Legal Restrictions On Downloading Music And Videos From The Internet - Upsides And Downsides

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Legal Regulations on Downloading of Videos and Music from the Internet

At present, downloading of videos and music have become more common as everyone nowadays has access to the internet for downloading music and anything they want. There are numerous programs that exist on the internet with which people can freely download music and videos at any time. There are several people, who take a lot of benefit from this, but the stealing of copyrighted music by artists, musicians, songwriters and of those who had put a lot of their efforts to make videos and music for achieving success is illegal according to the law.

 There are several legal restrictions on downloading of music and videos from the internet. On the other hand, it seems unlawful to make legal restrictions on downloading of music from the internet because of the fact that people can freely pick out those songs which they need instead of purchasing a full CD, which includes all the songs or videos that they may not like. Therefore, this thought is profitable for people who love to download music from the internet, but they should consider that: Is the downloading of music destroying the industry or does this downloading represent profits towards it? This essay describes the detailed upsides as well as the downsides of legal restrictions on downloading of music from the internet. 

Legal regulations on downloading of videos and music from the Internet

   Today, most of the Australians more frequently download videos and music illegally from the internet. In the meantime, several Australians also cheerfully pay for music downloads, and still purchase physical collections at the rate which astounds the music business worldwide. According to a study directed by Musicmetric, which is an analytic and a self-directed firm in Australia found that over Nineteen million music downloads have been done in the last year (Mckenzie, 2011). These days, many people can look for what they need through the Internet.

The Internet has turned out to be an intense tool as it permits individuals to share music, pictures, films, and distinctive formats of reports. The downloading has become a predominant mode to share data, therefore, the government of Australia has decided to make copyright infringement, and legal rules and regulations to restrict people. These laws can secure a maker's right and keep other individuals away from stealing primary products. The foreign websites that permit illegal downloads of music, videos, and TV shows will be closed in Australia (Berg, 2013). In Australia, there are several acts, such as, Copyright and Trade Mark Act as well as some other legislations, which mentions severe punishments to deal with music stealing that conflict the privileges of artists, lyricists, producers, composers, record companies, and music publishers.

   The arguments against these laws that legal restrictions from downloading should be abolished is identified here clearly, as today downloading of music and videos from the net most of the time becomes a matter of huge controversy in Australia and also in several other countries. 

Many individuals are against these laws as they say that downloading music and videos from the net do not harm anybody and this should be legal (Clement, Rangaswamy, & Vadali, 2012). The organizations and artists then again, have an alternate view about downloading of music and videos from the internet for free. They contend that they have made these music and videos, and individuals are downloading their work from the net for free as opposed to getting it from the store. And because of this, the sale of CD’s and albums in the music industry had gone very down due to which almost twenty percent of annual loss has been occurring globally.

Arguments for and Against Legal Restrictions

The music business is experiencing several bad effects of this downloading as individuals are downloading music and videos from the internet enormously, and the artists who make their entire living from selling their videos and music have to suffer from this (Dhaenens, 2015). The impact of downloading specialist’s music truly relies on the prominence of the artist. The artists with higher offering records can be emphatically influenced by downloading, while the collection of less famous specialists will probably be contrarily influenced. However, several individuals have contradicted the arguments of one another. Another contention built up an immediate connection in the decrease in music deals because of the downloading of music from the internet.

All the facts as well as figures point out that the illegal music and video downloading from the internet is the major perpetrator, which lead to decrease in the revenue and also sales of the entire music industry globally. This is only because an apparently harmless activity of downloading videos and music files from the internet cause several destructive ripple or bad effects on the music industry and affect individuals and musicians (Du Preez, 2011). There exist many key industry players, who are adversely influenced by this, such as, the makers of music, music directors, record workers, and music promoters.

Different other music professionals, such as, video makers, artists, occasion coordinators, and other partnered industry players together with millions of workers who are gaining a living from the music as well as music related items are also affected by this activity. At a point, when the music CD deals drops because of the unlawful download of music, the distributors normally feel the squeeze from misfortunes brought up. The drop in the collection deals prompts to the termination and laying off of representatives by the record labels and from the music creation houses. On the other hand, musicians or artists are cheated off with their rightful earning with this downloading.

 Therefore, from the above argument, it is clear that there is a need for some legal restriction to control or manage such issues and the different regulation laws which Australia as well as other nations have made should not be abolished(Hannabuss, 2012). The major argument that the legal restriction on the downloading of music as well as videos from the internet should not be abolished is due to the fact that the downloading of music and videos denies the rights of musicians, and hence, forbid them from gaining their living.

