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It’s one of the most controversial topics of the moment and it’s making headlines almost every day. It seems that pretty much everyone, whoever they may be and whether they really understand the concept of downloading music or not, has an opinion to give on the matter. Even amongst musicians opinions are divided between those who think it will be the death of the music industry and those who see significant benefit in their music being readily available to a much wider audience of potential fans than they could otherwise have hoped to reach.

The debate has been going on for years and doesn’t look like ending any time soon. Remember when the original download site Napster was shut down after a successful copyright lawsuit by Metallica? Everyone thought that was the end of it – it seemed the age of music for free was over, never to return. But then came Limewire, the Pirate Bay and countless other file sharing sites, with new systems and bigger-than-ever databases, never failing to stay one step ahead.

Metallica certainly had a point, and they are far from the only musicians to have spoken out against free downloads and the impact it has on the big label music industry. With the price of CDs going up and up all the time it’s not so surprising that people are turning to downloads, but not everyone realizes the effect this could have on the music we all love. However there are those who believe that the music industry as we know it has had its day and that the future of music lies with the people recording their own tracks with DJ software on their home computers and publicizing the music themselves online. This is only possible because the music is available online for free, and these are the genuine music lovers who are in it for the music not the money.

The latest in a long line of musicians to voice his opinions is Snow Patrol frontman Gary Lightbody. Although his band are hugely successful and far from being small and unsigned, he believes that being able to get music for free is just the modern way and that the punishments given to people caught filesharing are ‘way over the top’ and do not fit the crime. He was speaking specifically about the recent conviction of the four founding members of The Pirate Bay, who have each been sentenced to a year in jail as well as having to pay $3.48 million in damages to several large entertainment companies. The group are launching an appeal as although they understand these companies could well be out of pocket, there was no way to know how much by, and it was discovered that the judge conveniently happened to be a member of the Swedish Copyright Association with strong personal views on the case.

There is no sign of an end to the constant debate on filesharing and certainly no sign of an agreement being made. There is no question that it is damaging to the record label giants’ and huge stadium rock bands’ incomes, but at the same time it enables the little guys at home recording their tracks with an Akai home studio and set of headphones to get an equal chance of being heard. Maybe there is no right or wrong answer.

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