For reader reactions to online music piracy, visit the companion poll from The Feather pulse.

In the formerly multibillion dollar music industry, album sales have plummeted over the past decade. With the power of the Internet, music-lovers now have the opportunity to illegally download music from all artists and musicians.

Because of the drop in music sales, over 5,000 workers have been laid off from record companies since 2000. The Recording Industry Association of America threatens those who illegally download with heavy fines and potential jail time. However, their enforcement seems to result in little change.

With the rise of digital downloading, concert ticket sales have increased over recent years. The high level of sales prove people have not lost interest in music ? they have just lost interest in legally purchasing it.

Despite the potential consequences, sophomore Alex Campama admits to having considered downloading songs illegally.

“Since the artists I listen to brag about all their money, I wouldn’t feel bad about not paying them,” Campama said. “I don’t think it hurts them too bad to take a few songs here and there.”

Artist, writers, producers and record companies never receive royalties for their work when users pirate music. The RIAA has sued over 11,000 illegal downloaders since 2003. Users rotate copyrighted music on peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing networks such as Limewire and Kazaa, never paying for the service or the download.

Junior Julio Ibarra gets his songs from Limewire along with the popular online store, iTunes, on occasion.

“I like Limewire because it has songs before they’re released or even on radio,” Ibarra said. “I enjoy having my music library as current as possible.”

The illegal downloading crisis has prompted artists to be more creative to sell albums, including Sheryl Crow and Lenny Kravitz who have spoke out against pirating, urging fans to pay and support their favorite artist.

Radiohead allowed their fans to choose how much they wanted to pay for their album, In Rainbows, before selling it at a fixed price months later. Prince took that method a step further by releasing his album, Planet Earth, for free with the daily newspaper throughout the United Kingdom before a traditional release.

However, not everyone supports pirating. Senior Andrew Rurik purchases music from his favorite bands on iTunes or buys CDs of their albums.

“I think it’s wrong to steal songs from artists because they work hard to please their fans and earn the money they make,” Rurik said. “Just because someone is capable of stealing merchandise from a store doesn’t mean we all do it. The same goes for pirating digital music: I know it’s wrong, so I make the choice to legally buy music.”

Although the Internet allows people to steal music, the Web remains an effective way for artists to sell their work to a larger audience. Legal MP3 downloading services like iTunes and Rhapsody charge a fixed rate of $.99 per song. The new music downloading program, Zune, set a fixed monthly rate for unlimited downloading for its system. iTunes is reportedly following suit.

Despite the availability of songs to download, sophomore Jessica Wagenman feels there is a lack of good music to persuade her to purchase new albums.

“I used to buy music all the time, but I got tired of there only being a few good songs on the album, so I stopped buying them,” Wagenman said.

As technology becomes more advanced, eliminating piracy may prove insurmountable. The music industry must find a solution to online piracy in order to maintain the integrity of its medium.