From M/Cyclopedia of New Media
There has been extensive media coverage evaluating the worth of music P2P and filesharing, and many music artists from all over the world have been brought in to comment on the situation. The most prominent reasons artists oppose filesharing are as follows.
- • The concept of money in exchange for work – music is these artist’s job and they are not being paid the full amount of money they have laboured for.
- • Less prominent members of the music industry (background musicians, producers, middlemen) are losing money and jobs are disappearing to compensate.
- • Inferior copies of artist’s music are being circulated through P2P and filesharing programs, representing musicians in a way that they did not intend.
- • Ethical and moral issues (the concept that music filesharing is stealing).
- • Breaching of copyrighting laws.
The following quotes are from popular musicians who have commented on the issue. These artist’s views are representative of many oppositions being provided.
LL Cool J - testifying at the U.S. Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs, investigation into filesharing.
- “Do people in the entertainment industry have the same rights as other Americans to fair pay for fair work? If a contractor builds a building, should people be allowed to move into it for free just because he's successful? Should they be able to live in this building for free? That's how I feel when I create an album, or if I make a film, and it's shooting around the planet for free. I'm not against technology, I'm not against the Internet, I just wish that music could be downloaded legitimately.� [1]
Neil Young, Yahoo Entertainment News, January 31 2001.
- “I don’t like to have a record out and have people hear versions that we don’t want them to hear. With the Internet, there is no more privacy and not even the chance to express yourself in front of your audience in the intimacy of a concert that lets songs evolve. You can’t do this because they immediately get circulated." [3]
Eminem, Wall of Sound, May 17 2000
- "When I worked 9 to 5, I expected to get a paycheck every week. It's the same with music; if I'm putting my heart and all my time into music, I expect to get rewarded for that. I work hard and anybody can just throw a computer up and download my music for free. Music is not just about the money…It's the thrill of going to the store; you can't wait till that artist's release date, taking the wrapper off the CD and putting the CD in to see what it sounds like. I always bought and supported the artists that I liked. If you can afford a computer, you can afford to pay for my CD." [2]
References
[1] Dean, K. (2003) Rappers in Disharmony on P2P, Wired News, retrieved October 8, 2004 from URL: http://www.wired.com/news/mp3/0,1285,60650,00.html
[2] Eminem, (2000) Recording Industry Association of America: Quotes from the Artists, retrieved October 8, 2004 from URL: http://www.riaa.com/about/artists/quotes.asp
[3] Young, N. (2001) Recording Industry Association of America: Quotes from the Artists, retrieved October 8, 2004 from URL: http://www.riaa.com/about/artists/quotes.asp
Annette Devonshire 15:44, 27 Oct 2004 (EST)
