Is Shared Music Legal?

Is sharing music legal? And if so, why is that the case? Sharing music can be illegal, and in most cases yes, it is in fact against the law (in the United States and many other countries). It depends, however, on the circumstances of the music sharing.

First and foremost, before you share music, you should refrain from doing so until you are certain that it is within the legal boundaries of the area where you live. Secondly, if you created the music yourself from scratch and it does not use snippets or any other extraction from any other person's music, you may share it freely. (You may, in fact, want to register your music with the Copyright Office of your local government, however, so that your music does not get unfairly taken, misused, or shared without legal repercussion.)

Which brings us to the reason that music sharing can be illegal: because it is unethical. It is unethical to take and share something that does not belong to you. When you purchase a CD or a digital song file (such as mp3), you do not own that product free and clear. In a sense, you own what is called a license or the digital right to use that file or disc for your personal use. You may not copy, give, or resell that product without permission.

The ethics of this debate are very subjective. Some say that all art should be free, that art is something to be enjoyed by all. Even the Federal Communications Commission has mission statements that related to the public's need for media input free of charge. If you are interested in more information on this topic, visit your local area library for research; look online for information on digital rights management and file sharing legal issues and things like that.

In this new era, it is up to us, the public, to decide what the new system of law should be surrounding the new ways that we enjoy art and music.This article brought to you by glyconutritionals / glyco nutrients - http://www.glyconutrients-online.com