Legal music downloads are only legal if you pay for them. Obviously, there are still peer-to-peer sites out there that you can get free music from and it is always tempting to use those instead of paying for your music library. After all, there are so many people out there in cyberspace, how could anyone possibly be worried about one lonely person is doing?

The record companies are noticing who is doing what and from where. The entire music industry loses millions of dollars through music piracy. And although, you might think that your music library does not amount to much, you need to start thinking in more legal terms. The original download of each song and every upload is considering a single cont of piracy.

Depending on how much music you have pirated, you can end up owing the record companies thousand of dollars. Some people have even racked up over a million dollars in fines and copyright fees. Most of the people that are caught not using legal music downloads are college students or average citizens. The record companies will often settle out of court and have only made examples of a select few.

However, in today’s economy who can afford several thousands of dollars in fines and court costs? The benefit of paying for a song or album is that once you pay for the music, it is yours. You can do whatever it is that you want to do with it. Most of the music sites have taken care of the DRM restrictions so that their customers do have to worry about what happens after the purchase.

Many people feel that the music industry makes enough money through the CDs, concerts and merchandise that is already purchased. The music artists and the leaders of the music industry live in big houses and drive fancy cars, so what is a $0. 99 song to them. Regardless of how you feel, downloading music for free is piracy and you are in the wrong.

Before the age of cyberspace and peer-to-peer sharing, the piracy laws were written that even buying an actual album and loaning it a friend was technically breaking the law. The music industry could not stop this, so they just had to accept the loss. They no longer do today and they are not going down willingly.

It the best course of action is to pay your money upfront and happily trot off with your music to do what you will with it. When faced with alternative, is there a better solution?

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