Music piracy is by no means a new issue to college campuses. However, students will find that crackdowns on illegal downloads are heavier and more serious this year than ever before.
Spurred on by the efforts of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the Institute for Policy Innovation (IPI), the nationwide, government-funded effort to curb the music industry’s monstrous annual losses from sites like Limewire, BitTorrent and P2P service sites has garnered support from all corners of the United States’ legal and economic sectors. After many high-profile lawsuits, the debate over how to control music sharing has grown into an international, financial scandal that has plagued the music scene for most of the past decade.
According to the IPI, music piracy causes $12.5 billion in global economic losses each year, more than 70,000 U.S. jobs lost, and an absence of $422 million in tax revenues.
The consequences of illegal downloading are wide ranging. If financially-wounded music companies cannot invest in developing bands, artistic diversity declines. Sites like iTunes and Amazon are likewise forced to hike their prices, seeing as so much of their inventory is literally being stolen from under their fingertips.
College campuses, traditional origins of new music trends and fads, are being held to the most rigorous standards of all by the RIAA.
According to the RIAA website, university leaders have a responsibility to acknowledge campus piracy, to take steps to prevent the theft from occurring in the first place and to demonstrate leadership in teaching students that music has value and there are right and wrong ways to acquire it. When college administrators are more proactive in addressing the campus piracy problem, it usually means fewer incidences of illegal downloading on those school networks and less chance that students will get in trouble for breaking the law.
The U. Arkansas administrative staff is taking the most direct action against students who download illegally. The University’s Code of Computing Practices states that anyone found guilty of copyright infringement is subject not only to the loss of all internet privileges, but also revocation of student accounts and initiated referrals to higher law enforcement agencies.
The RIAA has also been aggressive. Since 2007, the RIAA has sent over 7,000 early settlement letters to college students across the country. Of the 83 letters sent to students in Arkansas schools, 31 went to University of Arkansas undergraduates.
The strict protocols have some students, in the words of junior Lilianna Cai “freaked out.”
A Bolivian transfer student, she noted significant changes in Internet culture and law once inside the borders of the U.S.
“Where I come from Internet piracy is completely normal,” she said. “China is the same way; everyone does it, and nobody cares. But since I have come here, I have not downloaded a single song. It’s just so, so risky.”
Others have fended off the allure of free music with their own high moral standards.
“I used to do it all the time. It just seems like everyone does it. When all your friends do it, it doesn’t really even feel like stealing,” said an anonymous junior.
When asked why she no longer downloads illegally, she replied, “A lot of the bands I listen to now are Christian bands, and by stealing music I hurt their profit. It’s better, then, if I buy music.”
There are, however, possible benefits to artists from having their music traded and exchanged, even if they do not get direct revenue from it.
“All artists absolutely have intellectual rights; to rip music from somewhere is just like stealing from a library, it’s no different,” said junior Grant Roe.
“Big name artists take the publicity they get from their music and use it to bolster their alternative revenue streams,” Roe said. “There are tons of artists who get, because of YouTube exposure alone, multi-million dollar endorsements with advertising companies or other large corporations, be they soda, cologne, or whatever.”
Although few would argue with the simple fact that stealing is both wrong and illegal, perhaps the problem with illegal downloading is not as detrimental to major artists as one would initially think. Is there any reconciliation from the spread of influence, fame and endorsement opportunities at the expense of immediate losses? Are there long terms gains to be had for artists from mass file sharing and even piracy?
As Roe said, “In the end, I am pretty sure some benefits go both ways.”