Music Piracy

Music has a way of adding life and energy to any performance, many musicals, commercials, films, live shows, and concerts sweeping people off of their feet by the colorful compositions of the musicians. In adding depth and dimension to characters, music has a way of bringing emotions to surface through the use of sound, meaningful beats and rhythms pulsing audible story tales into the ears and souls of the performers and audience members.

Louder and more intense sounds, like deep booming, have the effect of grounding the music, while softer and often higher pitched compositions, like gentle piping, have the effect of lifting the music. Feelings such as anticipation, anger, joy, sorrow, peace, and frustration can be communicated through sound, and people are in tune with the ways in which music arouses them. These various types of sounds are produced by a wide range of unique instruments, including horns, drums, and strings.

Each distinct instrument and sound has a part to play in the overall composition of the music, every element bringing a certain kind of meaning and emotionality to the overall performance. In experiencing the performance of the Pirate’s Dinner Adventure, one is thrust into a historical world of swashbuckling action, pirates taking to the stage, in boats and though water, in the battle for the ship of treasures and the princess. Each part of the musical composition has meaning and purpose, the deeper horns and drums creating a sense of anticipation and fear, a mixture of expectation and dread.

This booming introduction is followed by the appearance of pirates on the stage, creeping through the water and floating in on their small boats, each one determined to fight to the finish and win the battle for riches and the lovely woman. This slow beating of the drums is threaded through with low to medium pitched horns, such as tubas, leading the skulking pirates closer to their final goal, the wealthy ship full of gold and the fine girl.

Some pirates pop up above the water with knives in their mouths, surprising the audience, as the drums beat out in almost perfect synchronicity with their small splashes, and the leisurely gliding boats fill the viewers with dread as the music pipes out the horns, their stealthy movements and whispers carried by each rich tune. When the pirates raid the ship, the music explodes and quickens, higher pitched horns, such as trumpets, pound out the action of the climbing men, rope swinging pirates, firing canons, and sword fighting bandits.

The soldiers lose control of their ship, and the music floods with horns, the shrill cries of the instruments sounding out the struggles and screams of a waterborne battlefield. The knives flying through the air and the pieces of the ship falling down onto the deck and into the water are pierced with drumming, and the pushing and falling people, the fighters, are suspended in a torrent of drumming and horns, each instrument pulsing out a rhythm which is busied yet integrated, hectic but blended to suit the frantic interweaving of battle.

The music calms and the strings enter into the composition when the soldiers finally take control of their ship once again, having banished the pirates from the area, and having reclaimed their treasure and their princess. With the brash and brazen pirates effectively cast out, the peaceful and gliding sounds of the violins, flutes, and chimes bringing the culmination of the show to a soft and quiet ending.

These higher pitched instruments are most effective when played lightly, the soothing tinkling of these sweet instruments resembling the gentle nature of the female, and symbolizing the safety of the princess and the treasure. This performance was extremely rich in musical emotionality, each instrument and sound bringing a certain and unique element of beauty and meaning to the piece. Initiating into the slow, deep beginning of anticipation, moving through the wild and loud rhythmic racket of battle, and culminating with the soft and gentle high sounds of peace was a poignant experience rich with significance.

The magnificence of the deep drumbeat and shallow tubas was followed by the excited piping of trumpeters and quicker beats, finally cascading into the chiming flow of the violins and flutes. A story can be effective without the use of music, but telling a tale interwoven with melodies can capture elements of the heart and soul through the use of a comprehensive and engaging harmony of sounds.

The plan, backed by French President Sarkozy, asks Internet service providers to disconnect users who illegally download copyrighted music
by Leigh Phillips

With sales of compact discs across Europe in free-fall, the record industry has called on the EU to follow French president Nicolas Sarkozy’s lead and force internet service providers to disconnect customers who illegally download music.

“Up until now, ISPs have allowed copyright theft to run rampant on their networks, causing a massive devaluation of copyrighted music,” said John Kennedy, the CEO of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), the record industry trade association. “The time for action is now — from the EU and other governments.”

