When looking at piracy through digital file sharing, Condry suggests that the idea of people sharing music ‘just to get something for free’ is ‘over simplistic’.(2004). People do not simply download music illegally in place of paying for it, as Lessig suggests, but also to sample before buying, find copyrighted material which is no longer available to buy, or to get non-copyrighted material.
Many artists have benefited from the downloading of their music; by reaching wider audiences or encouraging them to buy more of their material or to see them live. Radiohead’s album ‘In Rainbows’ was sold for an average of about £5 despite being available to download for free.
When recordable cassettes were first introduced the issue of piracy was raised. Home recording did not ruin the music industry, and neither will file sharing. People will pay for music they like regardless of being able to download it for free.
Some good points and I must say, that in the main I quite agree.
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