Picture this: it’s 1999, and you’re an angst-ridden teen who would want nothing more than to get your hands on Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit.
Unfortunately, you’re not economically inclined for that $17 price tag shining ever so brightly in the record store. As you traverse your school’s halls, utterly Linkin Parkless, you hear mumbles of free music through MP3 files. Your friend mentions a website called “Napster,” the holy
grail of internet piracy. You get home and start browsing this musical Library of Alexandria, stunned by its sheer size. Now, music is accessible no matter how unemployed you are!
Though, for some reason, you can’t seem to knock away the guilty conscience of piracy.
When you compare online piracy to something like a library, it makes one assume that someone paid for the original copy, which isn’t always the case. In a library, creators are compensated through taxpayer dollars, but with a website like Napster, no money goes to the artist. On the other hand, comparing online piracy to real-life theft, like shoplifting, also doesn’t quite fit, since piracy doesn’t deprive someone else of the item. Online piracy falls in a strange moral gray area: it’s less harmful than petty theft, but still dodges the system that supports creators.
So, should you pirate media online? I think that the answer depends on who you are. Are you someone who can afford to support the creator? Or, are you someone who cannot spare the expense of the media? I think that if you truly cannot afford the cost, you should be entitled to it no matter what.
Music is so integral to understanding the human experience; it allows us to grow empathy for each other and appreciate the beauty of our world. Something as healing as music should never be restricted by the amount of money in your wallet.
I can’t ignore the fact that creators deserve reward for their efforts, but maybe that reward comes in more ways than just material gain. I trust that people will accurately evaluate their situation and determine if piracy is right for them. Piracy may not be purely theft or sharing, but it does prove that society sees art as a necessity, not just a product.
