Music Piracy / Induction

Music Piracy! Devastating or Desired ?

Music Piracy is the copying and distribution of a piece of music which the artist, recording label or copyright-holding company did not give consent to and under the legal terms, piracy is a form of copyright and as a result can be seen as a crime in many countries. The concept of internet piracy started out as a free exchange of information such as  music, videos, games etc. between people via the internet and was accepted as legitimate through a popular website during the late 90's called 'Napstar'.

However, many argue that music piracy is not such a negative for musicians. As research has shown that less popular artists actually profit from piracy. This can be concluded from, and is supported by several studies. This is not a general shared view as the music industry claim that they lose millions a year due to piracy due to a reduction in CD and album sales.Several studies have shown that most artists actually profit from unauthorized sharing of files. They sell more albums because people have the opportunity to download songs for free so that they can enjoy the music and spend money on albums, it also helps to publicise the artists  name and their music.The rise in income from concerts shows that the interest in music is increasing instead of declining.

One of the main downfalls to music piracy is the effect it has on retail prices and sales in commercial shops. As the music is available for free, more and more people choose to stream the music illegally resulting in a decrease in sales which causes profit reduction for the industry and individual artist. Nevertheless, some artists like 'Lady Gaga' are for music piracy or file sharing as it increases the amount of concerts and events happening as the artists publicity significantly increases due to file sharing.