ing of music" (Cohen 1). His ideas are shared by the whole recording industry, its artists, and the federal government.
             The FBI, working with the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), recently developed an anti-piracy seal that protects CDs from being copied (Swanson 1). Though putting the seal on CDs is voluntary, major companies are expected to use it in the near future. A Sony Music spokesman expressed the hope that the seal and other new technology will slow down piracy. "It's an important tool in our campaign to make the public aware that copying and distributing music without permission is illegal" (Swanson 1). However, putting the seal on some of the CD recordings has been found to affect the quality of the performance and that gives the recording industry a real concern (Swanson 1). But the seal is not the only effort the industry is making. The RIAA is also contributing to other technology and taking legal steps that would prevent CD-ROM drives from playing in the popular MP3 format (Cohen 1).
             In addition to working with the FBI, the RIAA has also introduced an initiative that has been promoted by both the recording companies and their artists (Healy 1). The recording companies not only have the cost of manufacturing their products, they have marketing and promotion costs. Artists do not work on a plain salary. They work with the recording companies to promote their artistic works and are paid a few cents for each of their CDs sold. When their music is stolen, their income and the income of the recording companies drops, but the costs of producing the CDs, promoting the artists and the records, and paying the studio musicians and administrative costs remains the same.
             The RIAA initiative states that it will sue those w
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