Date posted: 5-17-02

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As recording industry worries, students burn

By Tony Ciampa
DeKalb News Service

DEKALB - In high school, Peter Torres would buy up to 10 music CDs a week.

Today, that's a fading memory for the NIU graduate student in physics. With the fast Internet connections offered by NIU and most other colleges and universities, the lure of free, shared music is too strong to refuse. Sure, downloading copyrighted music is illegal. But students either rationalize that fact or figure their chances of getting prosecuted are miniscule.

"If I had the money I would buy CDs like I used to," Torres said. "I know a burned CD does not sound as good as a real one. Like I said, if I had the money I would."

Meanwhile, the recording industry worries about the loss of sales -- much as it did when cassette tapes or CDs were introduced. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry recently stated that recorded music sales fell 5 percent worldwide in 2001. The United States, Japan and Germany believe the main is an increase in free music and CD piracy. According to the IFPI, the worldwide ratio between CDs sold and CDs copied has changed from 3-to-1 to 1-to-1 in the past two years.

In DeKalb, Northern Illinois University students are offered fast Ethernet access to the Internet from their dorms. On average, a song can be downloaded in 30 to 60 seconds and an entire CD in three to five minutes over an Ethernet connection if the connection is not under user strain.

"I've burned friends' CDs and I've burned CDs for them," said Sara Kroll, an NIU student majoring in communications. "I think music artists should have the right to decide whether or not they want their music on the Internet, but no, I don't consider it stealing. People have to consider this kind of stuff happens with the advancement of technology and take it with a grain of salt."

The recording industry disagrees. In 1997, Congress passed the No Electronic Theft (Net) Act, making it illegal to download or upload copyrighted music. The law can be broken by sending a copyrighted song through e-mail, a chat room or placing it on a Web Site. The Net Act has a set punishment of up to three years in prison and $250,000 in fines for someone who willfully trades copyrighted music, even if there is no financial gain.

Given the amount of music piracy going on, all of that equates to trying to stop a tidal wave with a spoon.

NIU professor Michael Day, an Internet expert, said, "If pay-per-play or subscriber systems could be set up with reasonable fees, the music industry might be able to slow down CD piracy. Paying fees would guarantee subscribers a certain quality of recording and a fast download channel."

The Recording Industry Association of America believes duplication and manufacturing of illegal CDs from downloads or CD burners is rising. According to the RIAA, arrests and indictments are up 113 percent, sight seizures are up 170 percents and guilty pleas and conviction were up 203 percent since 2001.

"[CD burners] have an impact, but not to the extent the record industry would have us believe," said Chicago Tribune rock critic Greg Kot. "There are numerous other factors, many of them brought on by the recording industry: the high price of CDs, the phasing out of more affordable singles, the dearth of quality music. Consumers are rebelling against these issues by seeking out more affordable music on the Net."

The recording industry has not always welcomed technology improvements. When records became available on tape in the late '70s, the record industry panicked, believing sales would drop. The positive for the recording industry was tape piracy usually had a grainy sound quality; so many people still bought original copies from music retailers.

The industry waved a warning flag again when CDs came along. In 1992, the Audio Home Recording Act made serial copying technology illegal, but the Act left a loophole. It only applies to audio recording devices that use this technology as their primary device purpose. Home computers use CD players in a multi-use capacity. Now that technology has made it possible for people to download music and burn entire CDs, the record industry has the flag out again and is scrambling to find an answer.

"The introduction of every new technological innovation has been greeted with disdain by the recording industry: the radio, the phonograph, the cassette machine," Kot said. "In each case, the technology expanded the audience of music. The Web and CD burning are doing the same. The industry is upset not that music is being hurt, but that they haven't figured out how to profit from the new technology yet."

The IFPI stated singles sales are down 16 percent and cassettes are down 10 percent from 2001.

"The great thing about burning is if you only like one song, you don't have to spend $12.99 or more to buy just the one song," Kroll said. "The consumer was losing money until the downloading invention came about."

History shows that singles have played a big role in the recording industry, even after the advent of CDs. CD singles were used to bolster record sales in the '90s for singers like Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston. They also give record companies an idea of how an album will be received.

"I think the consumers are saying they want singles back," Kot said. "The success of compilation CDs is illustrating this. The question is, is the industry paying attention and how quickly will it react?"

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SOURCES (contact info available on request)
· Sara Kroll, NIU Student
· Peter Torres, NIU Student
· Michael Day, NIU Professor, Mday@NIU.edu)
· Greg Kot, Chicago Tribune music critic, GregKot@aol.com)