Why is downloading music from the Internet illegal when recording from radio is legal since both originate from copyrighted material?

It must not be illegal. It must simply be free. I challenge anyone to defy me to why not!

Legalities Regarding Downloading Music

There are several reasons why recording from the radio is more acceptable than Internet file sharing, but it basically boils down to this.
Radio stations pay fees to the appropriate companies for the license to play songs for the public. These fees are to ensure that artists and writers are paid the royalties due them.
Filesharing software providers like Limewire, iMesh, Kazaa, etc. do not pay these fees though some of them charge users a fee to use their software. Any fee that may be charged by these companies is simply a usage or membership fee. Therefore, artists are not receiving their royalties.
Then there is the fact that recording from the radio does not usually allow someone to copy entire albums simply due to the fact that you don't usually find radio stations broadcasting entire albums - with the exception of the occasional radio show.
And your average radio station has a limited broadcasting range. (I don't know anything about Internet Radio so I won't comment on this form of media.)
The Internet allows people to upload single songs or entire albums and make them available to millions upon millions of computer users all over the world - none of whom will be paying for the music thus depriving the creators of the music of their hard earned money. And creating and/or performing music is hard work. If it were easy everyone would be Pop or Rock stars.
If Limewire or Kazaa paid the appropriate fees they could not afford to allow users to share files freely or for their tiny usage fees. So instead they provide the perfectly legal software, and their members/users commit the crime by stealing music and other protected intellectual property!
So then, it is legal for someone to download a song he/she just heard on the radio because he/she has just been subject to the advertisers, who paid the radio station, who paid the people who copyrighted the music.

First answer by Sunde. Last edit by Ss250679. Contributor trust: 0 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 120 [recommend question].