“I’m getting sued by Dr. Dre!”
As funny as this line sounds, my friend said this a few weeks ago as she was unable to log on to Napster. It never ends; you are enjoying yourself one afternoon downloading Chronic, and then the next thing you know, you’re a criminal running from the law, just because you wanted to enjoy some free music. Well, it’s not that bad, but you get the idea.
Yes, the revolution has begun. MP3s have redefined how people listen to music.
By providing a compact, crisp and clear digital sound, MP3’s let people listen to all the music they could ever want to listen to on their computer or portable MP3 player. The possibilities are endless; musicians can gives samples or singles of their music to their fans so they can get a sample of their music before they buy.
Finally, that song that was stuck in your head can be played a million times. So many times in fact, you never want to hear it again. And best of all, it’s at your fingertips. Lazy people only have to point and click to download the song of choice. We have reached musical nirvana, everything is Zen, but what is the problem? Money, as always, has to go and ruin the party.
OK. That is an over-simplification of an issue that is shaking the foundations of the record industry. However, the bolster or bane of MP3s is Napster. Napster offers an interface where millions of computers communicate and exchange MP3s in an enormous musical archive. There are over 19 million registered Napster users and the number is not getting any smaller. Every song, from “American Pie” to someone singing “Stairway to Heaven” can be found in the system. It’s incredibly easy, and it’s free! The record companies, Metallica and Dr. Dre say “nay.”
The RIAA represents 80 percent of the record companies in the industry, including two huge names in music are suing Napster for copyright infringement. They allege that allowing people to download copyrighted music without paying royalties is illegal and is hurting the industry by taking away record sales.
They have been seeking injunctions from the court to shut down the MP3 site. Through a series of 11th-hour appeals and postponements, Napster stays strong.
That is not the only problem the music-exchange program creates. Napster has also been bogging down college campus servers. Northwestern University’s server crashed last semester due to Napster overload, so Napster is not allowed on campus. Saint Louis University and many other colleges have had similar problems with their servers, and Internet speed has seriously suffered.
This is not the only issue that is raised. The Federal Trade Commision recently investigated many of the big-name companies in the RIAA for price fixing. They have been forcing compact disc prices up for the past five years by requiring “minimum retail prices.” This has forced the price to go from a low of $9.99 for featured releases to almost $20. Do the math. Worst of all, CDs cost less than a dollar to make and less than 10 percent of the profits, if any, go to the actual musicians.
It’s a system controlled by big executives, not musicians. It forces touring groups to charge huge prices on concert tickets and merchandise. The biggest victim is the music lover.
This brings us back to the issue of pirating music on Napster. When a person is downloading a song for free from a group, they are not necessarily taking away their profits.
In fact, there has been no huge dip in national CD sales. People still need to have the hard copy. The only dip has been a 5 percent drop in sales around college campuses in the last two years. The issue is so new it is not possible to look at this as a trend or simply just a blip on the economic radar. So MP3s’ effect on the music economy is not as bad as record executives will have you believe. The labels may be losing some money, but the musicians have been getting the shaft from the beginning.
The next issue that comes up is an ethical one that has plagued the computer industry since its birth. The ease of copying software and programs has always caused a problem, whether you are stealing or not. I could go into some huge philosophical treatise on what constitutes an unethical action, but I do not want to bore you.
I believe that 98 percent of the people downloading music off Napster are not doing so out of disregard for the law or because they choose to ignore what is going on; rather, people want to listen to music.
People do not want to spend an arm and a leg to buy a CD so they can listen to one song they enjoy. These same people still buy CDs; I still buy CDs and will continue to do so until something better comes along.
My only reservation about a complete laisse faire attitude toward downloading music on the Internet was brought to my attention recently.
If you claim to not want to take advantage of this luxury and truly appreciate the significance of this MP3 issue to the artists, then when some group requests that you not download their stuff, respect their wishes.
Otherwise, many bands believe that people listening to their music on the internet will increase their sales. If your motives are contrary and you are using this for profit, then you have no business to be on Napster.
Napster isn’t singularly guilty of this problem, and it is just the one that has finally gotten everyone’s attention. It is imperative that we look at the true issues here and keep enjoying music.
