Many people have been struggling with the ethical question of how to acquire their music since the creation of Napster, the first music-sharing site, in 1999. Should one illegally download music online for free, or purchase it outright?
A third option, one rapidly gaining popularity, is to subscribe to satellite and Internet radio services such as Sirius XM and Pandora. These services allow consumers to listen to their music legally without having to spend as much money as they would buying albums on iTunes. However, in light of a recent lawsuit against Sirius XM Radio, satellite and Internet radio services are just as ethically at fault as consumers who download their music through music-sharing sites. Sony, Universal, and Warner sued Sirius XM Radio, saying that the satellite service has been using recordings from before 1972 without permission. This is the third major complaint filed against Sirius XM radio in the past five weeks.
“It is disgraceful, unfair, and probably criminal that Sirius XM is stealing monies due to me and other performing artists,” the singer Judy Collins said in a statement. “Performers should be paid their fair share of the royalties from their songs. ”
The suits against Sirius could have an effect on other radio services including Pandora. Sirius is the largest satellite radio service in North America with over 27 million subscribes who pay $14.49 or more a month. In 2012 the company had $3.4 billion in revenue, only of which about 8 percent goes to royalties for the artists.
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