It is the notion of a "group". I've realized just how careful one has to be when dealing with a group of people.
Downloading music today is relatively simple and accessible to anyone with a computer and internet. The last essay we read for class revealed that in a span of 7 years the total revenue of music sales has gone down 4.2 billion dollars, due to illegal downloading on the internet.
If I were to walk into Target -or the Mushroom for that manner- and steal a Cd, odds are I would get caught and even if I wasn't, if it was my first time stealing (and I'm not a sociopath) I would probably feel guilt or remorse. As we can see though the more a person steals the more desensitized one becomes to the guilt that is an effect.
However say there is a giant riot going on in New Orleans and it reaches the Mushroom and Target, people break windows crowd in and steal like it's their job. This is done with little or no remorse, because of this crowd mentality.
We see the same thing going on in the Internet, people download massive amounts of music illegally, but we don't feel the same remorse that we would've had we stuck the Cd in a backpack and walked out the door of the Mushroom, we don't even feel the same remorse if we had joined a riot and collectively stolen Cds fro Target. It is a huge step back from a personal experience, we can join an online riot without seeing any faces of the other looters, and steal more than we could carry out of a store with our own hands.
A "group" has no physical form, it is intangible, it cannot be prosecuted, it cannot even "hear"(music). (I'm not talking about a crowd at a concert I'm talking about an abstract entity falsely created by a mass of individuals)
A group is just a collection of individuals, a "group" isn't real. We can claim that there is nothing wrong with downloading music illegally but to a simple point it is in theory the same as participating in a looting fest.
...But here is where we get into the strange middle-ground...
If Zizek has taught me anything it is that people (generally) don't follow a strict ideology, it is the implied rules that exist between the theoretical rules that truly make up an ideology.
I would say that stopping the illegal downloading of music would be an amazingly daunting task for anyone to take on, especially when it has so many participants. I would also say that it is equally ridiculous to go around arresting kids from middle school up to college for downloading music illegally (this is the main age group that participates in downloading illegal music).
So... what does the individual (the musician, the businessman, and the listener) do?
The answer is to be smarter. The music business is changing very rapidly, money is being channelled out of record companies' pockets by the minute (through illegal downloading).
Even though illegal downloading is itself illegal, it is so completely present in our society today.
Artists and Businessmen (as well as a combination of the two) must think up new and innovative ways to market their music, if they wish to make money off of it.
And we the listeners are responsible for our actions, I would not deem it appropriate to go online and download 10 gigabytes of music in one sitting. We have to be ethical, learn about an artist and their music, and if you enjoy it find a way of letting them know and a way of supporting them.
For example:
This is Alex Beaser's new Guitar Concerto just recently completed and written for Eliot Fisk. When I think of the time, dedication, creativity, innovation, and powerful minds that created a piece like this I will proudly buy the Cd when it is for sale, for not only my enjoyment, but to also let the artist know that I understand his work so fully and that the artist truly deserves X amount of my money (my money is a token of honor, not just paper, it represents what I have produced with my time and energy) for this monumental work that I enjoy so much.
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