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Piracy Online
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Piracy: Online
The Internet offers music lovers virtually limitless possibilities. Digital technology brings music to a wider public, affords niche artists access to their audiences, makes our vast musical heritage widely available, and distributes old, new and unusual music at affordable prices. Record companies are embracing the power and promise of the digital future. And that future is here.
There should be no doubt that the U.S. Supreme Court’s unanimous 2005 decision in MGM vs. Grokster has helped to give new weight to the music community’s ongoing efforts to license an ever-expanding variety of digital business models and combat the theft of music online. We now have legal and moral clarity about the rules of the road, both for businesses and individuals, and the legal marketplace is attracting new fans and showing real promise.
Yet online music theft – particularly on college campuses and with hardcore frequent peer-to-peer users – remains a black mark on this exciting marketplace. It is a significant problem requiring additional attention, resources and governmental assistance.
Our response to the online theft of music is multi-faceted. Most important is to offer fans legal alternatives. That’s always the most effective “anti-piracy” strategy. We also educate. We work with a variety of respected educational leaders to develop curriculum and other materials that seek to engage fans and encourage them to think critically about how they acquire music (hyperlink to part of site with various programs) and other forms of intellectual property. Finally, as a last resort, on behalf of our member companies, we may bring a lawsuit to protect the rights of the major record companies. Lawsuits tend to generate the most attention but they are only part of a comprehensive, multi-pronged strategy.
Absent action by the industry, the illegal downloading world would be exponentially worse. The industry’s anti-piracy efforts have deterred a sizeable number of would-be illegal downloaders. More broadly, the industry’s efforts have made an impact on attitudes, practices, cultural norms, awareness and the business climate for legal services. Without these deterrence efforts, the legal marketplace would not have achieved the success it has so far.
Online piracy is the unauthorized uploading of a copyrighted sound recording and making it available to the public, or downloading a sound recording from an Internet site, even if the recording isn't resold. Online piracy can now also include certain uses of "streaming" technologies from the Internet. Because of the nature of the theft, the damage is not always easy to calculate but not hard to envision. Millions of dollars are at stake – not to mention our ability to invest in the next generation of music.
