Term Papers on Music Sharing: A Question Of Ethics

Term Paper Title	Music Sharing: A Question Of Ethics
# of Words	760
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	3.04

Music Sharing: A Question of Ethics

Hum 102-005

March 9th, 2004

It has been around for centuries, possibly one of the most important staple in all cultures.  The uses vary between all societies.  The importance of this artwork may vary anywhere from its significance, for religious purposes, or for plain out personal enjoyment.  In modern times its main purpose is to convey messages of politics, emotions, and ideas (although a lot of mainstream has varied from this significance).  The art form I speak of is of course music.  However, in the world of music there has been a topic that has been the source of much controversy and debate.  File sharing, which recently emerged in the late nineties, has become globally rampant.  Anyone with a PC and an internet connection can not only download music files, but movies and software as well.  This is obviously a huge dilemma for the music industry and artists that rely on records sales as income.  With album sales dropping significantly in current times it is a problem that must be addressed.  File sharing is ethically wrong in the fact that it steals one’s property without any permission.

            In 1999, an 18-year-old college dropout named Shawn Fanning changed the music industry forever with his file-sharing program called Napster.  His idea was simple: a program that allowed computer users to share and swap files, specifically music, through a centralized file server. His response to the complaints of the difficulty to finding and downloading music over the internet was to stay awake for sixty consecutive hours writing the source code for a program that combined a music-search function with a file-sharing system and to include communication and instant messaging.  Following the creation of Napster many more file-sharing programs were created such as Kazaa, IMesh, DC++, and Poisoned.

            With new programs being introduced on an almost daily basis it seems impossible for anything to be done in order to reduce or eradicate file-sharing.  The Recording Industry Association of America has filed suit against Napster charging them with tributary copyright infringement, which means Napster is being accused not of violating copyright itself, but of contributing to and aiding other people's infringement. However, N...

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