for our own use and not for profit. Could you imagine a normal teenager being able to pay this amount?
Some people, including parents, may wonder since there is so much controversy about music piracy and it is so easy to do and yet the fine is so harsh, why is there so many CD burners and other technology tools out there for us to buy? The reason is simple. They do have their place and they do enrich our lives. Again, think about the CD you just bought (at a store, legally). Isn’t it nice to be able to copy it and play the copy? This means you can keep the original safe and keep it longer. As we all know, CD’s can get damaged. They can be melted by the sun. They do scratch. They do break. For these reasons and more, there is a place for CD burners.
Yet, we consumers still have the responsibility of knowing what is right and what isn’t. We need to know which sites are actually okay to download our music from and to use.
Some people use one rule of the thumb. If the site is free, they don’t take any chances. They just don’t upload from it. They feel it isn’t much less costly to buy those CD’s than it is to pay those fines.
Other people do the research and the make sure any and all sites they download or upload from our legit. If they aren’t sure, they find another site.
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