Steal a Song
Novemeber 2000 |
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What's
it about?
There's a cool breeze blowing through the screen door, a welcome relief from yet
another hot afternoon. A snippet of music from a neighbour's radio grabs your attention.
What is that song? You can only recall a few words from the chorus, but of course this is
the age of the internet.
Off you trot to boot up your trusty Pentium, or perhaps your
iMac, and begin your search through cyberspace. It doesn't take long before you have
identified the name of the song, the publisher, writers and artist (try it yourself - how
about "every breath you take" - key in those words and you'll discover a recent
DVD release by the band The Police). Now you have a dilemma - you know what's it
like, that damn song is going to reverberate around your head until you can lay your hands
on it and crank up the CD player. But now your appetite has been whetted by the DVD review
- and your iMac plays those DVDs…
You ring your favourite store. Sorry mate, we haven't got that in
stock, but we could order it from the States - six weeks and you should have it in your
letterbox. How about an e-tailer? Sure, there are any number who'll send it to you, but
you'll still have to wait, and the shorter the wait the higher the shipping rate. In
desperation you ring an internet savvy friend. No worries, he says, just download it from
Napster and you can listen to it anytime you're on your computer.
Who is Napster?
Sorry, you get the booby prize - Napster is not a person, in fact it's not even a
place. It began life as an internet site, but nowadays it has the look and feel of a new
economy icon. And it's what it stands for, more than what it does, that is really
interesting.
Napster is a "search and swap" software site that
has taken younger internet surfers by storm. Our middle-age readers are going to hate
this, but the genesis of Napster can be traced to yet another university drop-out turned
internet mogul. He wrote the original Windows programme, "Napster", which
enabled an internet user to share a music file (using a so-called "MP3 File")
stored on their hard drive - in fact, you can share it with the whole world through
Napster's central servers. And this is only the beginning. There are other programmes
being written and promoted that improve on the process.
Now we know where to get that song. You can download it from the
internet through Napster, store it on your hard drive or if you have the right hardware,
even burn it into a CD. Little time, little fuss, no cost to the consumer, everyone's
happy - or are they?
Enter the cavalry
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is not enamoured with Napster. In
fact, in December 1999, they called in the cavalry and launched legal action against the
upstart pirates. Why should they care what these university drop-outs do? That’s a
no-brainer, they represent the major U.S. record labels like Sony and Warners, giant
corporations who make their money by reaping profits from the sale of their artists’
CDs. And of course, there’s no money to reap if a song is downloaded gratis from a
Napster-type site.
Their only recourse is to race to the courts to attempt to stop the Napsters who, in
their eyes, are little better than pickpockets. And they’re not the only ones who are
angry. Think about the record publishers and the artists themselves who claim that Napster
has infringed their copyright. In other words, they argue that they own the product and
only they can authorise its sale or use. And until the case is decided they asked the U.S
District Court to put a temporary stop to Napster’s activities. Lawyers call this an
"injunction" (the court refused).
And just in case you might think this is a minor issue, the RIAA has estimated that
Napster will have 75 million users by the end of this year. That’s a lot of free
music changing hands, and a lot of money that is not finding its way into the usual
pockets.
Are we stealing
It's marvellous the way the internet throws up ethical dilemmas. Once upon a time
stealing was…well, stealing. Like many of you, in my childhood I was assaulted by
premonitions of perdition after I pocketed one of those 2 cent musk bars. You're a lot
older now, so I will assume you wouldn't walk into a shop and exit with the latest CD,
bypassing the counter and the cash register. But would you download a CD, bypassing the
obligation to pay the publisher and the artist who laboured to produce it?
Ah, I can hear you say, this is not stealing at all. It's an internet site, for
heaven's sake, not a bricks and mortar shopping mall. Not so, says the music industry,
which has turned decidedly feral over the issue. Perhaps that's why they have sued
Napster, judged by many a futile gesture when you're dealing with the virtual world. After
all, a Napster-cousin can open its portals anywhere it likes, or perhaps tweak its
structure enough to avoid legal sanction. In fact it might be difficult to identify an
appropriate "person" to actually sue!
So why isn't it stealing? The High Court's legal definition of theft goes something
like this: taking something, without the permission of the owner, with the intent of
keeping it. That sounds pretty much like "swapping and sharing" using Napster -
the publishers and artists haven't given their permission, you haven't paid for it, and
you have no intention of giving it back. So why don't you feel guilty? Because you won't
get caught, that's why, and furthermore everyone's doing it.
What we think
There’s something wrong here. As online music consumers we appear to rely on the
fact, as my father used to say, that "all these rock stars are spoilt, rich and have
never done a decent day’s work in their lives" (or something like that). Even if
that were true (and it’s usually not) that would hardly be the point. For instance,
would you expect to go to Amazon.com and "buy" a book for free? Of course not,
and this is not much different. It’s bad luck for music artists that their product so
easily lends itself to online piracy.
In the end the music industry will have to find a better solution. Sorry guys, but if
you can’t beat ‘em…Microcharging with extra services may tempt some of us
to keep to the straight and narrow, and keep music artists in the lifestyle some of them
deserve. But like it or not, from an ethical and legal point of view, it looks like
stealing. And that’s wrong.
At the time of posting this Lawspot it appears that Napster may have come to an accommodation with BMG entertainment to charge for music downloads. Given the level of use of the Napster type technologies, other music companies cannot be far behind.
Read this: The legal information contained above is
intended to be general information about the law. It is not a substitute for legal and
other professional advice. Lawscape Communications P/L does not accept responsibility for
loss to any person, who either acts or does not act because of this information.
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