The Recording Industry Association of America is threatening to sue those who swap music over the Internet without paying for it. That is fine. The association will be tied up in court for months, spend thousands of dollars on legal fees, and then find out it is suing someone who lacks the means to repay the judgment.
In the meantime, the market is reacting to people's decision to steal music. Yesterday, Universal Music Group announced massive cuts in its suggested retail price of CDs. This is proof that piracy will not destroy the record industry. At the previous prices, individuals felt compelled to steal rather than buy their tunes. UMG is gambling that its cut will begin encouraging people to return to retail stores and other legitimate sources for their musical entertainment. Fret no more, your voices have been heard. A boycott of most legitimate sources by so many music listeners has resulted in a reduction in price.
I have heard from many of my friends, "Can you believe the RIAA is trying to sue college kids for thousands of dollars for trading music?" Well, yes. You see, in case you have been blinded by the countless hours of porn you downloaded in the process of getting "free" music, you are stealing. It's that simple.
Artists wrote and recorded their music so that you would buy it. Deal with it. Since the intent is that you pay for the music, you choosing not to is no different than walking into the record store, picking up the same CD and walking out without paying.
Don't try to justify it to yourself by saying "Well, they make a kazillion dollars a day, and I work for beans, so it is okay." That is stupid. The president of Target makes plenty of money, but that does not mean you should be allowed to steal Dial Soap from Target just because he doesn't need the money.
Now don't get me wrong. I am not being preachy about stealing music; to each his own. Just don't be surprised or offended when the people who have been wronged threaten to seek retribution.
Let's look at the reality of this situation. Suppose you are the unlucky soul, at the ripe old age of, say, 19 who has police bust down your door, throw you in shackles and haul off you and your computer to some police station. That would suck.
However, you would have an opportunity to seek counsel from your attorney. Once the two of you sit down and he realizes your net worth is about negative $10,000, he would tell you not to worry. The recording industry can try to sue you, spend thousands of dollars on legal fees and probably make an example out of one or two people. But, in the end, it will succumb to the old adage: "You can't get blood from a turnip."
In short order, the RIAA will decide that the opportunity cost of suing private individuals for thousands of dollars that will probably never be repaid is too high. In the same fashion, you would probably continue to decide that the opportunity cost of potentially getting caught stealing music and porn is much lower than the opportunity cost of spending your greenbacks on a CD. You, like most other college students, will be able to continue stealing music for many moons until a better means of seeking retribution comes along.
Matt Snowden is a senior finance major. You may reach him at matthew.snowden@asu.edu.
