Does Compulsory Licensing of Music on the Internet Violate the Fifth Amendment s Takings Clause?
By Laurie Messerly Edited by Renee Giachino In recent years, music lovers have discovered vast access to free music on the Internet. This includes not only free listening, but also free downloading of their favorite songs and free copying of choice music. Companies such as Napster gained almost instant notoriety because they provided users with the ability to trade or share copies of sound recordings through centralized file sharing. However, the Internet file sharing of often-unlicensed sound recordings has many in the music industry seeing red. According to the copyright holders of these sound recordings, file-sharing services, such as Napster, are promoting widespread “piracy.” Digital distribution of music over the Internet often includes trading, sharing and downloading music that is subject to one or more copyrights, which makes it the property of others. The primary question is how to compensate music copyright holders for the use of their copyrighted works on the Internet. Trad
