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《你盗版吗？》
Are You a Pirate ?
“Wait!” Olivia yelled. “Don’t click that button.”
“Why? It’s only one album.” I said back with my cursor over the download button. With the tap of my finger I had just broken the copyright law.
Maybe this has happened to you. If it has, you may know that one album can easily turn into twenty in less than a day. Pirating music is wrong. You shouldn’t have to break the law to enjoy music you love.
It’s fast and easy, but the consequences won’t be easy on your wallet.
It’s no secret that many people download music online illegally. Some people do it knowing the consequences, some doing it uninformed or unaware.
You may think that no one will find out or maybe the music industry won’t notice, and many people like to think that. The amount of shipments of recorded music has gone down 26 percent, going from 1.16 billion albums sold to 860 million from just 1999 to 2002; and that’s no secret from the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America). Before the 90's, the closest P2P sharing (person to person) ever got was just by sharing CD's with your friends.
Fast forward to today there are more than 400 authorized digital music services worldwide offering more than 12 million songs. Although, it's more likely to find people sharing their music files on media sharing sites such as Mediafire and MEGAUPLOAD. You may find yourself asking “What's the harm? It's only a couple songs ...” or “Why pay for something you love?” If music is something you love, you shouldn't mind paying for it.
Sure, the music industry makes so much money they practically drown in their own wealth. Even so, the artist has to get the money they rightfully earned. Which means if they don't get every penny they deserve it is stealing.
This is such a huge issue in today’s society, that you may think what is anyone going to do about it? The RIAA have been showing scary consequences to teens, and it's been working. You know you’ve got a problem when you get a letter in the mail with either you or your parents name on it from the RIAA, suing for the unauthorized use of copyrighted materials.
If you get caught with copyright infringement, the copyright holder can sue you for damages and/or loss of profits. Suing $150,000 per infringement and, even though it’s unlikely, you could be facing jail time in some cases. Also, stealing music online is just like stealing offline. Maybe some of your buddies dare you to go walk out of the store with a CD.
Even if you think it doesn't matter, it really does. Many people who download illegally wouldn't even dare to shoplift . There’s no difference. Piracy isn't fair to people who buy their music. The average Teenager has about 800 illegal music tracks on their iPod or music player. I was once someone who didn’t care about what I was downloading or who I was downloading from, but knowing the real facts is a bit scary. Downloading Music without paying is not ok whatever the excuse.
Even though many feel that a lot of record companies have way too much money already, it ’s not the only issue music piracy causes. The MI is made up of so many people including songwriters, tour mechanics, producers, and advertisers who most likely have families just like you and me to support. These people choose their profession accept ing the things they can’t change about it.
Songwriters don’t have control over how much the latest CD is, but yet they’re still being affected because of music piracy.
“Digital piracy has almost completely destroyed the profession of songwriting, and is slowly destroying the music industry. Every major music publisher has laid off at least half, and sometimes all, of their professional songwriters. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, songwriter income dropped 32% between 2003 and 2006 alone (for the lucky few who still had jobs),” said Rick Carnes, president of Songwriters Guild of America.
All in all, I believe that music piracy is wrong. Not only does it hurt the people who rightfully earned the money, but it also isn’t worth the risk of getting sued or going to jail. And I’m sure that many people would agree. So maybe you should think next time, “Is it worth it?”
“等一下！”奥利娃喊道。“别点那个键。”
“为什么？只是一张唱片而已。”我回答，光标就放在下载键上。随着我的手指轻击鼠标，我违反了版权法。也许这也曾发生在你身上。如果发生过的话，你可能知道一张唱片不费吹灰之力就可以在不到一天之内变成20张。盗版音乐是不对的，你本不应该通过违反法律来欣赏自己钟爱的音乐。虽然这样又快又容易，但是对你的钱包来说那后果可不会是件小事。
许多人会通过网络违法下载音乐，这并不是什么秘密。有些人是明知故犯，有些人则是不了解或没有这方面的意识。你也许觉得没人会发现，又或者认为整个音乐行业注意不到，许多人都愿意这么想。从1999到2002这三年间，制作成片的音乐从十一亿六千万张唱片的销售量下降到了八亿六千万张，下降了26%。这对美国唱片业协会(RIAA)也不是什么秘密。上世纪90年代以前，所谓共享音乐最多也就是跟你的朋友分享一张CD。
快进到今天，全球有400多个经过授权的数字音乐服务网站，提供超过一千两百万首歌曲。尽管如此，你还是很容易发现人们在诸如Mediafire和MEGAUPLOAD等媒体分享网站上分享他们的音乐文件。你也许会问“这能有什么损害？不过是几首歌而已……”或者“为什么要为自己喜欢的东西付钱？”如果音乐是你钟爱的东西，你就不该介意为它付钱。
没错，音乐行业是赚很多钱，行业里的人可以说是泡在钱堆里。即便如此，音乐人也应该得到他们用合法方式赚到的钱。这也就意味着，如果他们没能拿到应得的每一分钱，那盗版音乐就是偷窃。
盗版在当今社会情况如此恶劣，你可能都会好奇相关方面会采取哪些措施。美国唱片业协会一直在向青少年宣传盗版的严重后果，这一做法颇有成效。
一旦在信箱里发现美国唱片业协会寄来的写有你或你父母名字的信，你就知道你有麻烦了，那是他们起诉你未经授权使用了受版权保护的资料。如果你被抓到侵犯版权，版权拥有者可以起诉你侵害版权并/或要求赔偿经济损失。
一次侵害版权的行为可要求赔偿15万美元，虽然被这么起诉的几率不大，但在某些案件里，你可能还会面临铁窗生涯。另外，线上盗版音乐跟线下偷窃没什么不同。
也许你的一些朋友曾激你把CD偷偷带出商店。虽然你可能觉得这没什么大不了，但这其实不是小事。许多违法下载音乐的人根本不敢从商店里偷东西。但两者其实没什么不同。盗版对于那些花钱购买音乐的人来说非常不公平。平均每个青少年在他们的iPod或音乐播放器里都有约800首非法下载的音频。以前我也并不在意自己下载的是什么，或者是从哪里下载，但是了解了事实后，这就有点可怕了。不论有什么借口，没有付钱就下载音乐是不可以的。虽然人们觉得许多唱片公司已经超级有钱，但唱片公司的经济损失并不是盗版造成的唯一问题。
音乐行业是由很多人组成的，其中包括作曲人、技术人员、唱片制作人，还有广告商，这些人很可能像你和我一样有家人要供养。这些人可以选择他们的职业，但却选不了那些他无法改变的事情。作曲人没法控制最新一辑CD的定价，但是他们仍然会因音乐盗版而受到影响。
“数字盗版几乎完全摧毁了作曲人这个职业，现在它正在慢慢摧毁整个音乐行业。每一家大型音乐出品公司都解雇了至少一半(有的是全部)的专业作曲人。据美国劳工统计局调查，仅在2003至2006年间，作曲人的收入就下降了32% (这是对于那些还有工作的少数幸运儿而言)。”美国作曲人协会主席里克·卡恩斯如是说。
总之，我认为盗版音乐是不对的。不仅因为这一行为会伤害那些用合法方式赚钱的音乐人的利益，还因为人们不值得冒着被起诉或进监狱的风险去干这事儿。我相信许多人都会同意这一点。所以下一次也许你该想想：“这么做值得吗？”
文章摘自：《新东方英语·中学生》杂志2017年4月号
