Musical Piracy essays

Musical Piracy essays The topic of this project is musical piracy. Everybody is familiar with the Napster case about copyright infringement. However, Napster isnt the only example of this, MP3.com, and other file sharing sources are targeted also. There is a diverse field of opinions about whether it should be legal or not. The arguments for legalization feel that the record labels are charging exorbitant amounts of money for compact discs, and the artists net pennies from the sales of their records. The argument for eliminating file sharing software is the record labels loss of revenue for recording, advertising, and distribution of the records. My two articles are both from the New York Times, and show both sides of the issue. They dont seem to be editorialized very much to me. The news sources are the musicians, consumers, and the corporation/record labels. They all seem to be saying the same thing but, they are framed the opposite way. Alec Foeges article is showing how the artists are held back by the record labels from making enough money to go out on their own. Courtney love, the singer of the band Hole, says that the corporations have all the copyrights and use the songs for commercials and the artists dont see a penny in royalties from it. She was fighting her record label, Geffen Records to end their recording deal, and artists were watching her case and would follow her if she succeeded. Sheryl Crow, a singer and songwriter, spoke at a congressional hearing and criticized the record labels insistence on owning the copyrights to most of her songs. Some artists have already left the labels and instead market their material to fans via the internet, by offering free downloads, concert schedules, and even sell their records online. Courtney feels that the labels are the gatekeepers, and thats where the money is because they have unlimited power. In fact, some independent record label ...