In the past year, downloading music off of the Internet illegally has continued to be at the forefront of technology-related issues. It is not a bit surprising as songs and albums continue to abound online, and a lot of people will not stop downloading as long as there is something to get. It seems to me that the music execs and government watchdogs have been running around in circles trying to solve this problem.
Jamie Cullum, a jazz-pop sensation from the UK shares the same sentiments. In a recent interview, he admitted to downloading music illegally. He said that he would oftentimes use P2P sharing when he cannot immediately get his hands on an album. He added, though, that he would still buy the album when it came out, or when he found it.
While the idea of illegal downloading doesn’t sit well with me, I understand his point of view. There are times when you just want to listen to the music and release dates and other matters like that make it impossible to do so immediately. That’s when P2P comes in handy. And it’s not like you are taking revenue away from the musicians and the record labels – not if you buy the album anyway, right?
The problem is that not everyone will do this. Many people would probably stop at downloading illegally and not obtain the album legally afterwards. Jamie Cullum thinks that the solution is to come up with services “so sophisticated and so comprehensive that people don’t need to download stuff¬ for free.â€
I agree. Now how do we do that?