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Piracy as The Later Music Evolution

Boris Barkan
CS 485 Computer Science Department Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago, Illinois 60616

bbarkan@hawk.iit.edu
Abstract From the beginning of the ability to create music people have been trying to replicate it. It is an art form that provides entertainment and therefor is was always imitated and replicated. In the 20th century a new concept has been introduced, as music has been treated a source of income and generated great revenue- Music Piracy. In todays world, everything digital can be replicated. Along with software and movies, music has been pirated as well: replicated and sometime sold through a 3rd party. Mainly the sharing of free music has been an issue for the past 30 years and it still debated today as Music Piracy reaches new magnitudes. Index Terms Piracy, Music Industry, File Sharing, Copyright infringement. MUSIC PIRACY Music piracy is the coping and distribution of music that is copyrighted and rights protected. Usually the music is owned by the recording artist or the company that holds the rights. Music piracy talked about the distribution of music without getting the consent of the rights holders. Although debatable it is considered morally wrong and illegal in many countries. [12]. MUSIC BEFORE THE ABILITY TO RECORD One of the first revolutions in music was the ability to describe music. While in the past sound has been passed in society and havent been properly documented, when writing has been developed mankind has figured out a way to document music in the form of notes. It was notes and the ability to pass sound in a written form that symbolized the first appearance of music ownership[16]. Before the invention of print the copyright of music was not a problem since every copy has required skills and time investment, plainly saying, it was hard to distribute music. However with the invention of the print copies could be made in large numbers in a short amount of time. Copyrights and music exclusivity has actually came into place in the 16 century when Elizabeth the first granted Thomas Tallis and his pupil William Byrd a twenty-one year patent monopoly on the printing and publishing of polyphonic music[13]. While copying music was easier music could not be replicated that easily. Most of society did not have ability to play the creations and no recording technology was available. Music still required a significant investment. MUSIC RECORDING AND THE COMPANIES THAT FOLLOWED Music piracy is an issue today because of the claimed financial damage that is done to the record companies. Music producing and manufacturing is a business and it started as sound recording technology became available. Sound recording history start in the end of the 18th century as devices were made to recognize and record sound waves. The most famous of these was Leon Scott's Phonograph and with the inventions of Thomas Edison and the development of the Gramophone, sound recording has reached its first stage. Until the 1920s most of the devices were purely mechanical, however, as years passed, the techniques of recording and distribution have contributed to the development of varicose recoding companies. One of the first companies that are still very active today is Columbia records that in 1924 began experimenting with recording technology, during those years Columbia has been a sub division of AT&T. While business was booming devices were still big and complicated. In addition the quality of the recording were not yet good enough to become a wildly spread phenomenon. It was a matter of time until the companies will be able to figure out how to mass produce better recordings while making it cheaper to make. THE RECORD, THE TAPE, THE CD, THE ITUNES Today music can be shared with a minimal cost. In addition it could be sold without any physical media and that what makes music piracy easy. In the past it was not so; music could only be physically obtained and could not be copied using home electronic devices. In order to understand the way that piracy developed we need to look at the evolution of the physical media in which music was distributed [14]: The gramophone record- commonly known as a vinyl record is an analog storage device. The physical surface of the record will be used to store the data of the music in order to provide sound through a gramophone. The media would set at first for 4 dollars while recording

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CS 485 equipment would cost as much as a car. Music copying was not a real option for the common folk. The magnetic tape- the low recording and manufacturing quality of the vinyl record accelerated the distribution of the magnetic tape. The tape came in many form; from the 8-track to the Compact Cassette we know today. It has been designed to be more durable, portable and easier to record. In addition it has provided the consumers with a media that could be recorded with cheaper equipment. Due to high portability it became a success, however, it provided many people with the ability to copy the media. The compact disc The CD was introduced in the 1980 however it became a standard in 1987. It has provided a digital quality of recordings and gave a greater quality to recorded media. Although the media was better it did not provide a real protection against copying. In the 80s and early 90s CD burners were expansive however by the end of the 90s most households were able to burn CDs. With the development of the internet many of the CDs were copied to upload and distribute the media files online. ITunes [11]- in the age of the internet Apple has provided a solution to consumers to buy their music from the internet. The iTunes store has given the option to get music online in a legal way however, even protected, files bought from the store could be distributed. THE NAPSTER REVOLUTION AND WHAT FOLLOWED Napster was co-founded by Shawn Fanning, John Fanning, and Sean Parker. It has been created to provide people with the sharing ability of their MP3 files (music encoding format). The service operated between 1999 and 2001 and although the brand has survived till today the original service was shut down due to a court order. The company's assets were liquidated and purchased by other companies through bankruptcy proceedings [5]. Napster was the first company that shown how many music files are circulating in the internet. This platform has given a very simple way to share music and it was accessible for everyone. Napster also showed the number of people that are willing to share their music files ever though its illegal.
GRAPTH I [5] NUMBER OF UNIQUE USERS OVER TIME

