It’s the ultimate controversial topic of modern times and it’s making headlines almost every day. It seems that everyone, whoever they may be and whether free music downloads have ever affected them or not, has something to say on the matter. Even amongst musicians opinions are divided – there are those who think it spells the end of the music industry and those who see significant benefit in their music being readily available to a much wider audience of potential fans than they could otherwise have hoped to reach. 

The debate has been going on for years and it really doesn’t look like ending any time soon. Remember when Napster was shut down after a successful copyright lawsuit by the metal band Metallica? Everyone thought that was the end of downloads – it seemed the age of music for free was doomed to be over almost before it had begun. But then came Limewire, the Pirate Bay and so many other new filesharing sites, with new and better ways of operating, and never failing to stay one step ahead.

To be fair, Metallica could well have had cause for concern, and they are far from the only musicians to have spoken out against free downloads and the impact it has on the finances of the big label music industry. With the price of CDs going up and up all the time it’s not so surprising that people are choosing to turn to downloads, but not everyone considers the effect this could have on the music we all love. However there are those who believe that the music industry as we know it has had its day and that the future of music lies with the people recording their own tracks with DJ software on their home computers and publicising the music themselves online. This is only possible because the music is available online for free, and these are the genuine music lovers who are in it for the music not the money.

The latest in a long line of musicians to voice his opinions is Snow Patrol frontman Gary Lightbody. Although his band are hugely successful and far from being small and unsigned, he believes that being able to get music for free is just the modern way and that the penalties for those involved in filesharing are ‘way over the top’. He was referring to the recent conviction in Sweden of four founding members of The Pirate Bay, who have each been given a one year jail sentence as well as having to pay $3.48 million in damages to several large entertainment companies claiming to have made losses. The group are launching an appeal as although they understand hese companies could well be out of pocket, there was no way to know how much by, and it was discovered that the judge conveniently happened to be a member of the Swedish Copyright Association. 

There is no sign that the debate on filesharing is close to an end, and certainly no sign of a truce being reached. There is no question that it is damaging to the record label giants’ and huge stadium rock bands’ incomes, but at the same time it enables the little guys at home recording their tracks with an Akai home studio and set of headphones to get an equal chance of being heard. Maybe there is no right or wrong answer.

Filesharing is killing music industry

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