Listening to music is an enjoyable and relaxing pastime for many people. In bygone years, people had to buy compact disks to get their music, recently, it is simple and convenient to not only listen to your favorite music for but you download it for your future listening pleasure. From a consumer perspective, this is quite convenient. However, from the music industry perspective, this has created a dilemma as sales continue to decline
Nowadays, you can get free music by simply logging on to the internet and finding websites that let you listen and download your favorite hits. The internet is available just about everywhere. You will rarely find a person who does not use it. We all use it for various reasons. One of which is to listen to internet radio. Some internet radio sites offer live streaming of music while others also feature free music download. Now, this presented a problem. The files associated with this music are copyright, and they are often disseminated without the express permission of their owner.
Who has not heard of the legal action taken by the Recording Industry Association of America or the RIAA? These case charges were filed against thousands of internet users from all walks of life. The purpose of this action is to help buttress declining sales by enforcing copyright laws. After realizing that sales continue to drop and that the efforts made did not create significant impact against internet users whom they sued one by one, the RIAA have tweaked their complaints a bit.
Some of these law suits are still proceeding, however, efforts are now focused in a different direction. Instead of going after each internet user are determined to have downloaded a music file, a letter of complaint will be sent to your internet service provider. This enables the enforcement of music copyright increasingly efficient. First, your ability to download music files is dependent on your internet connection hence once you are out of your internet service provider list, you will no longer be able to download files. Second, collaborating with handful of internet service providers is much easier than going to court to sue individuals. This initiative has allowed the RIAA to differentiate regular users from the list of illegal down loaders. A significant proportion of this music is derived from an internet radio station.
The fact that the RIAA initiatives to stop music piracy and copyright infringement did not seem to work at all, the supreme court was compelled not to review the case. This decision has resulted in the RIAA taking a different tact. Instead of going after the people who download, they will only go after those users who are uploading more than a thousand files. The result of this strategy is that, if you download copyright music, you will not be charged, but if your then upload these files to a server for the use of others, they will pursue you in court.
There is no doubt that illegal music downloading is having an adverse effect on the music industry. With the advent of internet radio and music download web sites, there needs to be a clearer understanding of which actions constitute copyright infringement.
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