File sharing is when people share files on their computers with other users. This is done across the internet and made possible by peer-to-peer programs. These files can be anything: pictures, text, pornography, movies, etc. I will be focusing on music. The issue is whether or not music or file-sharing should be legalized.

When I first tried Napster, I was absolutely amazed. With my family’s terribly slow internet connection, I would download as much music as I could. I would wait patiently, sometimes 30-45 minutes, for a single song to be downloaded. Then, one day we got a DSL modem and no one could stop me from downloading music. In a rough estimate, I must have downloaded over 30 gigabytes worth of music in the past few years. That’s a lot of music, music that I would not have heard, artists I would have not discovered, if it weren’t for file sharing.

But all good things come to an end. After losing legal battles with the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) and related parties, Napster started deteriorating. Filters prevented certain artists from being listed in searches and if you had songs by certain artists on your computer, you would be banned. I once started u

Why are CD sales down? In 2002, there was a 10% decline in record sales. The RIAA blame file-sharing, however, they need to consider the following possibilities… (1) The state of radio. Clear Channel controls around 60% of rock radio. Ever wonder why, no matter what city you travel to, there is always a radio station with the same format as a station back home. According to Professor James Boyle’s, this is an example of Clear Channels “McDonaldization” of radio. “Since Clear Channel controls the format and the play lists of the majority of radio stations across the country, the type of music that gets heard becomes limited to what Clear Channel programmers decide to include on play lists”(Boyle’s). If the listeners don’t like what they hear, they won’t buy the music. Would the fact that almost every song on commercial radio is bought and paid for have anything to do with the narrow focus and homogeneous nature of radio? “What drives radio is advertising and money, not music. A lot of music gets left behind thanks to the current state of radio, that consumers are rejecting it shouldn’t be surprising. They’re creating their own MP3 play lists, and if the labels were smart, they’d be doing everything in their power to be on the play lists of radio stations. Instead, they scream copyright infringement and call their lawyers.” (Boyle’s)

The second possibility is price. Music is overly exp

Some topics in this essay:
James Boyle’s, DR DRE”, Allowed File, Pay Free”, Philosophy Consumerism, Association America, Imagine CD’s, John Syner, recording industry, play lists, radio stations, buy music, downloading music, music industry, download music, music music, artists discovered, channel controls,