With the invention of the Internet came many new opportunities—e-mail, an access to more information, and downloading music.

To music fans hooked up to the Internet, downloading services came as a gift. It proved to be a great way to discover new artists and hear songs not released on to the public.

Studies show, however, that only 31 percent of music file-sharers actually use downloading services, such as Napster, to check out new artists.

“If I hear a band on the radio, I’ll download a couple of songs, and if I like them I’ll go out and get the CD,” senior Emily Prabhu said.

To the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America), the controversy of downloading music comes down to one idea: it is stealing.

Technically, this is true. Music downloaders are taking copyrighted music without paying for it.

Most Americans, however, think otherwise. Fifty-three percent of Americans do not consider music downloading to be stealing, according to “The Online Music Report,” a survey conducted by Pew Internet & American Life Project.

Although artists have been losing money in record sales since sharing music files first began, most music downloaders are not using the Internet to build up a huge collection of music. “The Online Music Report” showed that only ten percent of downloaders have more than 100 songs stored and 63 percent had less than 25 songs downloaded.

Some artists, however, don’t care what their music is being downloaded for: stealing is stealing. The song belongs to them, and it shouldn’t be shared with everyone without a price.

If music downloading is going to continue, music fans need to support their favorite bands in other ways if they are not buying the records. This can be done by buying band merchandise and attending concerts. Bands will make more out of a $30 concert ticket than with a $12 CD anyway.

If one is truly a supporting fan of the band but would rather download than buy a CD, he or she should at least buy a t-shirt or go to a concert, which in the end could be even more beneficial to an artist. Downloaders need to realize that these bands make a living off of their record sales, concerts, and merchandise. If fans refuse to support bands in any of these ways, bands would never be able to make a profit. So if one still refuses to buy an overpriced CD, at least attend the artist’s concert or merchandise.