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Is it legal to download music from the Internet if I already own the CD?

Just because you’ve already bought the latest album or single of your favourite band or singer doesn’t give you the right to download their music from the Internet.

Whether downloading the music from the Internet is legal or not will depend on which site you get the music from. If you are using a site that is backed by the music industry – a main UK site is OD2, offering links to HMV, Virgin and Ministry of Sound downloading facilities – you usually have to pay to download. The songs, usually stored as MP3 files, are sent directly to you from a central computer.  If you use an ‘unofficial’ site you are exchanging files with another computer over the Internet,  known as ‘peer-to-peer’ file-sharing, and usually there is no charge.

The first type of downloading is legal: the second is usually not legal. This is because unofficial sites generally breach copyright laws.  Copyright protects sound recordings as well as the original musical work and lyrics, and the copyright owner has the legal right to stop others from copying or reproducing the copyright work without the owner or owners’ consent. This is why artists and their record companies can charge a fee, known as a royalty, to anyone who wants to  copy or reproduce that copyright work.  By downloading a song from an unofficial file-sharing site, you are copying the work without the copyright owner’s consent, as such sites simply take the artist’s work and distribute it, without paying any royalties. The music industry argues that this deprives songwriters and musicians of hard-earned income, and reduces the ability of record companies to promote up-and-coming singers and bands.

In the United States the music industry has taken strong action against file-sharing sites, successfully closing down the Napster site (which has since re-launched as an official site), and has now turned its attention to individual file-sharers. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has brought actions against a 12-year-old girl, a 66-year-old granny accused of downloading rap records, and in January 2004 began legal action against 500 people it claims have shared songs online in breach of copyright laws.

So could you be sued in the UK for downloading songs from unofficial sites?  The UK equivalent of the RIAA, the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) hasn’t ruled it out - so be warned!

But the good news is that some of the official US sites, which offer a wide choice of singles for cheap downloading, are spreading over here: Napster 2.0 was launched in the UK in May 2004 and Apple System’s iTunes was launched in June (although you need an iPod to be able to play these).  There are also plans by Sony to launch a digital music player to rival the iPod around September 2004, whilst on-line music stores to be launched by Wal-Mart (which owns Asda, and offers single downloads for the US equivalent of around 50 pence) and by Microsoft should be coming to a computer near you soon. 

© Edwards Geldard

Please note that this column is provided for information purposes only: it is not intended to be a complete statement of the law or to constitute legal advice.   Readers should take legal advice in relation to any particular situation.