Even though an illegal downloading law became enacted, many people still download music or movies illegally.

Some people believe that we can download illegally because everyone does it. However, we need to download entertainment legally because it develops and maintains our music industry.

Composers earn their profits by selling their records; however, they do not earn royalties on illegally downloaded material.

According to the Recording Industry Association of America, a person convicted of making unauthorized copies of copyrighted music can receive up to five years of jail time and fines up to $250,000.

In March, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the lower court’s ruling that a man would pay $22,000 for illegally downloading 24 songs on the file sharing service Kazaa. However, still now, more than 90 million illegal downloads have happened in America. (BBC, 2010)

Society needs to take responsibility for the entertainment market and be cautious of illegal downloading. The individual’s effort is essential. If individuals try to prevent illegal downloading, it will be easily resolved.

Further, celebrity campaigns may be an effective way to eradicate illegal downloading. In Korea, there is the  ‘Good Downloader’ campaign, which promotes legal downloading. Famous stars advertise ‘Good Downloader’ and it has begun to positively affect society. The most effective resolution for the illegal downloading is being responsible to ourselves.

Illegal downloading is one of the important problems which concerns the whole world. Legal downloading will promote the music and film industries and strengthen people’s morals. To maintain our entertainment culture, we should prevent illegal downloading.