Kids as young as young as elementary school-aged are asking Mom and Dad to help them download music onto their MP3 players. Most people know now that there are legalities surrounding downloading music from the internet. What exactly are the rules and restrictions, though? Can parents buy one song and share it amongst all their children on several MP3 players? Can parents transfer music from their own music CDs onto their child’s MP3 player? Can children copy songs from their MP3 players onto their friends MP3 players? What is allowed and what isn’t?
The answer is less complicated than you may think. You must purchase music downloaded from the internet unless it is authorized as free by the record company, directly. If you buy it in any form (by purchasing it online in MP3 format or by purchasing a CD, etc), you own it. If you own it, you can use it in any form. You can make an MP3 from a CD, you can burn a copy of the CD to keep for personal use, you can transfer your music onto your computer to listen to, you can make a tape from a CD for personal use, you can transfer or copy MP3s from one MP3 player to another as long as you are the owner of both MP3 players and you can burn a CD of MP3s for personal use. All of this is entirely legal. You own the music; do with it as you wish as long as the only person who continues to own the music is YOU! But if you sell or give it away, you have to give it ALL away or destroy it in all other forms. You can’t burn CDs of your MP3 songs and give those CDs away to friends unless you also get rid of the MP3s. You can’t copy MP3s to friends or others within the household using different units unless you destroy your original. You can’t sell your CDs and continue to listen to the music ripped from those CDs on your computer. In other words, sharing is not allowed. Bottom line.
A good analogy would be to think of your child’s songs as a material possession, such as a sweater. Your child can give the sweater away, loan it out or even sell it but then she will no longer own it or benefit from it in any way. Your child can’t make a copy of her sweater, of course, or duplicate it. If a child wants the same sweater, she must go out and purchase one for herself. We must look at music as if it is a material possession of which we are the only owners.
Parents need to understand these rules and restrictions well in order to empower their children with knowledge. Teaching your children the right and wrong way to obtain new songs for their MP3 players is important. If your child breaks the law, it is the parents who will be held accountable. With recent penalties upwards of $1700 per song, this isn’t an area you want to dismiss!