Argumentive Paper on Illegal Downloading of Music

1. Speech Title: Our Modern Day Pirates 2. Speaker/Audience: An environmental activist/local group of environmental activists. 3. Purpose of Speech: EXAMPLE: To convince my audience to take action to preserve the tropical rainforests. 4. Thesis: EXAMPLE: I. Attention A) Alright so who here, and be honest knows that they have illegally downloaded one of their , music exct.? (hands will be raised) Ah!!! So there are my thieves B) The usage of illegal downloading has been a huge problem in the creation of the arts.

Millions of dollars are being invested into the hard work that’s produced for the enjoyment of the society and is lost. C) For those who don’t know stealing movies or music or anything is against the law. And trust me later on in my speech your going to know how unconstitutional it is to steal. Credibility) I have witnessed one of my fathers friends who was in a band. They were starting to grow into a successful band, opened for kiss at the red rocks. Soon to come, CDs stop selling and Xirens own money that he put in was lost due to illegal down loads.

E Preview) From this speech you will learn 1) how illegal downloading started its affect on artists that supply the music. 2) You will learn Statistics on how it financially affects the music business and others, 3) the consequences of illegal downloading and 4) cheap alternatives to satisfy your needs in hopes to stop this madness. Transition) Lets go back to June the year was 1999. A creator Shwan Fanning Started one of the most unethical practices of file sharing called Napster. II. Body: A. Need: It all started with a simple project that was created called file sharing.

File sharing is the practice of distributing or providing access to digital stored information such has mp3 or music file. 1. According to an article ( R. I. P Napster) The excuse that Napster promoted for illegal downloading was “The recorded companies had let them down by only putting on a few hit singles and fills it up with songs just to get more money. ” So Napster was programmed for individuals to select certain songs and not pay for it. When this happened, then millions of others begin to upload their own music and share it with others around the globe.

This lead to major copy writes infringements, which eventually put Napster out of business. It was too late though. Now some arguments that I have heard when I ask why do you illegally download music? The response is, the record companies cheat the artists out of their money anyways. They see the record companies as big monsters who are evilly personified. Your basically playing when you go and download stuff without paying for it. Your ripping off the record companies. You think “yea were beating this big evil monster”.

2. Unfortunately if you only knew the business part of it, the money that is spent on the CDs or on I-tunes goes straight to the big evil monster record companies. Once this happens then the artists who produced that music gets a generous profit from the record company. 3) The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is extremely concerned with the illegal downloading. Since Napster, Music Sales have dropped 47% from loosing 14. 6 billion dollars. (TechDirt. net) From 2004- 2009 30 billion songs were illegally downloaded on file sharing networks. Illegal downloading loses the music industry 12. billion dollars a year, and said from 2004-2009 over 71,000 jobs were lost. This includes not only music artist but sound engineers, technicians, warehouse workers and even record store clerks. Illegal downloading under minds the future of music. by stealing the music you take away the music industries resources it needs to find new talent and holt the uprising of better music. *When we steal and download illegally a copious amount of music then the record companies are not getting enough money and profit to pay the artists. This is when the only outcome is punishment for participating in this scheme.

B. Satisfaction: Its now time that drastic measures must be taken. Just last year a federal jury found a thirty two year old women who was charged 1. 9 million dollars. Charged 80,000 a song and only illegally downloaded 24 songs roughly twenty four bucks with the . 99 cent charge fee on I-tunes. (Digital Media Magazine) Was it worth it? If you are caught the record companies get to decided based off infridment laws how much they can sue in individual. This is just one of the many cases who has been charged according to the copy write laws. S1. One way to stop this problem is to educate others on this subject.

According to (Teens less likely to illegal download when they know ) 70% of people who were interviewed had no idea file sharing was illegal. These could be lies due to the fact of being afraid being sued, but 2. With the education on illegal downloading Between 2006-2009 16-20% of illegal downloading has declined, and 15-30% of people were engaged in legal downloading of music. Transition) *To keep you out of the dog house here are some safe alternatives so you can enjoy your music or in this case movies as well C. Visualization: If you think that there is no other way to satisfy your music/movie needs then think again.

Example: I-tunes, Pandora radio, or even Netflix are safe legal ways to accesses music and movies. is one of the best alternatives to view movies and T. V shows. You only pay 7. 99 a month and receive unlimited movies. Example) Also big Television networks such as NBC,MTV and FOX will let you view episodes of your favorite shows. If we stop the illegal downloading just think of how much support artist will have and money to create even better music! *Now lets turn to some basic tips and a short story that helped me stop illegal downloading.

D. Action: 1) Since illegal downloading is such an easy task to do, think to yourself how you can be the domino effect of the down fall of the music industry. 2) Now I cant be there sitting over each and everyone of your shoulders and advise your descion to legally download. When I crashed my old computer using a file sharing called KAZA my father was livid. He gave me advice on how to govern my own actions. He asked me if I knew what the definition of character was. With 8 different translations of the word character in Webster dictionary my father came up with the ninth.

He said Alex “Character is based on your actions and morals when no one is watching. Conclusion. Summary: In conclusion you have learned the beginning stages of illegal downloading, and how to combat this situation with safer alternatives. Importance: You saw how important legal down loading can be for the music industry and others, and the importance of supporting musicians by buying their music. Clincher: So just because no one is around and its just you behind the screen of your computer, think to yourself before you download if you’re a thief or a honorable person.