This week made me think about how I use intellectual property presently and made me conclude that my uses fall into a few particular categories.

Music – In terms of music I don’t ever purchase songs. I tend to use YouTube and Songza to stream my own music. I feel like musicians are coming away from being super protective of people listening to their music unpurchased and are moving to actually embracing the internet as a means of promoting their music. Take for example YouTube, many of the artists I listen to have their own channels that I listen from. If I need to take it on the go I tend to YouTube to mP3 it. I don’t feel any ethical obligation from listening to the music this way as I am not profiting from it and I know the artist whose music it is. Thus full recognition is given to them.

I think if I was in a certain position I would also not mind if people were listening to my music in such a manner. I think artists can be very successful off of their branding and concerts, that there music is merely a way to promote them.

I think one of the main areas where it is wrong to use intellectual property is perhaps in more of the fine arts, such as paintings and sculptures, and trying to sell these works as originals. I definitely think this is an infringement not only on the artist and their original work, but also the buyer who thinks they are getting a genuine work.