I break the law, but I don’t need to
I’ve not got any particularly valuable insight to throw into the ring regarding illegal downloading of music. I’m just gonna explain my position.
I illegally download music. A fair amount. But then I buy music. A very fair amount. More than just about anyone I know. Yet I’m the one killing the music industry? Probably not. I can’t justify illegally downloading though. I mean, nowadays there are loads of ways of listening to an artist before buying their record — MySpace, Spotify, YouTube, free downloads from artists’ own websites — that the “try before you buy” argument is null and void. It’s just that I find it the most convenient way for me, and it’s something of a habit.
The recently passed Digital Economy Bill has breathed new life into the debate, with the potential removal of sites that are deemed “likely sources of copyright infringement” such as a forum I regularly use to share music. Now if this happened, and that forum was shut down, I could cope. 100%. I know that I could still find new artists in other ways, hear their music in other ways, share music I love with others in other ways. So I don’t need to illegally download at all. I don’t justify it in the way that others do that “it helps me discover new artists that I otherwise wouldn’t hear” — I mean, it does, but it’s by no means the only way.
So why do I continue to download? Because I can, basically. It’s just the way I consume music now, really. The process is simply: download album I’m interested in, have a few listens, and, if I like it, make a note to buy it sometime. That doesn’t strike me as particularly immoral. I suppose in the case of brand new albums the idea that I don’t buy the album instantly may cost somebody a few quid in that I may buy the album at £6 a few months down the line rather than at £9.99 on the week of release (I’ve seen new albums in HMV at £10.99 recently, shocking. I generally wouldn’t pay more than £8.99 for a new release, and that’s if I really like the artist) but that’s largely irrelevant — the music industry can’t expect everyone who’s going to buy an album to buy it on week 1, paying full price.
If I was told I could never illegally download an album again that would be fine. But until that happens I don’t really see a problem with what I’m doing on a moral ground, even if in the eyes of the law I am in fact a criminal.
