Up on Downloading

Elaine McArdle said, “The music industry is struggling with a full blown crisis”. What could possibly be pushing the music industry into a crisis one might ask, illegally downloading free music. In the essay, Up on Downloading, three Harvard Law School professors are trying to come up with different solutions to this problem that is occurring. Now that our technology has become so advanced, many people are figuring out ways to cheat the system, and when people are not paying for the music they have downloaded, the artist is not getting paid. Artists are not the only one losing money but everyone involved producing the music is losing money as well. There is also less and less people going out and buying CD’s. I could probably not even remember the last time I purchased a CD. So how are the artists and producers suppose to make money when we are stealing from them? Zittrain, Nesson, and Fisher believe they could possibly have the solution to save the music industry.

Fisher’s model “would replace the copyright system with a government-administered compensation plan, funded by a tax on hardware and other systems used to play digital music” (McArdle, pg1). Everyone would be able to download music for free, but everyone would have an additional tax on their internet service, blank CD’s, and any other digital device. The artists would be paid by the government based on the number of downloads their music receives. I totally disagree with this model. We already pay countless number of taxes, and many people do not even download music. Why should they be taxed on something else that does not affect them? I also feel our government has enough on their hands as it. We have had many government scandals recently and if I were an artist I would not want to be paid through the