When was the last time you bought an album?
I guess a number of people cannot answer the question because they do not remember it. Honestly, I don’t remember it. Since there is Internet and I can download music online, I have never bought a new album yet. I believe there are a lot of people like me.
Is it okay to download music for free on the Internet? I think NO. However, tons of people are doing it. According to Stefannie, 35 million U.S. adults download music files online, and 26 million share files online. 67% of Internet users who download music don't care about copyright laws, 27% of Internet users do care if the music is copyrighted, and 6% of Internet users claim they don't know enough about the issue. 65% of Internet users who share files do not care if they are copyrighted, 30% of Internet users do care if the music is copyrighted, and 5% of Internet users don't know enough about the issue.
According to RIAA, global music piracy causes $12.5 billion of economic losses every year, 71,060 U.S. jobs lost, a loss of $2.7 billion in workers' earnings, and a loss of $422 million in tax revenues, $291 million in personal income tax and $131 million in lost corporate income and production taxes.
If someone steals something from you, you can't do anything about it unless you know who did it. On the internet, when someone downloads a copyrighted song file and, without authorization, uploads it to a web site where anyone can download it, there's no way to know who is responsible. If you do not know who is responsible for it, how do you prevent it?
1. Educate people on the benefits of uncompressed music as opposed to compressed (mp3) formats. Let people download but make them buy the songs they really like on CD by telling them it sounds better than an MP3.
2. Enforcement of laws.
3. Create “iTunes” maybe is one way to prevent it to some extent. However, with shared files on computer, there is still space for piracy. There will be no abrupt end to piracy.
4. Lower price of albums. It is too expensive to spend $20 on an album.
5. Heavy penalties could be imposed for people who download music.
