JustPaste.it

Music Download Sites - What Makes a Site Legal Or Illegal?

The introduction of music download sites to the web has revolutionized just how we consume music. Though easier and much less costly for consumers to have their practical the most recent music from the comfort of their property, the break through began with an illegal method of downloading music which unfortunately opened the door to others that are still around to the day. It's around the customer to be educated which sites and services are legal to make use of, and which are not. To better understand the legality of music download sites Fakaza music download, it is best to have a go through the first popular illegal online music download solution.

The start of illegal music downloads.

In 1999, the entire world was introduced to the first music file sharing software called Napster. Developed by Shawn Fanning, the technology allowed users to talk about their music files freely with other users. This may bypass the whole legal music market and let anyone who could operate a computer and simple software obtain practical the music they wanted absolutely free. The software quickly became noticed as violating copyright laws since it never had permission from the artists or their labels to distribute these files.

Metallica, a heavy metal act, discovered certainly one of their demo songs "I Disappear" was circulating and even played on certain stereo prior to the track was ever released. They were of the first to file case against Napster for copyright infringement. Per month later, Dr. Dre also filed case asking Napster to remove all his content from the service. These acts, along with many record labels pursued Napster in court for the massive copyright violation.

The media embarked on the story and subsequently, indirectly made the service even very popular, putting a spotlight on music file sharing and increasing the quantity of active users to over 26 million in Napster's final stages.

On June 3rd, 2002, Napster filed for bankruptcy nevertheless the damage was done. The entire world was introduced to file sharing and online music consumption. Many imitation sites and software sprung up following this incident and even today, you are able to still find illegal peer-to-peer file sharing solutions offering illegal music downloads.

So why is a music download site legal or illegal?

You will find very basic principles a music download site needs to check out to be able to provide legal music downloads. In other words, they want permission to distribute each music file on the webpage from whoever owns the copyright of, or legally represents the music. This is either the artist, the artists publishing company, and/or typically, the artists record label.

Within our first example, Napster took copyrighted material and without permission decided to produce these files freely available. Neither the artist nor record companies were compensated. This is where in actuality the serious problem lies. Music is much like some other product on the market. Someone or a group of men and women put time towards creating a song or album and are selling their product. If you like the merchandise, you have to pay a legal distributor of this product so everyone who was simply involved in creating it gets compensated for their work. If they are not, and haven't agreed to produce it available for free, you are stealing their product.

With music, stealing songs is infringing on copyright laws which are in place to safeguard artists and labels, and assure they are in control of who are able to distribute their art while in turn, getting compensated when someone does buy a copy of a song or album.

I did not know the site was illegal. It's not my fault.

Well, unfortunately in any manner you view it, it's your fault. You are responsible for the actions on any music download site or service. The tiny loop hole in file sharing software and sites is that a consumer can put it to use legally. If I create an eBook on the very best music download sites like, and as the writer and sole copyright owner, I elect to distribute it free of charge to anyone who wants to have a read, I will wear it file sharing software and sites. If anyone downloads it, it's legal as I'm not searching for any compensation. In cases like this, an individual of the file sharing software or site isn't doing anything wrong.

If a consumer downloads a copyrighted file from an artist or label that is looking to being compensated and never gave permission to the foundation of the file to distribute it however, then an individual who downloads it can enter into trouble and it is completely their fault for not doing their research before downloading the music file.

Just how do I understand if your music download site is legal or illegal?

In order for any music download site or service to distribute music files legally, they want a distribution agreement with the artists record label. To create things simple, if you're searching for music from top 40 artists, these types of acts are signed to one of many major record labels; Warner Music Group, EMI, Sony Music Entertainment, and Universal Music Group. A music download site would need a distribution agreement with one of these companies to legally get this music available on their site.

If a music download site went through the trouble of piecing together a distribution agreement with the 4 major labels, odds are they are happy with the accomplishment and might have this written somewhere in their "FAQ" or "About Us" portion of the site. When it is not written, it's up to you to contact them and make certain they've the legal right to distribute the music files you are searching for before you download anything from them.

In the long run, our generation has the blissful luxury of getting many legal music download sites available to us. It's just a question of doing a little research in advance and ensuring you choose a niche site that suits your preferences, has the music you are searching for, but moreover, offers legal music downloads which rightfully compensate artists for their work.