You may want to think twice before you download music without paying for it. Starting today, the music industry is cracking down on fans who are pirating music. The recording industry is expected to start filing lawsuits against downloaders.
John Rivera is a computer savvy music lover. He downloads and burns a lot of music from the web to a disc. "I don't buy them anymore," he said, "I normally burn them." In fact, Rivera says burned CDs make up 75-percent his music collection.
Music lovers, like Rivera, are wondering why they'd pay $16 for one artist's CD when they can download exactly what they want. "To mix them up instead of getting one compilation of one set I can mix it with whatever variety I like," Rivera remarked.
But recording artists are trying to fight back. Cary Sherman of the Recording Industry Association of America said, "There's no such thing as a free lunch. People can't afford to pursue a career in music if they're not going to be paid."
The RIAA is now searching for music fans with substantial MP3 files for downloading. And they're threatening with lawsuits. It hopes this will curb piracy and force downloaders to go to sites where they pay for their downloads.
Reported by: Holly Bristow, hbristow@wtoc.com
All content © Copyright 2000 - 2013 WorldNow and WTOC, a Raycom Media Station.
