System of a Download

There used to be a time when the music industry had music fans where they wanted them.
Forced to pay extortionate prices for CD’s the customer didn’t really have any other option to get to hear their favourite bands when a new release came about.

A few years back people in Ireland and around the world started to get in on the act of copying CD’s for each other. Come on, you must remember the first time somebody copied an album for you and you felt a slight twinge of guilt about it. Even though this was technically illegal a lot more people were becoming copy cats. Anybody with a computer and CD burning equipment could easily do this. If somebody else did this for you and not yourself the twinge of guilt was barely noticeable at all.

During the late 80’s and early 90’s the music industry was well aware that this was going on around the globe. Their profits were being nibbled at and they felt the bites alright but nothing substantial enough to warrant medical help. Non-infected mosquito bites perhaps.

Moving swiftly forward to the present time, the music industry is now having zombie-sized bite chunks being taken from their balance sheets. This is mainly due to internet websites where the general public can download their favourite albums (new or old) for free. That’s right, for free. Zero. Zilch.

There are a countless number of these sites on the web and more and more are appearing all the time. This is proving to be a real pain in the neck for the music industry. Here is a statistic that must keep industry moguls waking up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night. Worldwide, for every legal download of a music file it is believed there are twenty illegal downloads. That is a ratio that is scaring the life out of the music companies.

People can download these music files using P2P programs. That’s port to port for any newcomers to this. Once a person has a program like this they can go onto any of the plethora of illegal sites scattered over the internet and start downloading until the cows come home. Or even continue after they come home.

The only thing hindering people getting what they want from the web seems to be the download limit their service provider……..well, provides. The P2P programs are available to download for free too by the way and it seems the general public are only too willing to milk these internet udders dry.

The Irish are generally quite slow in keeping up with technology compared with the rest of Europe and most places elsewhere by the look of it. Sodastreams and tape decks are just making their way out of fashion here now. Even though we are a tardy nation when it comes to computer technology and the like, there seems to be enough people using computers and the internet for illegal downloads to now make the music industry sit up and take notice.

Unhappy with the situation in Ireland, the music companies are beginning their fight back against illegal downloads. Maybe some feet in boots out there have started shaking but you should be ok for the time being anyway. The record companies have decided to target internet providers instead of individuals.

In what will be a landmark case, five record companies are taking Eircom to court over allowing downloads to take place on their broadband service. According to Willie Kavanagh, managing director of EMI records in Ireland, "with the greatest of respect”, to Eircom, it was "well aware" its service facilities were being used to download music in an illegal manner "on a grand scale". He has a point I suppose but a bit rich coming from a company who once made tracks from the English band King Crimson available to download on licensed EMI websites, without the band’s permission. Eircom lawyers are already getting prepared for the virtual-themed face-off, claiming the company was under no obligation to monitor what people were downloading. Let’s get ready to rumble etc.

Obviously Eircom have been targeted first because they are Ireland’s biggest internet provider but other internet suppliers will be very curious as to the outcome of this one. An endless stream of court cases might begin to appear on the horizon in Ireland if Eircom loses.

Music is not the only form of illegal downloading that takes place here and you have to wonder are there movie and computer game companies anxiously waiting for the Eircom verdict. Their products are being sought for free over the net as well. This might get very interesting. Maybe RTE can get the rights to film these trials or we could all watch them over the internet. Using legal live streaming of course.