The minute he gets home, 18-year-old Jordan Loyd wakes his computer from sleep mode and maximizes his BitTorrent window. “Exclusive” complete, “It Won’t Be Soon Before Long” complete, “Just Like You” at 45 percent. After placing the two completed albums onto his MP3 player Loyd runs out the house, with no remorse or sympathy for the artists he had just stolen from.
Jordan Loyd is not a real person, but what he does and how he feels about music downloads is not unlike the views of some of our real Skyline college students.
From a survey of 30 Skyline students, 13 had said that they downloaded music and do not buy CDs. This number is not far off from the number the Los Angeles Times have gathered on teenagers not buying CDs, which is 48 percent.
On average, the cost of a CD goes for $10 and a song download from the iTunes Store goes for 99 cents, which would make CDs cheaper if there are more then 10 songs on the album.
“It doesn’t make sense to buy CDs if you just want one song,” said 20-year-old Leisha Israni.
Another reason Skyline students have given for musical piracy is the ease and accessibility of downloading.
“Yeah I don’t think it’s fair, ’cause artists have to make money themselves, but at the same time I love music and I want to hear music,” said 21-year-old Andrew Corpuz. “That’s why if I can get it for free I’ll do it.”
With little regulation and access almost everywhere, the internet has taken some of the blame for illegal downloading.
“It’s the internet’s fault for sure,” said Corpuz. “I mean if there was no internet people wouldn’t be downloading for free.”
Although musical piracy seems like an accepted practice, there are still some Skyline students who download as well as buy CDs. From the 30 student survey, 9 have said that they download as well as buy CDs.
Students do think about the artists, and want to support the artists they like.
“If I really want it, I’ll spend however much it costs,” 19-year-old John Lacson said. “Recently I just bought that “August Rush” soundtrack because I wanted to get it. If there is some unknown band, I might pick it up. Maybe like big records I wouldn’t buy the CD because they are probably making money already.”
