Should Downloading Music be Illegalised? » The Music Mag

Should Downloading Music be Illegalised?

What a hot topic.

The government have made plans to cut anyone found downloading music and movies illegally to be cut off from the internet.

What gives them the right to cut anyone off of the internet? The Music Mag does not condone illegal downloading, but it has just become part of what the internet is about. I estimate probably half of internet users between the ages of 15-30 illegally download music and movies. Will the ISP’s really cut off half of their users??

However CD’s are cheaper than ever, and songs are available to buy on iTunes. I’ve seen new albums out for £5.99 in HMV and the like. That’s a very good price. However, if downloading was tracked and punished the prices would just go up again. The reason they’re so cheap at the moment is that they need to be that cheap as people can just download them. Damn straight.

Many of our friends at The Music Mag buy their music from iTunes, but many also download it without iTunes, others use streaming sites such as Spotify, which has become very popular – check it out!

However, if downloading music is stopped, who’s to say sites like spotify won’t be next. I’ve seen sites similar to it be took down before and if the government goes ahead with chasing up illegal music activity then sI can see streaming sites be taken down too – or at least banned from uk IP addresses.

We’d love to get opinions on this and start a bit of a debate on whether downloading music and movies should be punished as harshly as the government are planning.