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Music industry, university curb student downloading |
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Thursday, 23 February 2006 |
 | Michael Morel
Sophomore music performance major Stephanie T. Wilson browses the Apple’s iTunes Music Store via the popular iTunes program.
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by LILLIAN HOGAN
News Reporter
Editor’s Note: This is part two of two articles on the digital music revolution.
Federal statutes are currently battling illegal downloading while radio stations fight to hold onto listeners and CD sales continue to decline.
“If the recording industry had embraced technology and sold music
online rather than fought it, people would have bought music online,“
Appalachian State University Director of Music Industry Studies Kim L.
Wangler said. “Before free downloading on the Internet, people didn’t
mind paying money for music.”
In a random survey of 526 Appalachian students, 33 percent said they
get the majority of their music from a free peer-to-peer network.
When radio first made its appearance, the music industry resisted because it thought it would kill sales, Wangler said.
“History is repeating itself with the digital music revolution,” Wangler said.
Forget what they taught you about sharing
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act, passed in April 2004, is an
extension of the copyright law that made downloading free music
illegal. The Recording Industry Association of America, Inc. is the
primary enforcer of the DMCA.
As the campus Internet Service Provider, Appalachian must address
violations of the DMCA, Academic Computing Services Director Doug B.
May said. Both ACS and the Office of Student Judicial Affairs work with
students who illegally download copyrighted material.
The top four illegally downloaded items at Appalachian are music, videos, books and software, May said.
“What we do is reactive to third party complaints,” he said. The RIAA
finds an offending IP address and contacts Appalachian. The DMCA
requires the university to cut off service to the offending computer
until the alleged stolen material is removed.
Once the student notifies the university that the illegal material is
removed, Internet service is restored after a week and the RIAA is
notified of cooperation.
In addition, Judicial Affairs issues a reprimand. Appalachian does not
divulge names or personal information to the RIAA except when required
by subpoena.
This happened at Appalachian two years ago when three students faced lawsuits for illegal downloading, May said.
Illegal downloading is punishable by a large fine.
“It comes out to something like hundreds of dollars per MP3,” May said.
The students who faced lawsuits all settled out of court, with an
average settlement of $12,500, he said. “They were just the unlucky
victims of a random selection of a nationwide campaign to make a point.”
Two to three years ago, there were thousands of infractions at
Appalachian, May said. That number has recently shrunk to hundreds.
Student opinion: digital downloading
Opinions vary greatly among 380 Appalachian students surveyed about music downloading.
Common concerns include overpriced CDs, music sampling, record
companies as exploiters, downloaders stealing artists’ hard work and
artist publicity.
Sophomore elementary education major D. Max Cherry recently got caught for downloading music illegally.
Cherry said, “I did it because of easy access and money.”
Many students took advantage of free downloading and stopped when it became illegal.
“I miss getting music for free, but I understand that it’s stealing and
people are losing money,” senior English major Allison D. Rose said. “I
deleted all my downloaded music after all the RIAA business.”
Senior distance learning elementary education major Anne K. Patrick
said she used to download bootlegs of Grateful Dead and Jackson Browne
shows for free, but since it has become illegal, she buys all of her
music from iTunes Music Store.
Napster offers customers a month of unlimited downloading for $15. Only
three students out of 526 surveyed Appalachian students who pay to use
commercial sites said they use Napster.
Some students rebel against the music industry.
“I think record labels screw customers, they should make music prices
more fair,” computer science graduate student Justin A. Fincher said.
“I download my music free from Live Journal,” sophomore pharmacy major
Ashley J. Adair said. “If I got a reprimand I would not stop … I have
been doing it since I was 12.”
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