by Rachel Couch

Created on: September 14, 2008   Last Updated: November 02, 2011

Downloading music from the internet can be theft if someone is using a program such as Limewire, or Blubster to get music. If someone is actually purchasing a song from the musician's web-page that they actually have to offer, than no it's nowhere even near theft.

Many individuals seem to think that downloading music for free is completely okay! It seems that a lot of people really do not think about how many really use these programs to download whole cd's even; the Musician actually loses money this way because not so many cd's are being purchased in stores, instead the music is being downloaded from some random program without the artists permission!

I have known people who just sit around all day long, stealing music from the internet, having over 5,000 songs on their computer. Another thing that they don't seem to realize is that the majority of the songs that you can get through these programs usually have viruses attached to them. So, not only is downloading music illegally theft, it's also a very stupid thing to do because the person is also destroying their computer.

What I do find a bit funny in a way is that certain people will admit that they would never in a million years shoplift from a store because they think that it is wrong and that there is a huge chance of getting caught, which means that there are so many consequences to pay. They know that stealing is wrong and that they were raised much better than that; many of these people still continue to download music the way that they do, not realizing that they are really stealing! It IS theft! They don't seem to comprehend that they are just looking up songs that they really like, or just heard on the radio, downloading and stealing from the artist that had worked so hard on that tune and is probably really frustrated with the fact that their music is being passed along and programs such as these without their permission. If I were the one working so hard to make a great song, I finally release it and than people are just avoiding buying me album because it is much "easier" just to install a program that is swarming with viruses and stealing my music.

Downloading music really is not theft unless you make a purchase of it and have the artist permission and they are offering it to their fans. Getting these songs free and purchasing them are two completely different levels, and to be completely honest, I feel as if people who download music should be prosecuted in someway or another because I feel as if it is so wrong that people actually do this. People get prosecuted for theft, and downloading music illegally is also theft, so why shouldn't the same thing happen to these people?

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