The IFPI believes the mood of indulging ISPs and their downloading customers is coming to an end.

“2007 was the year ISP responsibility started to become an accepted principle,” he said. “2008 must be the year it becomes reality.”

Last November, president Sarkozy backed an initiative in partnership with the record industry and internet providers that would see ISPs automatically disconnect customers who illegally download copyrighted material.

“More than anyone else in 2007, our industry has to thank French President Nicolas Sarkozy and the chairman of FNAC [the France-based chain of record and electronics superstores], Denis Olivennes, for the change of mood,” said Mr Kennedy.

The Sarkozy agreement, announced in November, is the most significant milestone yet in the task of curbing piracy on the internet.

The French president’s move requires ISPs to disconnect customers using an automated system and to test filtering technologies.

Mr Kennedy made comments in an IFPI report on the state of the sector. Although there was a 40 percent increase in digital sales globally in 2007, according to the report, there was a 10 percent decline in sales of compact discs last year.

The report also praised government moves against illegal downloading in Sweden, Belgium, the UK, the US and Asia.

Provided by EUobserver—For the latest EU related news

BusinessWeek Europe January 28, 2008 1:04PM EST

Introduction
Sharing of illegal musical contents is becoming very popular nowadays. Sharing tools and many websites such as Kazza and Pirates bay are considered as a major source for downloading musical tracks and albums from the Internet around the globe. There are many reasons which have caused these illegal acts to emerge.

One of the possible causes is the high cost of some albums and concert tickets. Many musical concerts might ask for very high entry fee. Example of this is the ticket price of a local concert for an artist named Stevie Wonders at Yas Island which is set to a price of Dhs250!

Some CD and DVD packages might be little overpriced as well; however, several websites such as Amazon offer used CD albums while other websites such as iTunes offer cheap Mp3 tracks and albums for as low as 1$ ( 4Dhs).

Another possible cause is the diversity of tools and methods used by the pirates to publish the stolen and illegal material. Tools such Ares, Shareeza, and Kazza could be downloaded easily into your computer and use the P2P technology to acquire all the latest albums. The P2P (peer to peer) technology allows thousands of persons to share the same album and even allow the illegal users to comment on and rate these contents. There are several search engines created to find the illegal peers (distributors) such as torrentz.com website which connects thousands of violating sites. There are also several website where you can search for recorded musical events too. Several sites exist like YouTube where people can upload and watch HD quality full concerts for free with subtitles which make it more convenient for them than paying for the ticket money. Some people might also use forums and blogs to distribute such albums. Twitter (which is a blogging site) is an excellent source for the leaked mp3 tracks downloads.

A third cause of this major issue is the lack of moral and legal knowledge about this issue. For instance, many of the teens nowadays think that it’s not bad to download songs from the Internet. A recent study made by Barna group discovered that only eight percent of the sample of 1448 teenagers thinks it’s morally wrong to download music illegally from the internet (Ventura, 2004). As a result, several laws are enforced to protect Artist’s rights such as the UAE Copyright Law .These laws range from huge fines to impressments of copy-right violators, but these laws are mostly implemented heavily on companies rather than particular persons and this might seem quite disappointing.

As a conclusion, it’s hard to ignore the several causes that made some Internet users distribute copied music contents through the Internet. It will be better to educate these persons on the possible effects of their actions.

Bibliography

Moore, C. W. (2003, August 8). Is Music Piracy StealingRetrieved March 12, 2011, from Applelinks: http://www.applelinks.com/mooresviews/pirate.shtml

Stevie Wonders. (n.d.). Retrieved 03 12, 2011, from Yas Island: http://www.yasisland.ae/en/events-calendar/flash-events/yas-island-show-weekends/concerts/stevie-wonder-live-on-yas-island/

Ventura. (2004, April 26). Fewer Than 1 in 10 Teenagers Believe that Music Piracy is Morally Wrong. Retrieved 03 12, 2011, from The Barna Group: http://www.barna.org/barna-update/article/5-barna-update/139-fewer-than-1-in-10-teenagers-believe-that-music-piracy-is-morally-wrong

Piracy and Copyright Infringement are major issues that have developed through the use of the Internet and file transfer servers.

