Money for Nothing and Hits for Free: The Ethics of Downloading Music from Peer-to-Peer Web Sites

Abstract

This study relates consumer ethics and attitudes to the recent controversy over file-sharing Web sites such as Napster, Morpheus, and Kazaa. Data were collected from college students to determine their ethical attitudes toward downloading music without paying as well as their attitudes toward record companies and recording artists. Twenty-one students participated in a qualitative study, and 210 participated in a follow-up quantitative study. Results suggest that downloading reflects more than just access to high-speed technology. The fmdings suggest that respondents who download music from the Internet differ from those who do not download in that downloaders have lesser ethical concern, indicating a greater willingness to endorse ethically questionable acts, and that downloaders are more likely to believe that downloading files does not harm the company or the artists.