#band – @fathershane on Tumblr

Anonymous asked:

Is listening to songs from Youtube okay? I mean, songs that aren't uploaded by the artists who sang/created them? Thank you very much! God bless you!

Good question! You'll get different opinions from different ethicists on this, since there's this gray area where copyright law doesn't necessarily align perfectly with the moral law. At times, copyright law can be very restrictive because it's at the service of raw profitability rather than expressing real moral norms. That, of course, has to be balanced with the basic moral precept to follow justly constituted civil law except for serious reasons (for example, breaking a speeding law to get someone to the hospital).

Okay, that was complicated. But the rest of the thing is complicated too:

When you listen to a song repeatedly, you're becoming more and more attached to that band, and more and more likely to actually buy that band's music at some future date.
When songs are made available in digital format, the record label is automatically taking the risk that the songs be reused.
You're also helping fund YouTube (and sometimes the person who uploaded the video) as you're exposed to ads that other people paid for.
It's likely that you'll also eventually watch the official music video on YouTube at some point, which directly benefits the band financially.
There is no potential for future distribution on your part if you don't download the song.
All of these factors are similar to what happens when you listen to radio stations, Pandora, Spotify, etc. Lots of people are benefiting financially from your consumption, and you're more likely to spend in the future.

So there are several "mitigating factors" in play that make this form of listening a lot less culpable than outright piracy, and probably minimally culpable anyway. I wouldn't worry about it too much, but definitely it would be good to have the attitude of knowing that you're receiving something free and that you have some degree of obligation to keep the system (and your favorite people) strong. Again, you may get stricter opinions on this, but we're in the realm of moral theology where opinions are guaranteed to be diverse because our intellects are limited, and mine is more limited than most... so take it as an opinion.

And as always, "you are what you eat," so if the songs you listen to glorify God, then you're on the road to spiritual health. If not, "GIGO!"

God bless you!

- Father Shane

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