Developments and advances in these areas over past two decades have my generation within a mouse click of their destination. However, these opened doors have been overrun with a large exchange of pirated material. The present issue involves the nations excessive illegal downloading of unlicensed products.The trend of previous litigations involving piracy and copyright cases in federal courts has ruled against the consumer, and has involved the rewriting of many laws, yet it becomes harder to pinpoint copyright violators as decryption advancement mimics closely the timeline of security encryption. I feel that it is imperative for all software products to receive a restrictive license tag, enabling software companies and music artists to maintain a living and economic interests. I disagree with the form/process in which these files are distributed, allowing for piracy of files, rerecording and redistribution.The use of patents began in the early 19th century, and would ultimately lead to the current system of licensing and copyright of products that can be reproduced.

These initial patents were intended to allow artists to make a living and survive off their pieces of artwork. The year 1880 marked an important year for the patent in the case Diamond versus Chark Barty who were disputing the patent of a single-cell bacterium used in breaking down crude oil. The Supreme Court ruled that patents could be granted for this purpose.The main purpose of a patent is to promote and encourage investors in society to make new ways to assist society and economy and provide the inventor with royalties. Patenting is a system that involves product branding or other signs of ownership to provide the public with reliability in new forms of intellectual property, while still protecting the owner/ inventor. Copyrights give authors complete ownership and rights to their creations during extended period of time, and in most cases fall the under the rights of a solo beneficiary. Today the act of sharing files promotes global exchange between users.

This global networking between countries provides business solutions that not only reduces prices on sales and purchases, but also allows large companies to make more accurate marketing decisions with documented transactions. For the home user programs like Kazaa and Limewire, implement these large ‘peer to peer’ networks that are hosted on FTP servers, and share files. In developing cases where music files and software are being illegally copied, there are always disagreements on what exactly is protected and what is an original work.For example, the website Priceline. com has attempted to make patents on their ideas that would seem to be common belief and not unique, such as trying to patent an auction site with auctions that have reserve prices. Therefore, one of the more precedent matters is the issue regarding what exactly is ‘intellectual property’, and how does music fall under that stance of copyright. Intellectual property can be defined as any creation of human intelligence that is new, unique, and has market value.

Copyright places limits on use of speech, print, and performance.This idea of intellectual property is not common knowledge to most people who compile large networks. It is evident that not all people realize the implications of stealing files and copying music. Many defend piracy as a form of promotion of software, which would have otherwise been ignored by certain consumers that never buy certain software in the first place. Most software copies are shared because their users don’t think of lending software or lending music as a crime, or at least not one taken seriously. Of course the elimination of digital songs/sources would not hold up.On a business level online trade, exchange, and purchase lowers transaction costs significantly, and for the music business actually makes up a big part of their remaining buyers.

One of the main differences between piracy of music and software is the fact that newly available technology today is more advanced and friendly to forms of copying, which allow top quality music between each copy and user. In the past, qualities of copied cassettes were not as good or of equal quality and didn’t involve the Internet, whereas online and digitized songs are more readily available and easier to simply copy, and then e-mail to a friend. Copying music from a CD to a cassette or to your computer is legal and accepted only because you own the original copy of the CD and the music files are not being used for commercial purposes”. The first attempt by a person who uploaded an album of songs online was not at first a major problem as it was easier to trace/locate the source since early networks were primitive and did not involve as many users. In 1999, a 19-year-old, Shawn Fanning, invented a program called Napster, which users could download and exchange musical recordings for free over the Internet.This program was considered a gateway to loss government control and launched multiple similar uncontrolled networks. There have been many steps taken in response to Internet piracy, however, it seems as though most have been lackluster and are not sufficient to produce visible and significant results.

