I feel like copyrights are being blown out of proportion right now. I do agree that it is important for artists to keep the rights to their own music for defensive purposes, like in case someone else were to try and claim it for themselves. However, currently copyrights are a great example of the power of capital. It's not right to steal music, nor is it right to increase prices for a product outlandishly. The music industry was the first to cross that moral boundary. I don't believe that people would be so complacent with downloading music illegally if it weren't for the music industry increasing their prices to such a ridiculous extent. It's pretty obvious that for a large percentage of people, the value of music is greater than the risk of being caught. The marginal profit between the value of the music to the risk of being caught is greater than the value of the music to the retail price. I believe that if the music industry were to simply lower prices, this entire debacle would start to settle down.
As far as copyrights go, though, I really wish it was much more easy to find out what exactly the copyright laws are. I know a lot of people around me just don't realize when they are even breaking copyright laws.
Blog Post Comment #1 - That's a really interesting perspective you have regarding the lowering of prices leading to the slowing of online music piracy. I agree to a certain extent, but I think because most people it seems try to create these huge music libraries with thousands of songs, the purchasing of that many songs (although cheaper per unit) can still be quite costly. Though I think lower prices could certainly curb the amount of piracy, I think lower prices in combination with tighter restrictions against piracy would be most optimal for all parties involved.
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