I myself have not given in to the whole file-sharing fad that has quickly arrived and filled millions of computers with sometimes thousands of free songs. It has set about 261 people into a tremendous amount of debt for their illegal pirating of music.

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has sued file sharers because RIAA believes that by suing people who use the file sharing network, others will be scared off from using the network. Making people pay for damages they cause to the record industry gets the message across that file sharing is illegal and detrimental to record sales.

The massive music industry companies lose millions of dollars a day because of file sharing. What is worse is that they cannot sue the actual culprits that provide the file sharing software, companies like Kazaa, Morpheus, and Grokster, because it’s difficult to reach these companies which are operating in other countries.

The only way to attempt to stop the music stealing masses is to make them pay. Many people find the music industry’s fines outrageous, due to the $150,000 per song fee. Last week a Newsweek poll found that 54% of file sharers, upon hearing that they were starting to sue individuals, said it made them feel less likely to continue. The huge networks that hand out the stolen songs say that, “The technology always wins.” Well, I think the music companies have got technology on their side too.

Out of the 261 defendants being sued, a couple of them are under age. These children have swapped files and downloaded songs at their own leisure, and now they must pay the consequences for stealing music. Many of the children have slapped their parents with the lawsuits, because they have downloaded countless hours of music.

For many years now, file sharing has rapidly become overly popular. The recording industry’s once fat $40 billion revenues decreased by an estimated $700 million since the 1990’s, and the injured economy has in no way lent a hand to the industry. And if this trend persists, it may cost people their jobs and unemployment lines to grow once the record industry goes out of business.

People who steal music don’t realize that in the future it can have dire affects on the musicians that perform the music we listen to, music that relaxes people on a stressful day. Producers and the music industry itself will not have enough money to pay for the making of music. And if file sharing keeps up, hard-working singers and songwriters might not receive the adequate payments they deserve for their work. They also deserve fair treatment from their fans who just want to save a couple of dollars.

The 261 people deserve the lawsuits that have been handed to them. The music industry must compensate for the losses it has received from the over 60 million people who have used the file sharing networks in the last five years.