2008 Woodie Awards
"Whose Music" Panel Discusses File Sharing
Sarah Culp
Issue date: 12/10/03 Section: News
Despite inevitable controversy, a well-publicized discussion of file sharing attended by an RIAA representative and a leading anti-RIAA activist occurred relatively peacefully in Merrick Lecture Hall on December 3.
"Whose Music Is This, Anyway?", a panel discussion moderated by Goucher president Sanford J. Ungar, featured Mitch Glazier, the senior vice-president for government affairs at the Recording Industry Association of America, the coalition of record labels which is currently issuing lawsuits against selected Internet users who download and share copyrighted music; and Lawrence Feldman, a self-described "attorney, webmaster, record producer, and musician" who works with the website boycottRIAA.com and runs an independent digital music community called Dmusic.
As the event began, Ungar introduced each participant, and then started off by asking them directly if it is unethical to download copyrighted music. After Glazier's unsurprising answer that it was unethical, but he felt his industry's recent litigation was bringing that to light for people, Feldman began analyzing the content of the question itself and brought out his own copy of the copyright law. He found fault with the law's wording, which he said was unclear. He and Glazier began a semantic discussion, which stretched to nearly ten minutes before Ungar managed to ask his second question.
The conversation went on to discuss the merits and power of unions and their adequacy in representing their members (Feldman questioned how effective the musicians' union could be in light of their never having gone on a general strike), as well as the recent litigation by the RIAA against file-sharers. Glazier cited polls, which he declared "a bit sad" to the industry, that show that while certain demographics do not feel that downloading music is wrong, they will not do it if they feel they might be caught. When Ungar asked what success had come so far from the lawsuits, he seemed a bit flustered, but said that the RIAA had "succeeded in creating awareness."
"Whose Music Is This, Anyway?", a panel discussion moderated by Goucher president Sanford J. Ungar, featured Mitch Glazier, the senior vice-president for government affairs at the Recording Industry Association of America, the coalition of record labels which is currently issuing lawsuits against selected Internet users who download and share copyrighted music; and Lawrence Feldman, a self-described "attorney, webmaster, record producer, and musician" who works with the website boycottRIAA.com and runs an independent digital music community called Dmusic.
As the event began, Ungar introduced each participant, and then started off by asking them directly if it is unethical to download copyrighted music. After Glazier's unsurprising answer that it was unethical, but he felt his industry's recent litigation was bringing that to light for people, Feldman began analyzing the content of the question itself and brought out his own copy of the copyright law. He found fault with the law's wording, which he said was unclear. He and Glazier began a semantic discussion, which stretched to nearly ten minutes before Ungar managed to ask his second question.
The conversation went on to discuss the merits and power of unions and their adequacy in representing their members (Feldman questioned how effective the musicians' union could be in light of their never having gone on a general strike), as well as the recent litigation by the RIAA against file-sharers. Glazier cited polls, which he declared "a bit sad" to the industry, that show that while certain demographics do not feel that downloading music is wrong, they will not do it if they feel they might be caught. When Ungar asked what success had come so far from the lawsuits, he seemed a bit flustered, but said that the RIAA had "succeeded in creating awareness."