By now virtually every student understands that downloading
songs for free from the Internet isn’t legal. And the
Recording Industry Association of America’s recent slew of
lawsuits against individual people should be enough to make even
the most determined Kazaa user in the dorms at least a little
nervous.
While UCLA does not monitor campus networks and computers for
illegal file sharing, as an Internet service provider, the
university is required by law to reveal the names of subscribers
who infringe on copyright laws if they receive a notice from a
copyright holder of a violation.
But for music fans looking for affordable music that
doesn’t break the law to obtain, there are many alternatives
to playing with fire on free illegal downloading sites.
Amoeba Music in Hollywood offers frequent free concerts, as well
an extensive used CD collection for students on a budget.
And for students who don’t need the physical CD and its
cover in their album collection, numerous legal downloading
services exist, the most successful of which has been Apple’s
iTunes music store. Tracks are 99 cents a piece, and the site
offers the occasional exclusive free MP3.
Indie labels such as Subpop Records and Kill Rock Stars offer
sampler MP3s from their releases, as well as audio streams of full
albums, and every album on Conor Oberst’s (of Bright Eyes
fame) Team Love Records is available as a free download.
In addition, there are plenty of MP3 download sites with music
provided by artists themselves; Epitonic.com features free music by
underground and indie artists across the globe.
Creative Commons music encourages the presence of artistic work
in the public domain with open content, making it legal to copy and
make use of it as long as it’s not for profit.
Many famous artists such as the Beastie Boys, David Byrne, and
Spoon have allowed the use of their music on the site at
creativecommons.org.
“I get pretty much all my music and mixes now by music
blogs, many of which have Creative Commons music,” said Dafna
Pleban, a third-year English student. “But I still go to
Amoeba when I have the time and money.”
The legal alternatives offer a much wider database of music than
many people may think.
Creative Commons even goes so far as to encourage listeners to
remix and mash up songs, and many artists make their songs
available in the spirit of free music ideology and open sharing.
Bands such as The Grateful Dead, Dave Matthews Band, and Wilco
allow fan-recorded bootlegs of their concerts to circulate on sites
such as etree.org.
“Downloading all this music basically allows you to stay
ahead of the curve,” said Carman Tse, a second-year marine
biology student.
“It does have an “˜I was there first’ mentality
to it but it also lets you know what’s coming up and it lets
you preview (an album) in its entirety.
“It helps me to make a decision whether or not I want to
purchase it. I still do buy a load of music based on the music I
get to download and preview.”
Hard as it is to believe, bands have been known to leak their
own CDs onto the Internet.
Particularly in the case of indie artists, online music blogs,
message boards, and hype generated by indie review sites such as
the ubiquitous pitchforkmedia.com are usually their primary source
of exposure.
Often, their labels can’t afford or don’t push for
enough promotion, so they make their music readily accessible in
hopes for enticing listeners to support and buy the music.
The widespread surge of music over the internet has also pushed
music away from its scene-centeredness trait.
While in the past music has been known to be geographically
rooted (take New York City punk, the neo-psychedelia of the Athens,
Georgia Elephant 6 collective and, of course, the Seattle grunge
scene), the Internet gives music international access, making it
global.
“It’s great that people are hearing the
music,” Tse said. “That’s still what’s
important. Even if they may not be making money off the potential
purchase, it still makes people fans of the music and brings them
to shows and whatnot.”