After our class discussion, I began thinking on how to solve the problem of illegal music sharing. I know that many of my friends are victims of illegal music downloading and sharing. Over the weekend I came up with three ideas on how to possibly solve this problem. Let me know what you think!
1. Sharing should be blocked on websites that currently allow it. It sounds easy, but it is not. For example, websites such as YouTube should block sharing by creating a code or a system where you have to pay to download the song. This would help YouTube and the artist make money and would also create less of a chance of piracy. I know that people would still get around this system, but people are going to find ways around everything.
2. Most people do not want to click more than three times to get what they want; moreover, why not create a system where it is just difficult to download illegally? Make downloading possible only by clicking four or more times, so it defers illegal downloading. If it is hard for someone to do, then they may give up and try to find the song somewhere else that is easier. This would definitely cause people to stop downloading due to frustration.
3. Increase advertisements on why you should buy music versus trying to download illegally. This would cause a guilty conscious in some people and help decrease the amounts of illegal downloads. Some people may think that iTunes or the record label gets a big percentage of the sales, so helping explain why people should buy the music may be a possible solution to the problem.
These are very basic ideas, but starting simple is normally key to solving any problem. I think that if we start by taking these steps, then we an create a dent in the illegal downloading problem.
