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A recent New York Times article quoted a young boy who when asked by his mother how he would feel if a famous rock artist plagiarized and sang his song without paying him for it. Instead of reacting as his mother had expected and hoped, he said it would be really cool to have his song performed by someone famous. So, don’t expect them to sympathize with the money-motives.

Instead, talk about plagiarizing a book report, or copying a video. These examples are more real to them. Then talk about the responsibility of famous brands and responsible companies to safeguard their products and maintain product quality standards. Discuss some famous brands and how they are owned by certain companies and are protected. (Would another restaurant’s food taste the same as McDonald’s if it used golden arches over its restaurant?)

Then talk about the lack of product quality on P2P. Many song files on P2P are contaminated with viruses and other malicious codes, and many are incomplete and low quality copies of the real recordings. Explain that the recording industry has to guarantee the quality of their products. Ask your kids how often they have had problems with the downloads, and ask them to share some horror stories they have heard about corrupted files and viruses from P2P. Ask them if it’s worth it. Are your children worried about getting caught? Did they even realize that they were breaking the law?

Also, ask them to name a few famous recording artists (ones they like are better than others). Ask them how they think the recording artist is paid by the record company. Explain how many different entities and other people are involved in the making of a CD…the recording artists, the song writers, the arrangers, the backup singers, the band, the graphic artists for the album cover, the public relations and advertising agencies, the production company, the editors, the retailers, the shippers, the jewel case manufacturers, the printers, the CD manufacturers, etc. Then share how many people are employed by those companies and how their families rely on their income to live.

While few children can understand how their one pirated song can impact the entire industry and their employees (and may not appreciate the impact one pirated song has on Madonna’s millions), explain that it is estimated that 2.6 billion songs are downloaded each month. So, it’s not just their one download (and few kids will claim that they have only downloaded one song).

Some blame the pirating for the fact that one-third of the music retailers in the United States have shut their doors over the last few years. While they may not be sympathetic to Sony’s losses, or Eminem losing a few royalty dollars, they may be sympathetic to the families of those retail employees. It is reported that the $40 billion music industry has been reduced to $26 billion between 2000 and 2002. While certainly not the only factor, music downloads have contributed to that reduction.

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