The Freeloaders, by Megan McArdle: Article Analysis on Illegal Music Download

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What do you think about free music downloading? Do you think it should be allowed or not? The article entitled “The Freeloaders,” written by Megan McArdle, is based on the issue that many people are sharing and downloading music files for free, and that many people accept this behavior. It is also based on how the music file-sharing is affecting the success of music industry negatively. While McArdle is persuasive when she claims that music file-sharing is not benefiting the music industry and the entertainment industry financially, I also see that there is a lack of solid evidence to back up her argument, which complicates this issue. Her arguments seem very opinion-based. McArdle argues that although music file-sharing is easily assessable and available in the millennium generation, free music file-sharing is causing damage to individuals involved in the music industry and in the entertainment industry. McArdle starts off the article by mentioning that record labels suffer the most financially in the year 2009. She also mentions that for the last decade, record labels business are experiencing decreases in revenues. McArdle criticizes the millennium generation for violating property rights of recording labels and the music industry. Moreover, McArdle points out that many young people in this millennium generation are the ones who are downloading music for free. She discusses how hard it was for people to look for music and to copy music in the past history compared to the present. She also points out that young people in the millennium generation do not see downloading music for free as a huge problem. She concludes her article by stating that perhaps music piracy is not such a negative trend. Although it affects individua... ... middle of paper ... ... issue of file-sharing, and the decline in music sales due to people downloading free music. Besides using vague information and few statistics, she is also making many assumptions about the facts that she is stating in this article. When she is making too many assumptions, I am not entirely persuaded to steer clear from downloading music for free. Therefore, this is why I do not think this article is effective. In conclusion, McArdle does a fairly good job laying out the main points to support her stance against music file-sharing. However, she could use more specific details and evidence to help strengthen her arguments. Her arguments are weakened as she provides many generalities, and no data or strong evidentiary support. Works Cited McArdle, M. (2010). The Freeloaders How a generation of file-sharers is ruining the future of entertainment. The Atlantic.

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