Download Music piracy research paper

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Matthew Williams
Mrs. Chambers
British Literature
21 November, 2014
The effect of music piracy on the music industry
Inventor Steve Jobs once said, “It is piracy, not overt online music stores, which is our
main competitor.” In this modern era, music piracy is primarily distributed by illegally
downloading music products from the internet or distributing music in the form of mp3 files with
friends. This negative anomaly can cause devastating losses to both the music industry and
anything relying on the music industry. Music piracy directly impacts the music industry by
limiting the number of records sold, harming the United States economy, and wasting money
spent on trying to attack piracy. While some still believe that music piracy does not affect the
general population, more and more people are beginning to realize that music piracy is affecting
us indirectly.
Music piracy affects not only the artist but also a large number of people working for the
music industry by decreasing the amount of available jobs. James D. Torr, an editor at a San
Diego newspaper states that, “stealing music compromises the livelihood of musicians,
songwriters, record store owners, and employees—basically everyone in the music industry”
(Torr). Music piracy directly affects the artist because people would much rather download a few
songs for free rather than pay a dollar and twenty-nine cents for one song or twenty dollars for a
whole album. Moreover, musicians, songwriters, singers and producers do not obtain any fees
they earned from the production of their albums because of the illegal distribution of their
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products by music pirates. According to Noah Berlatsky, “Several cases in France show that
local artists have to work more than two jobs due to the illegal production of their music”
(Berlatsky). Indeed, some artists are experiencing a bad reputation by critics and fans because of
the poor and inferior quality of pirated work. Due to music piracy, artists may soon have to make
live performances just to make a living. There is no doubt that internet exposure can be
beneficial for new artists, but there is a difference between helping the artist out by buying his or
her work and downloading their entire album for free online. Making records is an expensive
undertaking if fans are not willing to support his or her favorite bands and buy their music rather
than pirate it, then record companies will find it more difficult to commit the kind of resources it
takes to discover and develop new talent. A substantial amount of income does not even cover
the costs producing a considerable amount of albums and records. Music piracy is very
detrimental to the music industry by shortening the number of records sold, therefore, reducing
the amount of money companies can spend to make music that audiences enjoy. As a result, this
may cause recording labels to go bankrupt or lay off their employees. Honest retailers are also
losing to music piracy. They are at a loss because they can not compete with pirates who sell
their work for a tenth of the original price, and sometimes even for free. The invention of the
iPod and mp3 players also harms retailers because consumers find it more convenient to
purchase, or illegally download songs on the internet for free. To conclude, the loss of money
that results from music piracy takes away jobs and accounts for the abundance of lost profit to
the music industry.
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The entertainment industries are a thriving, if often overlooked, part of the United States
economy. Music piracy directly impacts the United States economy by decreasing the nation’s
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and costing workers over ten billion dollars in lost tax revenue.
“One credible study by the Institute for Policy Innovation pegs the ANNUAL harm at twelve and
a half billion dollars in losses to the U.S. economy as well as more than seventy thousand lost
jobs, and two billion in lost wages to American workers” (Storrs). Music piracy has really taken
a toll on the United States economy by taking away jobs and causing a loss of twelve and a half
billion dollars in tax revenues. Music piracy has become a worldwide phenomenon with the help
of the internet providing a faster, easier, and more efficient way to pirate music. Because of this,
a negative impact can be seen on not only the United States economy but also countries like
France and Spain. It is estimated that nineteen percent of the United States internet population
currently downloads music illegally from file sharing networks or other sources on a monthly
basis (Berlatsky). It is reported in a study by Stephen E. Siwek that, “the United States
government and its citizens lose four hundred and twenty two million in tax revenue” (Siwek).
Siwek goes on to states that out of the four hundred and twenty two million in losses, two
hundred and ninety-one million are personal income taxes and that one hundred and thirty-one
million in corporate income and production taxes. It is predicted that the direct loss in employee
earnings in the United States sound recording and retail industries that result from pirating is one
billion dollars. The direct loss in employment at these industries was approximately twentyseven thousand jobs. Because of all these losses, the United States economy and citizens of the
United States are to suffer. They suffer because the United States government has to account for
all the losses, which increases the taxes that citizens have to pay. To summarize, music piracy is
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a threatening issue that harms the United States economy by reducing the amount of available
jobs for middle class workers, and causes a significant loss in tax revenue.