Napster has shown that a new community exists on the internet and that people are willing to share music even though it is illegal. Napster was held responsible even though they did participate in the sharing of the files and never the less, Napster has been the starting point for a community and the culture of piracy, proceeding with sharing programs such as Kazaa, eMule and other Torrent protocol programs. STATISTICS As seen in the case of Napster, the community of music pirates is too great to handle. According to the IFPI's 2008 report does estimate that only 5% of the music we acquire online is purchased legitimately- 95% were pirated. There is no doubt the number of pirated music is great, however in 2010 it has been shown that when piracy is down, the earnings of the music industry is going down as well. What could be the reason? According to The Huffington Post pirates usually also buy more music, what makes them a better consumer then a user that does not obtain music illegally.
GRAPTH II [3] MUSIC FILE COLLECTIONS: P2P USERS VERSUS OTHER INTERNET USERS. US(BLUE) AND GERMANY(GREEN)

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CS 485 even though it might be considered as a violation of privacy. Hard to feel responsible- this is a victimless crime that is very easy to commit. In addition the nature of computer and Internet use creates a distance between the user and the crime, making him feel less responsible. Unjust restrictions- many users think that the law is unjust and that piracy is not really hurting anyone. Music that is being downloaded from the Internet should be equivalent to listening to music randomly on the street. LEGALITY AND THE LEGAL STRUGGLE TO STOP PIRACY In face of the threat of Piracy the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) have lobbied for better laws and enforcement in order to find and prosecute violators. The record companies have also turned to technology and provider software in order to block copying- DRM is one of the examples. Some think that the reaction to the DRM restrictions was an increase in piracy since the online community felt hurt by this move. On the other hands critics say that the record companies try to keep enthusiasts from listening freely to music in order get more sales and more money. When the US Congress passed the Copyright Act of 1909, they left the law less restrictive in order to provide more freedom to the society rather than restricting the consumption of music products. In those laws more copyright control was given to music composers than that of novelists. In addition, laws and regulations may be too broad and general to deal adequately with the rapid technological developments. The RIAA is responsible for carrying out most of the lawsuits against music piracy in the United States. Some claim that the enforcement against music piracy, which may cost copyright violators up to $150,000 per infringement is unreasonable, and that it may even violate United States constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment. Some have accused the RIAA of outright bullying. THE EFFECTS OF PIRACY ON THE MUSIC INDUSTRY Piracy's real effect on music sales is difficult to accurately assess since the online market does not follow the classical model of supply and demand. Another issue is that because some people, like many in China, illegally download music because they cannot afford to purchase legitimate copies, not every illegal download necessarily equates to a lost sale. This has some effect on music sales, but as many studies show, piracy does not have a linear relation with losses of the music industry. While the music industry declares losses, opposing forces claim that music piracy provides a bigger exposure to many artists and new genres. Indeed, studies show that people that pirate music will most likely to attend more shows and buy more albums as a result. REFERENCES

