NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Tennessee lawmakers will consider a bill that could stop college students from downloading music illegally on campus.
File sharing has had a huge impact on the music industry.
Illegal downloading is a huge problem on college campuses in Tennessee. The University of Tennessee is fourth on the list when it comes to music piracy, according to the Recording Industry Association of America.
So state lawmakers are looking at a bill that requires public universities and colleges to make sure students cannot download illegal music.
Country music trio Alvarado Road Show said the practice has impacted their careers. The group was signed to Universal, but dropped because of company cutbacks due in part to the file sharing issue.
Year after year, more people steal music instead of buying it.
"This year alone it was 20 percent, and no industry can sustain 20 percent year over drops in sales, without letting go of massive amounts of people, and that what has happened to the songwriters," said Rick Carnes of the Songwriters Guild of America. "We have lost over half the number of songwriters in the past 10 years."
The problem in passing this bill might be the cost. Right now, it has a price tag of $10 million, which is the estimated cost for installing all the hardware and software to block illegal downloads in every public university computer system.
On Wednesday, committees in both the House and Senate are expected to debate the bill that would combat illegal downloading on college campuses.
