Music piracy has a global strong hold immaterial of the type of governance or treasury balance! Unlike software piracy, where Developing countries steal software produced my developed countries. The stats are such
- US - music piracy annually costs 71,060 U.S. jobs lost and a loss of $422 million in tax revenues
- India - US$959 million and 571,896 jobs lost due to piracy
Governments pass laws day in and day out. These laws are then followed my amendments to accommodate the interests of lobbyists (freedom of expression etc etc). But since not all can be satisfied all the time the debate continues while piracy honeymoons around the world. For any law to be effective it has to enforced with ' Certainty, Severity and Celerity'. And a law that is not enforced is as good as not having one.
Though enforcements of agreements such as TRIPS, WIPO etc are relatively more effective in developed countries than in developing countries, piracy is still widespread. But in most cases the penalty for piracy are mere monetary fines (which are not generally formidable) and ridden with loop holes; hence rendering them ineffective.
Music piracy is a pandemic. As any pandemic, like AIDS, Environmental pollution or breast cancer the only effective way to curtail its spread is through awareness. An Indian saying goes 'Theft cannot be stopped unless all thieves decide to'. If people could be educated on the consequences of their actions it could go a long way in curbing household piracy.
Budding and struggling artists generally tend to view piracy as an effective short cut to instantly reach hordes. But this benefit is short lived. Once an artist gets the initial recognition it is the sales of the music which makes the artist truly successful.
This coupled with properly enforced laws could prove to to be the remedy we r looking for!
I'm not entirely sure that educating the public on the consequences of internet piracy would really be effective in curtailing the practice.
ReplyDeleteTake me for example, I have no aspirations to work in the recording industry or at a record store, and if I were to illegally download a song or two, I'd be more likely to feel good about saving the $15 that I would've spent on the CD. I doubt that I'd even think about the jobs lost, or the artist(s) or record company who lost a potential record sale.
In other words, in order to stop internet piracy, there would have to be harsh penalties for those caught in the act. I don't think awareness will stop that many people.
David had a good point here; but like you said it is awareness ALONG with properly enforced laws that could make the difference; and not awareness alone.
ReplyDeleteAnd also I don't believe that only laws will stop people from downloading music illegally; alternate ways will always be found!
You made a great suggestion in your post; maybe indeed the key is to associate awarness AND enforce laws!
Thank you Clotilde, that is exactly the point i was trying to get across. Yes, people are not going to think about stopping piracy until they have an incentive to do so OR there is a penalty when they do it. But it just might make a job a little easier if people could understand the magnitude of the impact their actions have.. I am not saying it alone is enough, but it jus might make the task easier when they know why they are being penalized.
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