by Dawn Hawkins

Created on: July 27, 2010

The music and movie industries have been fighting illegal downloads from the internet for quite some time. For instance, huge waves of titanic proportions were caused when Napster gave away free music to it's customers. This is one of the first notable incidents of free illegal downloading websites. In fact, it became a battle between the users of the site, the government and the music industry. After Napster was literally crushed in its original intent for being on the internet, literally thousands of other websites popped up which allowed you to download free illegal music on the internet. In fact, it has gone far beyond music into movies and even computer programs. With so many websites that offer free downloads of illegal music, why hasn't it crushed the music industry?

There are several reasons that illegal downloads are not crushing the music industry. One reason is because there have been major crack downs over illegal downloading of music. People are being sued left and right for stealing music. They are stealing when they download music they know is wrong to download. They are also being sued for sharing music with people who are also illegally downloading the music. For instance, a twelve year old was sued along with many others in a lawsuit for illegally downloading music. She didn't realize it was illegal since her mother paid for the service. Downloading music on the internet can be very confusing as to whether it is legal or not. Many of those people were "let off the hook" when they agreed to never download music again. This is part of the reason that illegal downloading is not causing a huge crush in the sales of legal downloads and record sales.

People have become more and more aware of the issues that come along with illegally downloading music and have stopped doing it all together. The legal implications are simply not worth it. Illegally downloading one song can cost thousands of dollars. Ridiculous as that sounds, it is true. It is much cheaper to simply purchase the music legally.

The fact that you can easily get a virus on your computer is a big reason why illegal downloads aren't crushing the music industry. These viruses can render your computer useless unless you want to spend hundreds of dollars to get it repaired. It is hardly worth the effort of getting some free music. It is far easier to purchase the music you want instead of downloading them in an illegal manner.

There are far more honest people in the world than there are dishonest. Those who understand the implications and know that they are doing something wrong when they download illegal music will usually opt to take the legal route when downloading their music. Some people, such as the case with the 12 year old, innocently download music that they think is legal when it truly isn't. They were mislead into believing that it was a legal site. The reason that the music industry isn't being crushed by illegal downloads is that people just aren't willing to take the chance that they would have to take in order to get a couple of free songs.

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