Despite attempts to encourage music consumers in countries including the United Kingdom, France and United States to download music from legal sources, many not only continue to download from unauthorised sources but reject the very idea that what they are doing is wrong. Symbolic interactionist sociology helps us to structure these failed attempts to control this consumer misbehaviour. It shows us that opponents and proponents of illegal downloading have become locked in a battle over who can define behavioural standards for consuming music. This battle has come to a standstill as both sides have turned to the same economic imperative – that creators should be rewarded for their work – to justify their positions. Moving beyond this economic imperative, the article concludes, may mark a symbolic but ultimately hollow victory for proponents of unauthorised file-sharing.
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