Music theft, widely known as piracy, has been illegal and considered a felony for a while and for good reason as it seeks to protect the value of creative work, according to the Recording Industry Association of America. In my eyes, Copyright infringement involves the stealing of a person’s creative work and ideas. Countless individuals believe that their behavior both online and in “real life” constitutes as legal comportment as the definition of music theft is not clear.

Based on the RIAA website, an individual is violating Copyright law when he or she makes unauthorized copies of someone’s creative work, therefore taking a valuable intellectual piece from the owner without their consent or authorization.

Some instances of Copyright infringement could include miniscule actions such as illegally downloading a song from YouTube using websites that allow you to strip the audio from a video, burning a CD with songs you illegally possess as you don’t have rights over them, and even simply joining a file-sharing network to download unauthorized copies of music made available to you at no cost. To all the previously mentioned behaviors there are consequences.

The Federal Law is in charge of penalizing all criminal and civil misconducts. Title 17 of the United States Law involving matters of the Copyright Law of the United States of America and Related Laws states, in section 506, that “Any person who willfully infringes a copyright shall be punished as provided under section 2319 of title 18” depending on the kind of infringement they committed.

If their purpose was (A) of commercial nature or for financial gain, violating section 506 (a)(1)(A) of title 17, they could be imprisoned not more than 5 years, fined, or both, if the offense consists of the reproduction or distribution, including by electronic means, during any 180-day period, of at least 10 copies of any copyrighted work, which has a total retail value of more than $2,500.

They shall also be imprisoned not more than 10 years, fined, or both, if the offense is a felony and is a subsequent offense under subsection (a); and shall be imprisoned not more than 1 year, or fined, or both, in any other case.

If, in another case, the individual (B) reproduces or distributes, including by electronic means, during any 180–day period, of 1 or more copies of any copyrighted work, which has a total retail value of more than $1,000, they shall be imprisoned not more than 3 years, fined, or both.

They shall be imprisoned not more than 6 years, fined, or both, if the offense is a felony and is a subsequent offense under subsection (a); and shall be imprisoned not more than 1 year, fined, or both, if the offense consists of the reproduction or distribution of any copyrighted work, which has a total retail value of more than $1,000.

Lastly, if the individual takes part in (C) the distribution of a work being prepared for commercial distribution, by making it available on a computer network accessible to members of the public, if such person knew or should have known that the work was intended for commercial distribution, they shall be imprisoned not more than 3 years, fined, or both.

They shall be imprisoned not more than 5 years, fined, or both, if the offense was committed for purposes of commercial advantage or private financial gain; and shall be imprisoned not more than 6 years, fined, or both, if the offense is a felony and is a subsequent offense under subsection (a).

If seeing all the consequences and implications of this illegal act didn't convince you that Copyright infringement is unlawful, I wanted to put forth a scenario that should rid you of any desire to offend against Copyright Law that’s left.

Imagine you are a composer or musician putting in countless hours into composing the perfect piece of music and constructing an impeccable tune that just effortlessly resonates in your eardrums. Melodies and rhythms fill myriad of music sheets forming an exquisite piece of art. The final arrangement poses itself in a music sheet you guard with your life.

You protect it as mother bird does to their chicks. You invite a friend over to listen to your ‘masterpiece’; at least it is in your eyes. Your friend praises your creativity and regards you as a virtuoso. What you didn’t see is that while you were in the kitchen getting the orange juice your friend so kindly asked for, he took a picture of the sheet music and posted it online.

A month later you hear your song sampled on a popular pop tune being played on the radio. Your heart stops. How would you feel if that was you? Enraged, disappointed and helpless are just some words that come to mind. Not only were you ripped off of your intellectual and creative value, but any financial value your piece might have had is significantly diminished.

To my understanding, illegal music sharing or copyright infringement is the same as going into the bank and robbing money, or into a supermarket and stealing food. So no. Copyright infringement should never be tolerated.