2008 Woodie Awards
Music pirating becoming more frequent among students
Point-Counterpoint
Brandon Williams
Issue date: 10/25/07 Section: Opinion
- Page 1 of 1
Record companies taking the wrong approach to solve the problem
Let's get something clear from the beginning: Pirating music is illegal. With that said, the record companies do have the right to punish those who steal from them.
However, filing lawsuits against individuals isn't the proper way to solve the issue. Music pirating has become an extremely common phenomenon in our society. To solve the problem, specific rules should be established.
Whenever a lawsuit between a record company and an individual gets in the press, it gives the record company a negative image. I understand that these lawsuits aren't really about making up their losses and are more like warnings against pirating music. The approach record companies are using is like picking just one leaf off a weed, it takes away a tiny bit of the problem but doesn't get to the root of it.
The key problem that record companies need to address is society's acceptance of stealing music online. As long as most of the general public find it acceptable to steal music, nothing really can be done to control it.
Therefore, I would suggest record companies start an anti-piracy campaign that truly gets out to the public; schedule popular artists to make campus visits and talk about how they feel regarding music piracy.
Record companies should realize that the amount of time and money that is being put into these lawsuits could be better spent. I'm not saying that my ideas are going to lead to great strides but I would bet they'd lead to better results than what's happening now.
Let's get something clear from the beginning: Pirating music is illegal. With that said, the record companies do have the right to punish those who steal from them.
However, filing lawsuits against individuals isn't the proper way to solve the issue. Music pirating has become an extremely common phenomenon in our society. To solve the problem, specific rules should be established.
Whenever a lawsuit between a record company and an individual gets in the press, it gives the record company a negative image. I understand that these lawsuits aren't really about making up their losses and are more like warnings against pirating music. The approach record companies are using is like picking just one leaf off a weed, it takes away a tiny bit of the problem but doesn't get to the root of it.
The key problem that record companies need to address is society's acceptance of stealing music online. As long as most of the general public find it acceptable to steal music, nothing really can be done to control it.
Therefore, I would suggest record companies start an anti-piracy campaign that truly gets out to the public; schedule popular artists to make campus visits and talk about how they feel regarding music piracy.
Record companies should realize that the amount of time and money that is being put into these lawsuits could be better spent. I'm not saying that my ideas are going to lead to great strides but I would bet they'd lead to better results than what's happening now.
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