Giving away music

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codefro

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If I buy a cd, and a friend shows interest in listening to the album, and I burn a copy of the disc and give it to them to listen to- is that a sin? This is where I get confused. I would not call that stealing from the artist and label. I bought the album and they do not have a problem with the album being ripped onto my computer or burning to a disc, but is it wrong if I burned the disc and gave it away? Been thinking about this, looking for an answer.
 
That falls under Thou Shall Not Steal.

Once upon a rainy afternoon I was channel-surfing and stumbled across a Hasidic Rabbi answering questions on the public-access channel. He addressed this very issue. There’s a corresponding website.And since we share this much with Judaism, and they have a couple thousand years head start on us, let’s see what they have to say:
Rabbi Moshe Feinstein ztl said that it’s not permitted to copy any item that is being sold by the creator of that item. Every time you copy it, you’re taking away sales from him. Anybody who downloads it, copies it, or does something else is really just turning someone else’s money into ashes. And that’s really the bottom line. It’s taking something from someone else.
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This is one of the areas where people say, “Everyone does it, and it really should be mutar (permitted)”. People copy tapes and download from the Internet. Everything becomes “public domain”. There’s nothing private. People just download it and copy it and they’ll wipe the owner out.
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But even if everyone does it, it’s wrong. You’re taking away something from someone and you’re harming him.
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Sometimes people object to this argument and say, “Well, in that case, I’m probably not even allowed to copy down a shtikel (piece of) Torah that I heard.” But that’s not true - the Shach says “Ein gezel b’divrei Torah (there’s no stealing when it comes to Torah)”, that is, if you copy it down for yourself.
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The guideline here involves whether or not what you’re doing is taking away a sale from the owner. One might say, if asked this question, “Oh, I would never have bought that anyway.” But in fact you shouldn’t say that. You do like it … and you would have bought it.
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However, if you buy one and make a copy for yourself so that you can have, say, one in the car and one at home - that kind of copying is permitted. No one buys two of something for such a purpose, so copying the merchandise in this case doesn’t take the place of a sale. If you told a person who wanted one copy for the house and one for the car that he had to buy two, then he wouldn’t buy two. He would figure a way to carry it back and forth each time.
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Since buying two copies for such a purpose is never done, then making a copy for yourself for two locations is not taking away a sale.
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So a friend of mine burned a cd that she wants me to listen to, must I just throw the cd away?
 
codefro said:
If I buy a cd, and a friend shows interest in listening to the album, and I burn a copy of the disc and give it to them to listen to- is that a sin? This is where I get confused. I would not call that stealing from the artist and label. I bought the album and they do not have a problem with the album being ripped onto my computer or burning to a disc, but is it wrong if I burned the disc and gave it away? Been thinking about this, looking for an answer.
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That is copyright infringement. It is illegal to do, and yes it is stealing from the artist.

The reason you can rip the CD to your PC and load it on your iPod is because you have been given limited rights to that music, including being able to listen to it in different mediums-- on a CD player/DVD player, on an iPod, in your car. But, YOU are the one listening, and you are only listening in one format at a time.

Giving a copy to your friend exceeds the limited rights given to you by the purchase. You AND your friend are now listening to that music indpendently and simultaneously. That requires that you EACH purchase the rights to use it.
 
codefro said:
That would probably hurt their feelings.
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Why would the fact that you want to be honest and have integrity hurt their feelings? It is what is called a “teachable moment”… a chance to share your faith with others and help them understand the right and wrong in this situation.
 
what about if my bought copy gets scratched and I burn a replacement to play in my car? Is that wrong?
 
codefro said:
That would probably hurt their feelings.
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How could it hurt feelings to say, “that’s great! I like it so much I bought my own copy. Thanks for introducing me to such a wonderful artist!”
  • or -
if you don’t like it, “thanks for loaning this to me. I guess they just aren’t my cup of tea.”
 
codefro said:
what about if my bought copy gets scratched and I burn a replacement to play in my car? Is that wrong?
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That’s alright. The fair use doctrine stipulates that one may make a backup copy or transfer to another media type (e.g. make MP3s from the CD to play on your iPod) for personal use. The only requirement is that all copies go along with the original, licensed copy if transferred.
 
codefro said:
If I buy a cd, and a friend shows interest in listening to the album, and I burn a copy of the disc and give it to them to listen to- is that a sin? This is where I get confused. I would not call that stealing from the artist and label. I bought the album and they do not have a problem with the album being ripped onto my computer or burning to a disc, but is it wrong if I burned the disc and gave it away? Been thinking about this, looking for an answer.
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The musicians invested say $10,000 of their money to make a product that they sell for lets say $10/copy in the hopes that they sell 20,000 copies and make some money back.

If you purchase the very first copy of that product and you duplicate that product and distribute it for $0/copy then why would anyone purchase any of the musicians copies?

Now granted you only made one copy but is your friend likely to decide to purchase an identical product and contribute to the livelihood of everyone for $10 when he got one for free?

So whilst you didn’t steal anything you inadvertently have enabled someone to steal.
 
You own a piece of their music.

If you lose/scratch/whatever your CD, you can make a new copy from your computer.

If you gave a copy to your friend, and STILL RETAIN YOUR OWN, that would be stealing from them.

If you gave a friend your only copy, and no longer had the music, then it would be ok.
 
This debate is becoming moot with stuff like Spotify which lets you listen to almost anything and it’s completely legal
 
Booter said:
This debate is becoming moot with stuff like Spotify which lets you listen to almost anything and it’s completely legal
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I disagree, but I do want to compliment you on knowing the difference between “moot” and “mute.”😃
 
I mean you can listen to any album on spotify or see official YouTube videos so who needs to borrow a cd…not to mention stuff like pandora for online radio…and thanks for the compliment 🙂
 
codefro said:
If I buy a cd, and a friend shows interest in listening to the album, and I burn a copy of the disc and give it to them to listen to- is that a sin? This is where I get confused. I would not call that stealing from the artist and label. I bought the album and they do not have a problem with the album being ripped onto my computer or burning to a disc, but is it wrong if I burned the disc and gave it away? Been thinking about this, looking for an answer.
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Nope. Nothing wrong with this. As long as you’re not doing it on a large scale or for profit.

As far as I can tell…ever since tape decks have been around people have been copying songs and making mix tapes/CD’s etc. The Church leave this sort of thing to people to use common sense.

It isn’t an illegal or in any way a shady or dubious practice to copy music for friends & family so I’d say you’re in the clear on this.
 
AdamPeter said:
Nope. Nothing wrong with this. As long as you’re not doing it on a large scale or for profit.

As far as I can tell…ever since tape decks have been around people have been copying songs and making mix tapes/CD’s etc. The Church leave this sort of thing to people to use common sense.

It isn’t an illegal or in any way a shady or dubious practice to copy music for friends & family so I’d say you’re in the clear on this.
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👍

It isn’t any different than lending a book or a movie to someone.

If I buy a car, then am I forbidden from giving someone else a ride in it? If I give someone a ride, then they won’t go out and buy a car and thus, the car companies lose money. So is giving someone a ride in a car that they didn’t pay for a form of theft? :eek:
AdamPeter said:
The Church leave this sort of thing to people to use common sense.
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Therein lies the problem.
 
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