Is Downloading Music Unethical and Illegal?
We Propose: Downloading music is unethical and should be illegal
Rebut to Stealing: Yes, stealing is wrong, however downloading is not stealing. Shoplifting a CD from my local music store would be considered stealing because no one else can buy it. When I download a song, no one loses it and another person gets it, there is no ethical problem. The concept of right and wrong is only based on what the majority thinks. If the majority accepts downloading then it should not be considered wrong. Famous people say things like "I'm losing money!" but aren't we the ones losing money? Why should I go and buy a twenty dollar CD with the chance that I will only really like one song? I guess a lot of people want to save their money for more important things like,... for instance...school. Some kids won't get their parents credit cards when they move out, to spend on something that is of lesser importance, like a CD. You can't consider downloading illegal because many artists give permission to the public to download their music through their web sites and affiliates such as myspace. Therefore if they are giving us permission, is it considered illegal? Plus if we didn't download than how would we become aware of the bands and artists that are out there? What is the main way a band becomes successful? EXPOSURE! No one would buy CD's, or go to shows if they didn't know about them.
Rebut to CD sales go down: Lizann mentioned that CD sales would go down if we kept downloading. However these companies are not taking other factors into consideration. In 2000, the music industry blamed a fifteen percent drop in sales on downloading, but they "FORGOT" to include that there was a recession, a price hike, a 25% cut in new releases and a lack of popular new artists, therefore the statistics are not correct. Maybe after factoring all of that information in downloading could actually be increasing sales. In fact, a lot of the falls in sales is simply because labels
Rebut to Stealing: Yes, stealing is wrong, however downloading is not stealing. Shoplifting a CD from my local music store would be considered stealing because no one else can buy it. When I download a song, no one loses it and another person gets it, there is no ethical problem. The concept of right and wrong is only based on what the majority thinks. If the majority accepts downloading then it should not be considered wrong. Famous people say things like "I'm losing money!" but aren't we the ones losing money? Why should I go and buy a twenty dollar CD with the chance that I will only really like one song? I guess a lot of people want to save their money for more important things like,... for instance...school. Some kids won't get their parents credit cards when they move out, to spend on something that is of lesser importance, like a CD. You can't consider downloading illegal because many artists give permission to the public to download their music through their web sites and affiliates such as myspace. Therefore if they are giving us permission, is it considered illegal? Plus if we didn't download than how would we become aware of the bands and artists that are out there? What is the main way a band becomes successful? EXPOSURE! No one would buy CD's, or go to shows if they didn't know about them.
Rebut to CD sales go down: Lizann mentioned that CD sales would go down if we kept downloading. However these companies are not taking other factors into consideration. In 2000, the music industry blamed a fifteen percent drop in sales on downloading, but they "FORGOT" to include that there was a recession, a price hike, a 25% cut in new releases and a lack of popular new artists, therefore the statistics are not correct. Maybe after factoring all of that information in downloading could actually be increasing sales. In fact, a lot of the falls in sales is simply because labels