Other notable statistics (2011) [6]: 70% of Online Users Find Nothing Wrong in Online Piracy. 67% of Digital piracy sites are hosted in North America and Western Europe. 22% of all global Internet bandwidth is used for Online Piracy. 98.8% of Data transferred using P2P networks is copyrighted. Only 1 out of 10,000 pcs of the most popular content on the OpenBitTorrent tracker is non-copyrighted. Websites hosting pirated content receive more than 146 Million visitors per day. $12.5 billion in economic losses each year due to Piracy in the music industry 71,060 jobs lost in the United States every year due to Online Piracy $2.7 billion in workers earnings are lost each year due to Online Piracy 95% of music downloaded online is illegal Two-Thirds of Torrents available online are illegal Hollywood Movie Avatar is the most pirated movie of 2010 and was downloaded more than 17,000,000 times. HUMAN MOTIVATIONS AND EXPLANATION After looking closer on the statistics, a question appears: Why do we prate? While the answer is clear for many of us this phenomenon is hard to explain since according to the statistics all part and ages of society pirate. Some of the explanations found are [7][8][9]: Cost- music and music media is just too expansive. The belief is that the music companies are already making a lot of money out of overpricing the albums while not giving much to the actual composers. Sense of entitlement- many users that already pay for internet access feel that they are entitled to the information that is found online. Availability- music on the internet is far more available than anywhere else. In many cases old or rare music could not be found anywhere else but at pirating sources. The lack of availability drives many to look for it

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Anders Sandberg. "Practical Ethics." Practical Ethics. N.p., 18 Apr. 2009. Web. 10 Apr. 2013. [1] Anthony, Sebastian. "ExtremeTech." ExtremeTech. N.p., 18 Jan. 2012. Web. 10 Apr. 2013. [2] Karagannis. "Where Do Music Collections Come From?" Media Piracy The American Assembly. N.p., 15 Oct. 2012. Web. 11 Apr. 2013. [3] Mahoney, John. "95% of Music Downloads Are Pirated." Gizmodo. N.p., 16 Jan. 2009. Web. 11 Apr. 2013. [4] "Napster." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 19 Apr. 2013. Web. 20 Apr. 2013. [5] "Online Piracy in Numbers - Facts and Statistics [Infographic]." Web Design Dubai Dubai Web Design and Web Application Development Company. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2013. [6] Strickland, Jonathan. "Why Do People Pirate Software?" HowStuffWorks. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2013. [7] Wagner, Kyle. "This Is Why People Pirate." Gizmodo. N.p., 14 Aug. 2012. Web. 11 Apr. 2013.[8] Anders Sandberg. "Practical Ethics." Practical Ethics. N.p., 18 Apr. 2009. Web. 10 Apr. 2013. [9] Anthony, Sebastian. "ExtremeTech." ExtremeTech. N.p., 18 Jan. 2012. Web. 10 Apr. 2013. [10] Harris, Mark. "ITunes Store History - The History of the ITunes Store." About.com Digital Music. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2013. [11] "History of Music Piracy." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 19 Apr. 2013. Web. 20 Apr. 2013. [12] "History of Music Publishing." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 03 Mar. 2013. Web. 10 Apr. 2013. [13] "The History of Sound Recording Technology." The History of Sound Recording Technology. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2013. [14] Karagannis. "Where Do Music Collections Come From?" Media Piracy The American Assembly. N.p., 15 Oct. 2012. Web. 11 Apr. 2013. [15] "Links to Composers of the Classical Period." THE HISTORY OF MUSIC. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Apr. 2013. [16] Mahoney, John. "95% of Music Downloads Are Pirated." Gizmodo. N.p., 16 Jan. 2009. Web. 11 Apr. 2013. [17] "Napster, Inc. History." History of Napster, Inc. FundingUniverse. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2013. [18] "Napster." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 19 Apr. 2013. Web. 20 Apr. 2013. [19] "Online Piracy in Numbers - Facts and Statistics [Infographic]." Web Design Dubai Dubai Web Design and Web Application Development Company. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2013. [20] "Removal of Restrictions Can Decrease Music Piracy." Removal of Restrictions Can Decrease Music Piracy. Rice University, 7 Oct. 2011. Web. 22 Apr. 2013. [21] "Sound Recording and Reproduction." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 21 Apr. 2013. Web. 21 Apr. 2013. [22] Strickland, Jonathan. "Why Do People Pirate Software?" HowStuffWorks. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2013. [23] Wagner, Kyle. "This Is Why People Pirate." Gizmodo. N.p., 14 Aug. 2012. Web. 11 Apr. 2013. [24]

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