Free Music or Piracy?

Good morning everyone and welcome to the Tuesday Mornings with Joe!!!! Our main topic today will be on music and the illegal downloading (piracy) that has been going on over the last few years. Our visitors include the RIAA and Mark Fischer, a Washington Post staff writer. First off RIAA, what are your views on music piracy and why is there the need to go against it?
RIAA- Joe, music piracy is hurting the economy as we speak. Over 12 million dollars, 70,000 American jobs, almost 3 billion dollars which is getting cut out of employee’s paychecks, over 420 million dollars in tax revenues, and an estimated 130 million dollars from corporate taxes have all been relinquished. The biggest problem sites have been college campuses. These students just don’t know the consequences of clicking that download button.
Joe- Very interesting what are your views on this issue Mark?
Mark Fischer- Well on the issue of college students being the main source illegal downloading; they’re college students. What else is there to do on a consistent basis when you aren’t in class or out? And many students enjoy studying to music. The RIAA wanting colleges to discipline college students for downloading music “illegally” is just ridiculous. The legal way of downloading music is to buy the music offline. FYI: college students do not have the money to have 1000 songs at their disposal because they have to pay for college itself, which most students take out loans for anyways.
Joe- Very true, very true RIAA, have you had any success in enforcing the “no illegal downloading on campuses?”
RIAA- We are currently working on that. We have not been able to enforce laws yet because not all colleges have agreed against illegal downloading. But, we have had success in sharing how serious this matter is. We believe that once parents find out about this downloading possibly getting their child suspended or expelled from college, the students will stop.
Joe- Mark, we can probably guess your opinion on the RIAA’s law enforcing, but have you come up with any alternate solutions?
Mark Fischer- Joe, personally, I don’t think it’s about finding alternate solutions. Kids and college students are going to find ways around these laws. “Illegal downloading” started because kids couldn’t afford to buy their music. If you put laws that will enforce the illegality of downloading music, some computer genius is just going to come along with another way to obtain music for free, which will then become the modern way to go about music.