Students Have Few Qualms About Online Music Piracy

May 2, 2000

Students Have Few Qualms About Online Music Piracy

By PAUL HELTZEL
arl Bauer recently made a CD for his sister with 150 songs on it, chosen from the extensive collection of '80s classics stored in MP3 files on his hard drive. For Bauer, a sophomore at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, CD buying is strictly for people with little computer savvy or slow modems.

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"With my roommate's CD burner I can make a compilation of whatever I want to play in my car," Bauer said. "My brother still buys CDs, but he lives at home with a slow connection."
Despite record industry efforts to curb the spread of copyrighted music on the Internet, college students are trading so many songs encoded in the popular MP3 audio format that university networks are straining under the traffic. By embracing digital music, the generation that grew up with the Internet is helping to define the way music and other content will be distributed online. And free distribution of copyrighted music, especially over broadband, will likely become more widespread as it becomes more convenient.
Ethical barriers are falling along with the technical ones. Some students argue that commercial CDs are little more than an outdated delivery system that does not fit into their needs or budgets. Others see copying music as an ethical breach they can live with.
For most students, downloading pirated songs "is like running the risk of a traffic ticket," said Mark Pastin, president of the Council of Ethical Organizations, a nonprofit group based in Alexandria, Va., that promotes ethical and legal conduct in business. "Copyright has always depended on a bit of an honor code. That honor code has been shattered."
Don Tapscott, author of the book "Growing Up Digital" and co-author of "Digital Capital," said young people are accustomed to the software model in which companies distribute a free version of a product online to spur sales of a more full-featured version.
"They want to try before they buy, because the demo is deeply ingrained in their culture," Tapscott said. "Do they know it's illegal? Yes, maybe. But there's nothing inherent in the Net that transmits good values to kids. They're doing something that in their world is the norm."
Many students say it is inefficient to distribute music on CDs, which they say are often priced beyond their means. While students admit that they like having the album packaging and liner notes, many say they rarely buy CDs now.
"What I download is hard to find or does not exist online" in an authorized format, said Shawn Murphy, a graduating senior at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. "If I could find the songs I want online, and if they were offered for sale at a reasonable price, I'd be happy to buy them. The distribution method would hopefully be far easier than hunting stuff down illegally."
Most of the copyrighted music circulating on the Internet was "ripped" from a CD, but there are many different paths from CD to hard drive. The free software Napster is probably the most popular way to find and copy music files, but programs like CuteMX, Gnutella, and iMesh all serve the same purpose in slightly different ways.
Across fast university networks, it is easy for students to transfer files through instant messaging software or put them on university file servers for others to copy. Network searches can turn up downloaded music files and even recently released full-length movies in compressed digital format.

Major labels are now working to reduce their reliance on CDs.

Regardless of how the files are downloaded, students say trading is done with little consideration of copyright. And while some students download only music they already own, most admit to pulling down at least a handful of free tracks from albums they could buy.
"Whenever I'm listening to music, I'm using my MP3 player," said Aaron Silverman, a Yale sophomore. "Even at parties, people hook up computers to big speakers. It's unfair to have this music out there, yet at the same time it's very convenient. It's a little hypocritical, I have to admit. It's a moral dilemma every time I download a song."
A quick scan of Web bulletin boards shows that some music traders put pressure on others to be fair to artists. Some users limit their downloading to songs that are no longer commercially available, albums they already own, or live recordings that have not been released on CD.
"My own Napster [use] has been about what's out of print," said Mark Pesce, a professor in the interactive media program at the University of Southern California's School of Cinema-Television. "Bands can set the tone for that sort of thing. Maybe the bands will say, 'You can record a live show, but don't trade what's on the albums.' I think every band will have a different approach."
In fact, many artists have spoken out against Napster. The rapper Dr. Dre and the heavy metal band Metallica are both suing the company, to the chagrin of some fans.
One Metallica fan wrote on the Napster bulletin boards that she had tears in her eyes when the band came out against Napster. "Metallica was a good, intelligent, humble, talented, down-to-earth band, and I would rant on about how everyone should contribute to their success buy buying an album or two," she wrote. "I don't think Napster is doing anything wrong."
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is also suing Napster for copyright infringement. While the association will not comment on the suit, a spokesman said the industry wants to work with companies that sell music electronically. "We're always looking to partner with companies that compensate artists," the spokesman said. "And those companies will flourish."
Major labels are now working to reduce their reliance on CDs. Sony Music and BMG Entertainment both announced this month that they will distribute singles online. And the other "big five" record companies -- EMI, Universal Music Group, and Warner -- have made similar announcements or are expected to this year.
The recording industry is also pushing an anti-piracy standard for distributing music digitally. The Secure Digital Music Initiative, a group formed by the RIAA, is working to allow different formats that provide copyright protection to be played on various consumer playback devices.
Bob Kohn, founder of the MP3 distributor Emusic.com, said people will purchase music online, as long as the sellers make it easy to store and play.
"The major labels should respond as the independent record companies have, by allowing the sale of their music on the Internet, in a flexible format, at a fair price," said Kohn, whose service sells individual songs and albums online. "What the Internet provides, at the end of the day, is flexibility. If you make it easier to buy than steal, they'll buy."

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Council of Ethical Organizations
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"Growing Up Digital"
"Digital Capital"
Recording Industry Association of America

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