The music industry has turned to making formatting music files that can only be copied or reproduced in certain prescribed circumstances like . m4p. This defensive technology sometimes takes away from a user’s number of legitimate uses and transfers, however it seems to be on the road to improving safe transfers.Unfortunately, with each announcement of new protective software, a counter program almost instantly is created, matched, and supported through counter hacking technology that makes files available to these large copying networks. Any person with knowledgeable code in computers is capable of decoding these files. This desire to ‘liberate’ files by many hackers is only a sign to show that the industry should be developing ways to work with the technology and not against it. The Recording Industry Association of America recently filed lawsuits against four college students, running ftp servers on campus networks.

A federal judge in California settled the case quickly, and despite the fact that the students never actually accepted responsibility, they settled to pay $12,000 to $17,500 in fines. A case that ended without a clearly defined verdict proves that it is difficult to have a true scapegoat for responsibility of piracy violations and copyright infringement. “The internet is like one gigantic copying machine,” says David Nimmer, a lawyer who spends most of his time with disputes in Intellectual property. “Once on the internet, copying becomes effortless, costless, widespread, and immediate. Nimmer is an experienced lawyer who is well aware of the easy access to the copied files and has trouble himself challenging illegality in certain situations. Copyright law does not make a distinction between public use and private use, such as buying a book from a store like Borders, versus borrowing it from a library and copying. More recently the United States congress passed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which updated copyright laws to include these widespread international servers and allow the set up of a system to control the Internet.

Unfortunately, only 22 countries are on oard for the ratification process and make it increasingly difficult for any visible change. Many countries consider these laws would impede on the freedom of the Internet in its original creation, if forced under a universal control involving the U. S. However, at this point copyright-based industries generate more revenues internationally than any other U. S. industry, more than the aircraft, agriculture, and automobile industries. Without global support, a server can be created in any country to house large FTP sites, like Kazaa which is has a large base in Singapore.

For an artist, the main purpose of a copyright is to protect. A majority of artists feel that the free song-sharing epidemic is affecting their careers and profits as artists. Many artists and songwriters who write original music and have only the music to directly profit from. Downloading off these sites affects them negatively; specifically songwriters, record labels, producers, managers, and any others involved in production of music, who cannot rely on performance profits. Artists can sell and profit off merchandise, whereas songwriters lack that ability.Generally the belief is that the pirating music solely affects the artists, when in reality it affects the industry as a whole, including all the people who have jobs connected to these artists. The process in which a record company gains complete control of a band has shortened the length of an artist’s career, again ultimately hurting economy.

Music industry should try and not dishearten online music consumers that promote artists, but rather develop new ways to work with the evolving technology.Software companies make money through businesses, because instead of copying a CD, a business must register each computer or client separately so that each has its own separate license. It is suggested that despite counter acting efforts, 90% of all computer software is counterfeit similar to most music. There are many solutions to existing problems involving copyright infringement and illegal piracy of music. Despite these problems I do not support the copyright laws full intention and I feel that there is a need for reform of distribution.Interesting enough, it is assumed that the issue is clear and obvious to all people who steal music. While the music industry does see music sharing as piracy, the youth majority does not see this topic on quite the same black and white level.

The record company’s actual costs are low, and yet a CD’s cost to a consumer is not. The reasoning of the average teenager is that why would they want to spend $20 on a CD with one good song on it, $200 dollars on software that they must have for academic requirement, when they can upload it for free.Lack of communication in a time where everyone is connected seems like a waste and stunt to new advancing technology. Piracy is not right, and a corrective measure can only come from recognizing that the problem originates from not recognizing more than just the new ease of file transfer. Piracy is of course a wide addressing issue, including a rapidly increasing amount of people from a conglomeration of age groups. There needs to be a redistribution of wealth within in the music industry and software industries. Once issues like these are addressed, a solution can be found.