On October 26, 2010 the worlds most installed file-sharing application, Limewire was ordered to disable all functionalities in its current application. This came after the RIAA asked a federal court to investigate Limewire and the file-sharing activities they have been using for the last decade. The record labels have been arguing over the last few years claiming that Limewire has caused billions of dollars in lost revenue and that it is therefore one of the biggest threats to the music industry’s decline.
According to the court, Limewire intentionally tried to persuade users to use their services rather than go out and buy artists music. The evidence showed that Limewire marketed their application to Napster users and that their business practices depended on mass copyright infringments. Some experts say that with the shutdown of Limewire the music industry should see an increase in music sales over the next year. I find this a little hard to believe especially being that bit-torrent sites are the main culprit in illegal downloads currently. I’m hoping that the next target will be to shut down all bit-torrent sites. I feel that if the government starts to crack down on these massive piracy applications the music industry will not only begin to see increase in sales, but will also allow growth for all genres of music.
Although the decision to close Limewire is the first step to ending online-piracy in the music industry. There have been rumors saying that the owners of Limewire are planning to open another file-sharing service for users that have a so-called “non-infringing “ service. I feel that the government needs to catch the process of these guys starting a new service before it gets out of hand. In my opinion file sharing is okay as long as someone is paying for the product. These artists put in a lot of time and effort to give us good music let’s start giving them what they deserve.
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