Peer to Peer (P2P) technology has caused a great deal of controversy in the copyright realm. Since its inception in 1999 with Napster Inc., P2P is expanded and altered its form. The services allow users to download and upload music for free with the slight risk of a copyright lawsuit that could cost them more than their NYU education.
File sharing has been a long debated topic because of the business it takes away from the entertainment industry. The ways in which listeners obtain music has completely changed and the entertainment industry is taking the negative impact. Top artists are selling ten times fewer than the artists in 1998 were and several jobs have been lost.
Luckily, there is an extremely beneficial side of P2P file sharing – so not all is lost. P2P sharing has inspired many creative listeners to remix and recreate the original works they are now able to obtain so easily. Copyright laws are actually restricting the abilities of P2P file sharing to protect copyright owners.
On one side of the spectrum P2P file sharing technology will signify the demise of creativity and on the other it is out-dated copyright laws that are restricting originality. Lawrence Lessig states the problem very clearly, “…the network should not become a tool for “stealing” from artist, but neither should the law become a tool to entrench one particular way in which artists (or more accurately, distributors) get paid,” (Lessig Chapter 5). Mash-up music like Girl Talk and parodies or covers of other previously made work have become an enormous addition to the realm of creativity. File Sharing is certainly here to stay and future business models have already been discussed. It’ll be interesting to watch the development and changes with this technology as digital technology continues to flourish.
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