Why do people download music legally

That includes places like Jamendo, iTunes free tracks and albums , Soundowl, Facebook, and Amazon, among others. These are just a few you might be familiar with, for a few of the top sites. Now, onto the legal aspects of using these services.

But non-copyrighted works are fair game for downloading. And copyrights only protect a percentage of the music in this world. Copyrights do not apply to anything in the public domain, for example, which includes a substantial number of older recordings.

Likewise, some spontaneous garage band recording uploaded to YouTube is fair game, as long as the songs and noises are original. But why is it illegal to use a music downloader to acquire copyrighted music? For this, we refer to US Copyright Law.

Title 17 of the U. Code Chapter 1 Section deals specifically with illegal music reproduction. Thus, the owners of copyrighted music have the following rights under U.

Basically, what this means is that the person that created a copyrighted work owns the copyright. And therefore, they have the exclusive right to distribute it. Therefore, acquiring it as a download through a music downloader is technically illegal. The simple answer is that there are many legal uses for a music downloader.

You can use a knife to chop onions, but you can also use it to kill someone. Should we ban the knife, simply because it sometimes used to murder someone? Right now, US courts are deciding whether or not to ban certain downloaders. And, they could be completely legal in the future. There may be some new rules places upon them, however, including having to prevent downloaders of copyright works. The music industry, which is suing youtube-mp3.

According to the RIAA, a music downloader fits right into the picture of copyright infringement. US copyright law does in fact provide full protection of sound recordings, whether they exist in the form of physical CDs or digital files. The same principle applies, regardless of the format. The copying and distribution of music sound recordings is illegal without the permission of the owner. You are liable for a fine or spend time in jail.

Have you done any of the above? To register and buy songs you will have to give the site your credit card details, so it is important to buy from an established and secure provider. Otherwise, you could be overcharged or have your card details stolen.

The services on offer also vary so it is worth browsing a few sites before signing up. Sites such as iTunes and 7digital allow you to buy songs individually, without having to subscribe to a service but others, such as Napster, ask you to sign up and pay a set fee per month.

It also operates a pre-payment system. You may need to download software. With Napster , for example, you will need Microsoft Media Player — it comes with most recent PCs and is downloadable for free from Microsoft.

The To Go service is more expensive because it allows users to download an unlimited amount of music on to a compatible MP3 player. Free music downloads are available from both well-known and lesser-known artists.

Downloading music without paying for it is considered a crime, and there have been cases of individual users being punished for having illegally downloaded music files on their computers, or for sharing those files. One way to download music legally is to get it from a website that asks you to pay for each song individually. This list of tracks changes regularly.