Teaching About Music Piracy
Promoting the Legal Use of Copyrighted Music in Education
Music piracy and the illegal file sharing of copyrighted music remains a major blemish on the face of colleges and universities across the United States. Recent actions by the RIAA and other music industry groups have underscored the fact that despite the best efforts of many music educators and schools, illegal file sharing and blatant music copyright infringement continue to be a major issue for academia. These collegiate music pirates also demonstrate the fact that teachers and parents may not be doing enough at the younger grades to teach and instill respect for music copyright and legal file sharing via the Internet or local networks.
Fair Use of Copyrighted Music In The Classroom
At some point in every classroom the question of fair use of copyrighted music will emerge. Point out the fact that while fair use is allowed for educational purposes, fair use does not apply if the music being used was pirated to begin with! Further, once the educational task has been completed the ability to claim it as fair use goes away. In order to remain legal, any copied music used in the project cannot be retained for personal use. Retaining illegal copies of music or other media for personal use after an educational project is completed is a violation of fair use and thus a clear act of music piracy.
Always make certain to educate your students on what is and is not fair use of copyrighted materials before you assign a new project.
Strategies For Teaching About Music Piracy
There are many strategies to try in the classroom and at home to teach the moral and ethical aspects of copyright. The most important of these strategies is to make use of the many teachable moments that occur in everyday life. When a student conversation treads on the topic of copying or burning music CD’s listen to this discussion about burning a copy of his friends CD and turn it into a jumping off point for a full blown discussion on the topic of when it is legal to copy a CD and when it is clearly music piracy.
Deal Proactively With Music Piracy In The Classroom
Seek out opportunities to express your own morals and ethics toward music piracy and illegal file sharing by refusing to play burned CD’s in class. Require that a student bring in the original CD if he or she wishes to use it as a part of a presentation. If the music has been ripped down to a computer’s hard drive for use in a presentation, ask that at least the CD case be brought in to prove that the music was copied legally. If a student is unable to provide this proof of ownership then refuse to allow the copyrighted music to be included in the presentation. The copyrighted music being used must have been legally purchased in some way, either by the student, a relative, or a close friend.
