Would Locke Think Unauthorized Music Sharing is Stealing?

In a class lecture about a month ago, we discussed Locke’s Labor Theory of Property. This theory states that when one puts labor into natural resources, these resources become his property. Although Locke was primarily discussing land, this theory can be used in other situations as well. Today our world is far removed from the state of nature, making it hard to distinguish what can be considered property in today’s technologically-advanced world. One situation where the lines of property become fuzzy is unauthorized sharing of music.  

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In today’s society, buying music online has become the primary way of purchasing it. People acquire music (whether the methods used are legal or illegal is a different question) and sometimes share it with friends through burning CDs and using iTunes, as well as possibly through other websites. This leads me to go further in depth about the question asked in class: is unauthorized music sharing stealing?

The music industry seems to think so. In recent years, music labels have sued thousands of people for illegally sharing music. One major lawsuit is that of Joel Tenenbaum, who was sued for $675,000 by the companies Sony BMG, Warner Bros Records, Atlantic Records, Arista Records and UMG Recordings for downloading a mere thirty songs. Startlingly, he’s just one of many people in this type of situation. To the music industry, sharing music is clearly stealing—with a heavy price for doing so.

As for our class, the people who said that this was stealing justified their opinion by saying that the music is owned and labored on by the artist and that by sharing the music with another person, one is taking the income the artist would have made from the song being bought. The people who disagreed said that sharing is not technically stealing.

What about Locke? In his work Second Treatise of Government, he states the following:

“[E]very man has a property in his own person: this no body has any right to but himself. The labour of his body, and the work of his hands, we may say, are properly his. Whatsoever then he removes out of the state that nature hath provided, and left it in, he hath mixed his labour with, and joined to it something that is his own, and thereby makes it his property” (19).

 His point is that we own our bodies and our labor, so I believe the music people labor on to produce would be part of their property. Although music is not the same as uncultivated land, for example, both start in their own sort of state of nature, not being owned by any person. Therefore artists should be paid when they sell their music to other people. Buying music and then giving it to another person, for free or for money, cannot be considered sharing. The definition of stealing is “to take (the property of another or others) without permission or right, especially secretly or by force.” This definition in combination with Locke’s definition of property show that unauthorized music sharing is indeed stealing.

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Some people may argue that once a person is in possession of the music, it is his or her property. However, this is not accurate because possession is not the same thing as property. Example:  I could take your phone and be in possession of it, but doing this does not make it my property. Property is a claim against other people about a right to the continued use, possession and disposal of some object, whether such object is currently in the possession of or in use by the owner or not. Even if a person does not always possess an item, it is still his or her property. Similarly, a person may claim that he or she uses his or her labor in the act of stealing, but this is done through an unjust way.

Locke’s Theory of Property can be used in this modern-day situation of unauthorized music sharing. People may try to justify sharing music with one another by saying “It’s only a few dollars’ worth of music” or “music artists already make tons of money so it doesn't matter,” but in the end it is still the property of the artists. A big part of the problem is that modern technology has made it easy to illegally download and share music. In the past this issue wasn't as much of a problem because music was bought in the form of CDs. Although music is not a tangible item, it is still property. And in the end, taking another's property is stealing.