A music industry trade organization, the International Freedom of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), showed that more and more people are switching from free, illegal file swapping to online music stores. "We believe that the music industry's Internet strategy is now turning the corner, and that in 2004 there will be, for the first time, a substantial migration of consumers from unauthorized free services to legitimate alternatives," said Jay Berman, IFPI's CEO. This new crackdown is not only happening in the United States, but around the world. European, Canadian, and Asian music executives have been also irritated by the large sum of people swapping files for free so they will follow the U.S. The industry was built because free file-sharing networks have been slowing down the music sales for three years. New music online stores include Apple Computer's iTunes and Roxio's and Real Networks Rhapsody.
Free music file-swapping is wrong for copyrighted but I believe music albums are outrageously priced. I am currently using peer-to-peer networks because I don't want to pay for music and neither does millions of people. However, soon I will switch to an online music store because their prices are considered to be in my pricing range. Paying a dollar for a song is better than paying 20 dollars for a new music album. I also realize many composers of songs and music company workers are losing their jobs or not getting paid enough. I believe we should give credit to the artist we download. This debate seems like the music industry is winning but might still take a long time for the world to come to full banning of free file sharing.
