Piracy is everywhere. Our generation was raised in a time when theft was commonplace, and millions of people routinely steal every single day. Most of them are stealing one commodity: sound. And there’s nothing wrong with that.

We’ve been brought up to embrace the speed at which information travels. We live in an instantaneous world and are bound to the pleasures of instant gratification; Facebook, Google and Twitter keep us enslaved to the whims of immediate satisfaction. Since its inception and growing popularity, the Internet has changed every industry, and the music industry is next on its list.

The world is changing. The methods of travel, communication and information-sharing that have supported us for years are being replaced and updated daily. There is no stopping the flow of time and the continuation of human progress.

The music business needs to understand this. For years now, the big record companies, in particular the “big four” (EMI Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group), have been fighting this progression into the future. Their gang, known as the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), routinely sues hundreds of file-sharing thieves for thousands of dollars per song downloaded. The attempt to halt the speed of human progress is shocking, and inevitably doomed to failure.

The industry that previously held the key to our musical exploration is losing its battle with the Internet, where you no longer need the key, or the money, for that matter. For years, artists needed the record companies to distribute their music, but with the advent of the Internet and file-sharing software, the artist has found himself an infinitely large fan base and the medium by which to reach it.

Without the record companies, the music world will look very different. Artists will produce locally to create albums of lesser quality but more realism. The fancy means of album production will only be available to the musicians who draw crowds to their shows. Artists are currently relying more and more on their concerts and less on their record sales because records just do not sell anymore. The artist will have a more intimate connection with his or her fan base and a new musical culture will develop from it.

The antiquated system of record distribution is slowly being replaced by digital technology; no longer do the artists need their music on record store shelves. They have found a new medium through which to reach their fans, including LimeWire, uTorrent and Kazaa, all of them file-sharing software.

I grew up with Napster, but only recently has the growing number of lawsuits compelled me to speak out. No one can be sure what the future will hold but, for now, the obsolete system we have employed for decades needs to change. As Thomas Paine said, “A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right.” We, as the next generation, must look toward the future and to the changes that must be made. Legality does not dictate just policies.

So turn up the music and blast piracy from the stereo — we are all pirates of audio. The sound of freedom is upon us and there is no stopping it. Music should be free. The commodity of sound need not be contained. Let it break free from the containment of CD cases and flood our ears with the ringing of freedom. The Internet has broken our shackles of antiquity and we can do nothing but embrace it.

Unfortunately, DC++ is running a little slowly at the moment and the progress bar of the song I am downloading is stuck at 90 percent. I am sure it will finish soon, though. You can’t really stop progress, now can you?