Music pirates and the recording industry wage war on the Web

By Ryan Borba
The Collegian

Illegal music downloading is such a problem the music recording industry has filed thousands of piracy lawsuits and Sony has placed anti-piracy software on more than 50 new CDs.

“If you think about how exponentially damaging illegal copying is, it is like taking a credit card from someone and giving friends the account number and PIN number,” said Craig VonBerg, a music professor at Fresno State.

“They, in turn, do likewise with some of their friends, ad infinitum,” he said. “Meanwhile, the credit card owner is unable to cancel the account.”

According to an Oct. 10 article from the International Law Journal, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) sued almost 15,000 people between 2003 and 2005 for illegally downloading and distributing music.

A popular file-sharing program’s Web site states it has been downloaded off of almost 400 million times.

“It’s like putting someone in jail for smoking pot,” VonBerg said, arguing the two issues are similar because punishing one offender still leaves millions of others free.

The Internet makes it possible for millions of music fans across the globe to listen to, keep and share millions of songs, many they didn’t come close to paying for.

Peer-to-peer file-sharing programs such as Kazaa, Limewire and Soul Seek allow users to share and trade copied music with anyone else on the program’s network, a number that regularly tops three million users at once on certain programs. High-speed Internet connections make downloading a whole album a mere matter of minutes.

This is absolutely free, and also illegal.

Besides suing Internet sites, downloaders and software creators, record companies have also placed copy protection on CDs and tried to frustrate downloaders into buying CDs by flooding file-sharing programs with bad or incomplete versions of popular songs.

Eddie Shoemaker, a student at Fresno State, said he got so annoyed with bad versions of a popular Black Eyed Peas song on his file-sharing program that he finally bought the CD.

“It doesn’t always work. Sometimes you get low-quality crap,” he said. “With all the viruses and everything, I’m too afraid to download music.”

Sony crossed the legal line while trying to stop illegal file sharing of new CDs. More than 50 new Sony BMG Entertainment CDs were armed with a “root kit” that made it difficult for customers to copy or transfer the songs to a portable device, such as an iPod or MP3 player. Attempting to remove the software could damage a computer’s CD drive.

The software on the CDs also left computers open to hacker attacks and secretly sent details about the computer to Sony. Sony BMG agreed to recall the discs after numerous lawsuits were filed in November.

Henry Chiu, an attorney at Kimble, MacMichael & Upton in Fresno, said he thinks the current methods to deter file sharing are at best ineffective.

“They simply delay the distribution of the music,” he said.

There have also been efforts to completely shut down programs that allow users to easily steal music.

In July 2000 a federal judge in San Francisco forced Napster, which is considered the pioneer of music sharing, to shut down. The Supreme Court ruled in June that the entertainment industry can sue technology companies that encourage users to steal copyrighted music and movies on the Internet.

Grokster, another popular file-sharing program, agreed on Nov. 7 to shut down in order to avoid a $50 million lawsuit from the RIAA.

Chiu said closing one site might increase the popularity of others and lead to creative ways to provide the same services while avoiding legal action.

“The current generation of [file-sharing] services learned from Napster, and no longer uses centralized servers. The next generation of services will most likely address the shortcomings revealed in Grokster,” Chiu said.

Anyone logged in to a program like Grokster can see what music others are sharing. RIAA officials find out who is illegally spreading the music by contacting the user’s Internet service provider and file lawsuits accordingly.

Downloaders are finding ways around this.

“There are at least two underground, invitation-only and or, encrypted [programs], and I am informed that several of the ‘public’ ones are exploring new methods of user security and anonymity,” Chiu said.

Another method to avoid legal action is to become a file stealer instead of a sharer. If a user decides not to share files, it’s impossible to see what music is on that computer, therefore making it hard to find all music thieves. Users who don’t share files can still download music.

“I’m not worried about getting sued,” said a student at Fresno State. “I don’t share, I just steal.”

Chiu also said it is difficult to ban software that allows music theft because the programs do have legitimate, legal uses.

Some people use their computer as a CD player, and having all of one’s music on a computer makes it easy to find and sort the music while CDs are stashed somewhere out of the way.

Some musicians allow fans to download certain exclusive songs, samples or live concert recordings, too.

These songs can be legally shared online.

This new technology benefits the listener, but those in the music business can also reap its benefits.

“On some level, it has a purpose for artists that would not be recognized otherwise,” Professor VonBerg said.

File sharing allows new musicians to distribute demos and samples to more people than ever possible before.

Many who use illegal file-sharing programs use them as a preview service and buy a CD if they think it’s worth it.

Some believe it is the music industry’s fault that people don’t want to pay for music.

With most CDs costing anywhere from $10 to $20, many listeners just don’t think CDs are worth the money, or they don’t have enough to spend.

“I don’t have that kind of money,” said the Fresno State student. “When it’s readily available for free, I don’t see the point in buying it.”

The RIAA says file sharing costs millions of dollars in sales, but someone who downloads 200 CDs in a year might not have planned on spending $2500 on music if file sharing didn’t exist.

“There are a few CDs I’ve downloaded that would be worth the purchase, but it accumulates too fast,” Johnson said. “I would only buy a select amount because I don’t have the money to buy all the stuff I’ve downloaded.”

VonBerg said that without a serious poll of file sharers, it is hard to say how much is actually lost.

He said the music industry should do more to entice consumers and give them a reason to prefer the real thing to a downloaded version. Some CDs come with added bonuses that can’t be downloaded.

“Ultimately, people are looking for value,” he said.

VonBerg said when the compact disc was a new technology, the price to buy a CD was about the same as it cost to produce one. As the cost to produce a CD decreased, the price to buy a CD stayed the same.

“The bang for the buck isn’t the same as it was,” VonBerg said.

Certain companies such as Apple and the once-illegal Napster offer an alternative to illegal file-sharing programs by providing legal, low-cost downloads. This allows listeners to preview music they haven’t heard before and allows people to buy individual songs for about a dollar if they don’t want to buy the whole CD.

Apple sold 33 million songs during the opening week of its newest iTunes music store launch.

Attorney Henry Chiu said he thinks online music stores with downloadable music might be the best option for the music industry to counter illegal file sharing.

“I believe [file-sharing] services, whether used for legal or illegal means, are here to stay,” he said. “The music industry's best approach to this problem is to address the underlying concerns and motivations of the illegal file sharers.”

Chiu said he thinks the creation of online music stores is a step in the right direction because it eliminates many of the reasons people choose to steal music. He said it seems people are willing to pay a low price for legal music to avoid dealing with bad rips, spending time locating pirated music or risking lawsuits from the music industry.

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