Music Download Legalities

Can I Do This? (or The Questionable Legality of Music Download and Movie Download Services)

Perhaps you've heard some of the vehement and vociferous ongoing debate on the subjective legality of downloading music files online. Perhaps your friends or family warned you not to get involved with file sharing lest you be sued for more than you're worth. And perhaps you turned to these naysayers and said, "If anyone can easily get it online, it must be legal. Right?"

Well...it's not that simple.

In 2001 a California judge threw out a case made by 28 of the largest entertainment conglomerates against Grokster and Streamcast that they were infringing on copyrighted material. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that decision. So far so good for the little guy, yes? Those head-banging, toe-tapping, hand-clapping masses sharing files for free on the internet seemed to be free and clear.

But then, woe of woes to the commonfolk, as of June 27, 2005, the Supreme Court of the U.S.A. ruled in favor of the entertainment industry, overturning the 9th Circuit, deciding that, sure, downloading music from the internet is 100% legal as long as you pay for any and all copyrighted material that you download.

That put a damper on things. Sort of. What we mean to say is, the ruling was out, but that didn't stop file-sharing networks from cropping up all over and competing for your business. And that didn't stop file-sharers from joining P2P networks and copying each others' collections left and right. It's like speeding, most people know it's against the law when they're doing it.

In related news: in 2003, 261 average Joes and Janes like ourselves were sued by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for downloading copyrighted music on a peer-to-peer file sharing networking without paying for it. Remember those Pepsi commercials - "I got busted for stealing music"? Doing that commercial was how some of those kids paid off their "damages". They were the lucky ones.

What's this all mean for you today? If you use a music download service that offers a pay-for-play model (like iTunes or Yahoo! Music) or the subscription model to a direct database download service (like Napster, eMusic or RealRhapsody) you are perfectly safe from lawsuits or prosecution.

If, however, you use a P2P file-sharing network to download free music (like Grokster or Kazaa) you are not so protected.

What do they think you're going to download on those sites then, if they keep them legal? Uncopyrighted material. Other people's home movies, their original music recorded in their garage. Public domain documents. Stuff like that.

But if you download the latest Billboard Singles from a P2P network for free, regardless of whether or not you paid for the file-sharing software and/or access to the particular P2P network you're using, you are breaking the law and do run the risk of being sued or arrested and prosecuted.

An exception to that are songs designated as free by use of EFF's Open Audio License or a Creative Commons license. These are fine to download and share for free at will.

Other wise, there's no way around it; if you want to be sure you're not breaking the law, do not download any copyrighted material without the express permission of the copyright owner. What this most often means is purchasing it. Buy the music rather than the software and you'll be fine.

If, after knowing these risks, you still choose to join a P2P file-sharing network, it's worth keeping in mind that, so far, the RIAA has not sued anyone for sharing less than 1,000 files. That is not to say that they will continue to focus their attentions solely on those sharing more than a certain number of files.

In other words, just because they haven't done it yet, it doesn't mean they won't. Someday the RIAA could go after folks who download just one copyrighted song without paying for it. Who knows?

The choice is yours.