|
 The time is long overdue for Christians to get serious about their musical downloading ethics (and those of their kids). Music is a copyrighted product that should not be downloaded illegally or shared illegally. Of course, there are gray areas, some of which I've probably crossed from time to time. It's tough to be passionate about Christian music and want to share it with friends without getting into those gray areas, but the only way to do it is to buy the music legitimately.
Steal music, get sued
There was an article today in Maine's Morning Sentinel newspaper illustrating one reason Christians should not download pirated music. You could get sued by the music industry and get your name plastered all over the paper. Needless to say, this wouldn't be a very good testimony for the lifestyle we purport to uphold. (I'm not suggesting that this guy ever claimed to be a Christian—I don't know what his beliefs are.)
In its running legal battle against unauthorized downloaders, five recording companies have sued an Augusta man in federal court claiming he illegally pirated and shared copyrighted music.
Scott Hinds, 23, is a defendant in one of a number of lawsuits by Recording Industry of America affiliates seeking to halt illegal sharing of copyrighted songs—a once-widespread practice some maintain was "fair use," encouraged by certain computer software.
Of course, getting caught should not be the primary deterrent. But it should make otherwise conscientious Christians think twice about fudging the line on this one. It should also make them think twice about letting their kids fudge the legal line.
Are free downloads "Fair Use?"
I'm no lawyer, but the "Fair Use" doctrine doesn't seem to be holding up when it comes to sharing copyrighted materials with your friends. The act of downloading a song that someone else paid for goes against the spirit of the "Fair Use" concept, which was created by a court decision that allowed individuals to make their own copies of material they bought legitimately. Once the material is shared with friends (allowing them to NOT pay for it), it seems to go well beyond anything that is fair to the artists and record companies.
Should we care what is fair to artists and record companies? It may not be popular to do so, but honesty and fairness should be a basic part of our belief system, no matter who is the beneficiary of these character traits. It isn't OK to cheat the rich any more than it's OK to cheat the poor. As Christians, we ought to be setting the gold standard for what is fair, and to do unto others as we'd like people to do to us. Forget the public face of the companies and "rich artists" that music pirating cheats. What about the behind the scenes artists and songwriters in the music industry that write and produce the songs that we love, but get short-changed when we don't purchase them through legitimate channels?
How to legally share music
Everyone knows I'm an Apple fan (yes, it's true that I keep the hilarious "Get a Mac" commercials on my video iPod) so it should come as no surprise that I use iTunes to solve my ethical dillemma. I'd encourage you to make your music collections legitimate (and those of your kids) by setting up an iTunes account or some other legal alternative. Delete illegal music files, and if you give music to someone, buy it online. I don't know what other services cost, but I pay $.99 per song. After I burn a CD for a friend, I just print a playlist and go onto iTunes to purchase duplicate copies. It's a small price to pay for being on the right side of not only the law, but of honesty and fairness.
Trackback(0)
 |
Technorati Tags:
TrackBack URI for this entry
Subscribe to this comment's feed
Show/Hide comments
Show/Hide comment form
Visitors: 421625