Legal music downloads are the only way to go for right now. Many people are still using peer-to-peer sites to obtain their music. The mentality is that there is probably so many people out there doing it that no one will ever take notice of the average college student that just wants a few tracks for their digital music player.

Although there are only two or three cases that actually made it to court, there are thousands of cases that have been settled out of court. Every time you download music for free it will be considered as one count of piracy. And every single time you share that song that is another count of piracy. So you can see how quickly this can grow into a substantial case for the record companies.

Depending on how much music you have pirated, you can end up owing the record companies thousand of dollars. Some people have even racked up over a million dollars in fines and copyright fees. Most of the people that are caught not using legal music downloads are college students or average citizens. The record companies will often settle out of court and have only made examples of a select few.

However, in today’s economy who can afford several thousands of dollars in fines and court costs? The benefit of paying for a song or album is that once you pay for the music, it is yours. You can do whatever it is that you want to do with it. Most of the music sites have taken care of the DRM restrictions so that their customers do have to worry about what happens after the purchase.

Many people feel that the music industry makes enough money through the CDs, concerts and merchandise that is already purchased. The music artists and the leaders of the music industry live in big houses and drive fancy cars, so what is a $0. 99 song to them. Regardless of how you feel, downloading music for free is piracy and you are in the wrong.

They have a legal foothold to sue those that do have legal music downloads. According to the piracy laws, when people used to record music onto a cassette from the radio, they had a right to sue. They just did not have a way to track the people that were doing it and the music industry just had to accept the loss.

Since the age of the internet, everyone can be found sooner or later. So, it is best to pay for legal music downloads now. You are getting the better deal when you consider the alternative.