Who gets hurt by music piracy?
A. Consumers lose: Piracy drives up the price of legitimate recordings. The sound and materials of pirated music are also often of a poor quality, and the product cant be returned. Artists, musicians, songwriters and producers lose: They dont get the royalties and fees theyve earned — and 95% of all artists depend on fees to make a living. Their reputations also suffer when the fakes are of poor quality. Retailers and distributors lose: Their prices cant compete with those of illegal vendors, which means less business and fewer jobs. Record companies lose: 85% of all the recordings issued dont even make back their costs. Record companies rely on the remaining 15% of recordings that are successful to subsidize less profitable types of music, to cover the costs of developing new artists and to keep their businesses operational.
