by Martine Pauwels

Created on: December 26, 2009   Last Updated: December 28, 2009

First of all we must consider that there are several ways in which you can download music and they are not all unethical.

Ethical music download:

- Consider that there are a lot of people who do not buy CDs anymore

Some download music straight to their mp3 player or iPod, for several reasons. A lot of sites offer legal, paid downloads that benefit artists and music industry. Buying music in mp3 format is easier to store and there is no need to buy a whole CD, if you just like some songs of the album. It gives a custom pick for a buyer.

Only for music stores who sell CDs this might not be so great, although there are download sites that sell prepaid credit to download songs, like iTunes. Music stores can sell that and have some profit, while it is also a great idea for people who do not own credit cards, like kids who want to buy music with their pocket money. In many countries, like Belgium, not all have access to credit cards as well.

No reasonable person should disagree with legal, paid downloads. That CD sales drop might also be due to the fact that many disc are so well copy protected, that when legally purchased, they will not play in all players.

- Consider the extra promotion options for musicians

Mp3 format gives artists the change to give away free samples, like some songs from an upcoming album. Indie artists often away music to freely and legally download and ask fans to share it.

This is a great promotion tool. If you can listen to a full song before buying, you get a better idea, than from a thirty-second intro, as on music stores and on websites.

If you love the songs, you can buy the music. Anybody who has a heart for music will understand that musicians need to live from their work and that selling music is their livelihood.

- Consider that there have always been criminals

In modern times the music industry condemns piracy downloads and I think they are right, since producing great music costs money that is an investment.

Life is not free and I think it is theft and immoral indeed to just want everything for free. In the old days, people did buy an LP and made copies on cassette from them. If it was to use themselves in the car or to safe the vinyl record from scratches, they did nothing illegal.

But often copies were made to hand out to friends, or people lend a record from the library and copied it. This still happens. Some just want it all for free. But the music industry has not gone broke from it.

So it is hard to catch music pirated and unless people sell illegal copies. The music business loses money from it is illegal. Still blaming just downloading and stigmatising people who spead music on-line as criminals is no good marketing idea either.

All illegal copies sold are money made on music only a pirate benefits from and that is a bad thing for the ones who invested time, money and effort into it. On the other hand you can question if pirates are not just making money, because people might like to play their purchased music on any player they want, while on legal copies they might be limited.

That is why I feel music piracy is an unethical thing that should always be punished, but just blaming all downloaders for it is just madness, because I do consider most people who download to be music lovers and the music industry is not always that nice to it's fans.

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