The illegal downloading also kills the morale of musicians as it devalues and degrades their merchandise, such as, music files, etc. The unlawful downloading of music and videos are expanding at an unfaltering rate and the music organizations are beginning to pay attention to this as their income stream is bringing down as a large number of individuals are downloading content illicitly from the internet.

   On the other hand, there are many other arguments about the legal restrictions on the downloading of music and videos from the internet. These arguments should be implicitly clarified, because the downloading of music and videos can actually offer more money to an artist than a concert appearance and artists earn more money from downloading than concerts (Levin, Dato-on, & Rhee, 2013).

Let’s take a situation, for example, when a performer has a hit melody everywhere throughout the globe which is available everywhere throughout the web as well as media outlets, this means that the demand of the song is increasingly high, as a result they will be welcomed in various shows and occasions that has been performed everywhere throughout the world. While anybody from any place around the world can download specific songs, the musicians themselves are constrained in the shows or concerts they can go to, hence, they may wind up profiting from these genuine shows which require their physical appearance.

Impact on the Music Industry

 The value of the CDs has been considered high by some musicians ridiculously. Many artists also illegally download videos and music just like other fans, and hence, it proves that downloading of music do not at all financially harm anyone. Therefore, the legal restrictions should be abolished from downloading of music and videos(Moon, Kim, Feeley, & Shin, 2015). One major argument in favour of this side describes that downloading of music and videos from the internet give several profits to artists and music industries and this does not at all hurt or harm the artist. Sometimes more and sometimes less, but it anyhow provides benefits to them. Several customers have no issues and they are ready to pay for their entertainment.

The legal restrictions on downloading music should be abolished because the downloading of music from the net is not at all illegal and the artists and music companies had their labels and they make a large amount of profit from these downloads more than the concerts. Most of the people are downloading such music and videos from the net because it is easily available or accessible to them. Nowadays, artists and music companies themselves put music and videos on the internet for users to make their songs and videos popular.

The latest music albums are most of the time available on the web, so rather wasting time and money for buying the CD’s from shops, most people choose to download the music of their own choice from the internet. Most of the populace tune into free music and video online search for new and distinctive music or the sort of videos and music which is not available in the market. Many people frequently tend to look for the kind of music and videos that they do not find anywhere in the market (Rutter, 2010).

So, there is no certification that individuals will not purchase the CDs if music and videos will be accessible for free. Nevertheless, it has been seen that the performers who share a few tunes of their collections online tend to make more benefits as their collection turn into the smash hits. By downloading music from the internet, customers have the casual accessibility of music and videos, which means that individuals will download and listen to different sorts of music and videos which they have not heard before, therefore, artists are also able to promote their songs more and more (Sheehan, Tsao, & Pokrywczynski, 2012).

   Argument in favour says that now, artists do not have to really worry about their loss of money when people download music from the internet as listening music from CDs have become outdated and obsolete. Therefore, downloading of music and videos is a more preferred method by music fans worldwide. The arguments clearly define that if music and video downloading from the internet will become illegal and more and more legal restrictions will be developed by the government then the music lovers have to purchase CDs instead of downloading, and several important businesses, such as, iTunes as well as mp3 division of Amazon website will surely be closed and have to wind up.

The CDs are as of now almost becoming an obsolete way, along with it there is no other reason which makes downloading music illegal. It's even more advantageous since users without much of a stretch can find distinctive music, and download single tunes rather than a whole collection (Sinclair, & Green, 2015). The government administration would, likewise, vigorously have advantages in a similar way with regard to the essential issue of tax collection and income gathering. Where there is a lawful and perceived method of music download, impose findings and income installment can be easily and perfectly done, which in turn will help the legislature to have the capacity to secure the performers and guarantee them to keep gaining from their music (Stevans, & Sessions, 2016).

Effects on Musicians

Conclusion

  Coming towards the end of this study, and reviewing both the sides, it has been concluded that the downloading of music and videos from the internet does more good than harm. Therefore, the legal restrictions for downloading of music and videos from the internet should be abolished because the downloading of music from the internet assist the artists in serving the people in an easier way, by listening their songs, people become more susceptible to the fresh styles of music. 

This study also concludes that the legal restrictions on downloading of music from the internet should be abolished as downloading of music is not a big issue, if people take time to research on it. On the other hand, it has also been concluded from this essay that some legal restrictions should be there to control illegal downloading of music and videos from the internet as several music companies get legitimate settlements to remunerate the artists and stop and debilitate the other potential unlawful music downloads.

References

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Dhaenens, F. (2015). Reading Gay Music Videos: An Inquiry into the Representation of Sexual Diversity in Contemporary Popular Music Videos. Popular Music and Society, 39(5), pp.532-546.

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