Music Piracy—Differences in the Ethical Perceptions of Business Majors and Music Business Majors

Abstract

In this study, the author investigated the ethical perceptions of business majors and music business majors from a private university and observed whether the taking of a business ethics course affected students' perceptions regarding the ethical aspects of downloading, sharing, copying, and selling copyrighted music from Internet and non-Internet sources. The author found that students who had never engaged in such activities were more likely to perceive them as unethical. Results also revealed that music business majors who had never downloaded music and had not taken an ethics course believed more strongly that such behavior was unfair to the music industry than did those who had not downloaded but had taken an ethics course. These findings have important implications for the music industry and educational institutions involved in ethics instruction.