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Information For Parents	Tools For Educators	Parental Advisory	Parental Leaflet
Legal Music Sites	CDT's Download Warning List	Pause Parent Play	Ten Tips To Get You Started

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The issue of illegal downloading provides educators with a perfect opportunity to spotlight the intersection of technology, copyright law, and civic responsibility. Because so many students are consumers of digital music and movies, educators are uniquely positioned to guide them in a legal and ethical exploration of copyright and intellectual property in the digital age.

Curriculum for Grades 3-8

Music Rules! is a free educational program designed by Young Minds Inspired to help lay the foundation for respecting all forms of intellectual property, especially music recordings. Developed for students in grades 3-8, the educational materials include engaging classroom activities that help to set guidelines for using technology responsibly. Lesson plans for grades 3-5 take an interdisciplinary approach, with classroom activities addressing standards in language arts, mathematics, citizenship, computer technology, and music. Lessons for grades 6-8 take a technology-based approach, with standards-based classroom activities designed to supplement the computer skills curriculum, with projects that involve both desktop software and online research. Teachers can download program materials and brochures that provide background on intellectual property issues and tips for keeping students safe on-line at www.music-rules.com.

Assemblies & On-Line Curriculum for Grades 3-12

i-SAFE's Beat Street assembly experience for students in the upper elementary grades introduces basic learning concepts and vocabulary to begin their understanding of a very complex issue: the legal access / responsible use of music found online. Through videos, students are exposed to fundamental vocabulary and concepts related to intellectual property rights and piracy. Students are mentored - rather than taught - by friendly, engaging young people at the Beat Street Cyber Café, as they hang out, play video games, dance and have fun together. The interactive sections of the assembly – including a live on-stage skit – lay the groundwork for the learning process of how these words and ideas relate to their everyday world. By the end of the 30-45 minute assembly, students have a better understanding of the parallels of responsibilities in the cyber community to those of the physical community.

The objective of i-SAFE's: Learn B 4 U Burn Assembly Experience is to equip 6th – 12th grade students with the knowledge to make legal and responsible choices about accessing / listening to music found online. The hour-long assembly combines live and video segments, features guest speakers and true-life stories, even a humorous parody of a popular music reality television show to engage students.

While highly entertaining, the Learn B 4 U Burn Assembly Experience is also highly educational, teaching students how illegal file sharing can disable their personal computer by infecting it with worms, viruses, and Trojan horses. And through a riveting first-person account, a college-age music pirate describes how much illegal music downloading has cost him and his family. Students understand that their actions in the cyber world have serious real-world consequences.

In addition, i-SAFE offers an educational video to help parents keep their kids safe and legal on the Internet. Materials can be ordered at www.isafe.org.

Supplemental Textbook and Video for High School

The Close Up Foundation’s copyright program, Face the Music: Copyright, Art, and the Digital Age, provides a dynamic starting point for a classroom discussion on intellectual property and copyright issues. Through the video, supplemental reading, and accompanying resources, students will investigate how the nation’s founding documents define copyright, the legal decisions and legislation that have shaped copyright, and the rapidly changing social mores and technological innovations that drive the music industry and culture.  Face the Music offers an appealing introduction to the issue, featuring high school students, musicians, and other stakeholders talking about the issue.  The special supplemental text gives students a detailed, in-depth look at the effects of digitized music and illegal downloading on musicians, the music industry, and music fans.

Using all three components, students will reflect on the powerful role that music plays in people’s lives. They will research the laws and economics behind intellectual property, develop creative activities to help them appreciate the value of art and the need to protect it, and participate in informed discussion and debate from a variety of perspectives.  Students will finish the unit well-positioned to think critically about the laws that govern music and copyright and to act responsibly on that knowledge.

Please contact Liz Kennedy in the communications department at the RIAA at lkennedy@riaa.com for copies of Face the Music.

Video for University Students

Responding to a growing number of requests from campus officials for orientation materials to help educate college students about intellectual property laws, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) – in consultation with the American Council on Education (ACE) and EDUCAUSE – has developed a new video to help inform students about the potential consequences of illegally downloading music and the many legal alternatives available today. Featured in the eight-minute video is Derek “Mickey” Borchardt, a University of North Carolina at Charlotte student sentenced earlier this year to six months home confinement as part of the federal music piracy crackdown “Operation FastLink.” The video is available free of charge for use by colleges and universities http://www.campusdownloading.com/.

For more information, please see related press releases.

Music Industry Debuts New Educational Video for College, University Use this Fall

New Educational Materials for Young Music Fans to Hit Classrooms this Fall