Teenagers today have literally inexhaustible access to the media of the world due to strides in technology. This access includes file sharing and torrenting, which allows them to upload and download files off the internet’s many websites and programs. A teenager utilizing such methods to fill an iPod with thousands of songs and hundreds of videos will often ignore the most overlooked aspect of downloading: it’s illegal.
"Any person who knows how to read and click can download music," one senior who utilizes the technology says. He asked to be anonymous because he was aware of the illegality of his actions. "I have downloaded 4,314 songs. Movies, I have probably downloaded 70 or so. There is nowhere near enough space on my iPod to keep all of my movies."
Downloading to this degree is not uncommon; another senior downloaded around 150 gigabytes of media for his iPod. His iTunes library contains around 10,000 songs and has 50 videos. The full cost of downloaded content tends to be prohibitive for a young person who wants a lot of content. If he were to have paid for the songs alone, he would have had to cough up around $10,000 for the media.
Another student, a senior who has downloaded 7,500 songs and 80 videos that include movies, music videos and television shows, feels that paying for such a large amount of content would be impossible. "If a song is about 99 cents, that means I would have had to buy $7,500 worth for all of my music. I honestly don’t have enough money to do that. But does that mean I have to not enjoy as much music as I do? I don’t feel guilty about it at all. Music is made to be shared and enjoyed. Artists aren’t losing nearly enough money to make a dent in their pockets."
In fact, according to the Performing Right Society for Music (PRS), live revenue for artists has increased substantially since 2004, while recorded revenue to record labels has decreased. This should come as no surprise, as the NPD Group estimates that 48 percent of teenagers did not purchase a single CD in 2007.
"I have spent close to $1,000 buying music from iTunes before pirating, and when I learned how terrible the audio quality of the music they sell was, I re-downloaded every single album through pirating," says the senior who has downloaded 4,314 songs. "If I do have guilt for downloading, it’s too small for me to care. The true experiences are the ones you can’t pirate, like seeing a concert or a movie at the theaters. The experience is completely different … If I really enjoy the artist, I’ll support them by buying an album. [For] me, downloading music is almost the same as you burning a CD and sharing it with a friend."
However, not all teenagers feel guiltless when downloading thousands of songs via sites like Megaupload, torrents for new leaked releases, or programs such as Limewire. "I feel more guilt the more unknown the band is. They could definitely use the money and deserve it. I don’t have the money to pay the thousands of dollars for music, though. Like most, I try to relieve the guilt by buying albums from bands I particularly like," says a senior who admitted to downloading over 80 gigabytes of pirated music on his hard drive.
"I like to pay for music because sometimes it is just less of a hassle to do than going through the whole process of downloading, [plus] the basic factor of guilt," says a sophomore who wished to be anonymous. "Most of the time, though, I just don’t have enough money to pay for all of it. Americans, I believe, don’t have enough money to spend on music due to the economy. They need their money for other more important things, so they have resorted to downloading. If the government really wants to stop people from downloading, they should lower the cost of songs."
Last year, the Recording Industry Association of American (RIAA) announced that it would abandon its legal battle against most people it suspects of illegally downloading and sharing files. Instead, it will attempt to file lawsuits against the most flagrant and conspicuous offenders in partnerships with internet service providers.
However, this does not faze most people who utilize the tools of the internet. "Piracy is an established norm now," the senior with the 80 gigabytes of music on his hard drive maintains. "No amount of lawsuits will end it, or even slow it down. I feel safe enough to commit this benign crime because of the extremely low likelihood that I’ll be caught."