While the Internet shines in terms of the free exchange of ideas and information, there\u2019s an ever-widening grey area when it comes to downloading digital music<\/strong> or sharing copyrighted intellectual property like books and art. However, there\u2019s an increasingly complex array of international laws designed to turn that gray area into clear black and white.<\/p>\n You don\u2019t have to look very hard to find file-sharing sites, many offering a cornucopia of all your favorite music, books and more, all free for the downloading. But look before you click; unless you are downloading a clearly labeled free promotional book or track from an artist\u2019s site, that ebook or music file you just scored on a torrent site is probably copyrighted.<\/p>\n There seems to be a prevailing attitude that once a musician or author has \u201cmade it,\u201d they don\u2019t need your money\u2014that sharing a few files won\u2019t hurt anyone. And hey, you bought the CD, so you can do what you want with what\u2019s on it, right? Wrong. You purchased the physical CD, not the blood, sweat and tears it took to produce what\u2019s on it. With few exceptions, the vast majority of artists are \u201cblue collar;\u201d they work hard for their money and need every penny\u2014just like you.<\/p>\n Think about it. Would you continue to show up for work every day if you weren\u2019t paid? Probably not. Here are a few tips to help you make sense out of what\u2019s considered fair and unfair use of copyrighted digital material.<\/p>\n In short, never distribute legally purchased tracks to someone else. Digital music sharing of any kind, in whole or in part, for profit or not, without the express written permission of all parties involved in the production of the copyrighted content <\/em>is illegal.<\/p>\n This includes using your favorite pop song to underscore your latest YouTube vacation video, or emailing a sample or two to a friend to help them decide if they want to purchase the album.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n When in doubt, refer to the two points above. If what you\u2019re about to do falls somewhere between black and white, it\u2019s safe to assume it isn\u2019t legal. And when you learn via the web that your favorite new artist wasn\u2019t resigned by their record company, it\u2019s probably because of millions of people just like you who shared a file \u201cjust this once.\u201d<\/p>\n The above also applies to royalty free music<\/strong> like that produced by Premium Beat. When you purchase a license from us for your production, that doesn\u2019t mean you can do a friend a favor by passing the music on for their production.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There\u2019s an ever-widening grey area when it comes to downloading digital music or sharing copyrighted intellectual property like books and art.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6,3],"tags":[555,5374],"class_list":["post-class-post-4964","post-class-post","post-class-type-post","post-class-status-publish","post-class-format-standard","post-class-hentry","post-class-category-music-copyright","post-class-category-royalty-free-music","post-class-tag-music-industry","post-class-tag-royalty-free-music"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe white:<\/h2>\n
\n
The black:<\/h2>\n
\n