Nipping At Napster

Some people think that it is perfectly fine to download music for free, but the majority of people know that it is illegal to do so. Joe Elliott works in the music industry and states “Napster is a form of theft. No doubt about it.” in a response to letter asking about how artist feel about it. Most people would argue and say that the artist do not care about how their music gets out because even with cutting the middleman out they still get their fair share of pay. The truth is most artist make their music thinking of their fans and try to use their platforms to influence people in a positive ways. It is nowhere near fair that artist are being robbed for their work when they try to help people express themselves through a feeling, a form of art like dance, or part of
their culture. It is inhumane to steal from others especially those who try to help.
People also say that not everyone can afford music and it is free publicity. Yes it is true Janis Ian herself said “Most people can't afford to spend $15.99 to experiment”, but when people download music for free they are only listening and sharing music of those artists that are already extremely successful and established. In an article entitled “Nipping at Napster” it is stated that “Napster allows computer users to log into its site, download MP3 music files…. Completely free of charge.” Upcoming artist do not get the exposure that established artist do. There are people who are trying to influence with music cannot get an opportunity to share what they do. That means that there is less jobs in the industry because the same artist are getting recognition. If people give up on their dreams of becoming artist there is less culture being shared less expression of feelings and less jobs. In an article called cybercrime theft, downloading music freely goes against “The No Electronic Theft Act passed by Congress and signed by the president”. This Act was passed to prevent the recurrence of online theft yet it is still being
done.