Music piracy precisely impairs the music industry because organizations and
governments, including the United States government attempts to attack piracy. In the end
governments and organization waste money trying to attack the problem but can’t stop music
piracy. People all around the globe pirate music everyday despite the attempts from various
governments and organizations pursuing to stop it from happening. Organizations and acts such
as the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the Institute for Policy Innovation
(IPI), and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) are just few of the various attempts to try and stop
music pirates and pirates in general. The truth is plain and simple, music pirates are not able to
be stopped as long as there are alternatives to actually buying a legal copy of a song. In the
digital era that we live in today, music pirating has become easier than ever because anybody can
record a song and upload it to a website that can not track the original posters location. With that
being said, attempts are still made at stopping pirates even though these organizations know that
there is really no possible way to stop these music pirates. The infamous Recording Industry
Association of America (RIAA) spent sixty-four million dollars in lawsuits to only receive a total
of three hundred and ninety-one thousand dollars from music pirates. In other words, the RIAA
spent over forty-five times on lawsuits and threats than what it received in return. With such a
deficit like that, most companies and businesses would be bankrupt from losing that much
money but the music industry seems more than obliged to keep pouring money into this
bottomless pit, as they feel that they are preventing an even greater loss from occurring. Another
example of organizations attempting to rid the world of pirates but failing is when the RIAA
sued two hundred and sixty-one music fans for sharing songs on file sharing networks. “Five
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years later, the recording industry has filed, settled, or threatened legal actions against at least
30,000 individuals. These individuals have included children, grandparents, college professors—
a random selection from the millions of Americans who have used P2P networks” (RIAA). The
RIAA spent ANOTHER combined one hundred and twenty-seven million dollars on these
lawsuits alone. Among those sued was Brianna Lahara, a twelve year old girl living with her
single mother in public housing. Brianna was forced to apologize publicly and pay two thousand
dollars. When agencies spend a considerable amount of money, say perhaps one hundred and
twenty-seven million dollars, to be compensated with only two thousand dollars, then agencies
should realize that targeting citizens with lawsuits isn’t cost efficient at all. Has the arbitrary
singling out of nearly 30,000 random American families helped promote public respect for
copyright law? After five years of threats and litigation, the answer is a resounding no. These
are few of the many examples of how the United States government and governments around the
world waste money trying to tackle a problem that can not be tackled.
In conclusion, music piracy is a force to be reckoned with. It has been proven that music
piracy harms artists and an obscene amount of people working for the music industry. It impacts
them because twelve billion dollars in profit is lost, and seventy thousand jobs are lost due to
music piracy. These facts directly harm the United States economy and economies around the
world because it affects their Gross Domestic Product and accounts for a loss of jobs leading to
inflation. Another way that the music industry is impacted is by government agencies that have
good intentions to combat music piracy, but only provide a loss of profit by their countless
lawsuits. Music piracy not only affects the music companies and artists, but it also brings
negative effects to all of us as well. In the end consumers also end up as one of the victim under
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the negative impact of music piracy. Hence, everyone should stand against music piracy so that
this negative trend will end in one day.
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Works Cited
Berlatsky, Noah. "Illegal File Sharing Hurts Musicians and Society." Gale Virtual Reference Library.
Gale, 2010. Web. 05 Nov. 2014.
Hatch, Orrin. "Internet Piracy Threatens the Entertainment Industry." Gale Virtual Reference Library.
Gale, 22 July 2004. Web. 05 Nov. 2014.
"RIAA v. The People: Five Years Later." Electronic Frontier Foundation. Eff.org, 30 Sept. 2008.
Web. 05 Nov. 2014.
Siwek, Stephen E. "The True Cost of Sound Recording Piracy to the U.S. Economy IPI Issues Institute
for Policy Innovation." The True Cost of Sound Recording Piracy to the U.S. Economy IPI Issues
Institute for Policy Innovation. N.p., 21 Aug. 2007. Web. 05 Nov. 2014.
Storrs, Beverly. "Piracy Is Stealing and Affecting Music Industry." U N I V E R S E. N.p., 21 Feb.
2012. Web. 05 Nov. 2014.
Torr, James D. "Online Music Sharing Is Wrong." Gale Virtual Reference Library. Gale, 17 Dec. 2003.
Web. 5 Nov. 2014.