According to the U.S. Copyright Office, it is illegal to upload or download any work without the express permission of owner of the copyright on that work.
In 1976, Congress passed the Copyright Act, allowing creators to copyright their works for a period of 95 years, effective January 1, 1978. In 1998, President Clinton signed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, prohibiting technological methods of getting around copyright laws.
In late 2000, Napster was hit with lawsuits by recording, television and film companies. Universities whose students downloaded music were also sued. In June 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling that P2P networks could be held legally liable for en mass copyright infringement.
Just as universities and private citizens are prohibited from illegally downloading music, so are federal employees. In March 2010, the House of Representatives passed the Secure Federal File-Sharing Act, which requires government agencies to develop plans to protect their computers, and those of their contractors, against illegal file-sharing programs. Any agencies desiring to use file-sharing programs must have those programs approved by the Office of Management and Budget.
Some artists choose to place their music within the domain of Creative Commons. Creative Commons is a non-profit which provides artists with free licenses for their songs. A Creative Commons license allows an artist to determine the level of copyright of her work; whether the license be “all rights reserved” or “some rights reserved.” This makes it easier for fans to legally download and/or use the works of their favorite artists.
The U.S. Copyright Office states that participating in any kind of illegal music uploading or downloading may incur up to $30,000 in damages for each work that is illegally shared. If the owner of the copyright brings proof of that infringement, then the penalty may be increased to $150,000. The copyright owner may also demand that the person caught in the act pay for the legal fees involved in proving the copyright infringement.
When looking for purveyors of legal music downloads, make sure to do background research on the site before paying for anything. There are many sites purporting to offer legal music downloads, but not all of these are legitimate. These sites will claim to offer music authorized by the record label and/or the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, but in fact, will not possess authorization. The Center for Democracy and Technology maintains an updated list of such sites. The Recording Industry Association of America maintains a list of legal music-downloading sites.