People have found alternative ways to access their music since technology evolved, whether it was recording songs from the radio onto a cassette or borrowing the CD of a friend to "burn" it, Nobody followed the rules, legally. This piece will discuss illegal music downloading and the political theories and concepts it represents. What are the social norms and attitudes that drive this behavior? and what is the solution, if there is one? Since the early 1990s, software publishers have been concerned about losses resulting from software piracy. The music recording industry now faces a much bigger threat than the software industry. Its very existence is in question as music is widely pirated through Internet downloading and CD copying. The total cost of music piracy is estimated at $12.5 billion per year, of which $5 billion represents a direct cost to the recording industry. The recording industry has seen declining profits and reduced employment due to the effects of music piracy (Blyth, 2008). Many argue that, due to music piracy, the structure of the industry must change and that the era of both major record labels and superstar bands is coming to an end (Dvorak, 2003). However, many people, especially college students, do not seem to consider music piracy immoral. Understanding consumer attitudes can be an important step in developing a solution to the economic problem of music piracy. This study develops a model based on the Theory of Reasoned Action (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975) to promote further understanding of attitudes toward music piracy and how such attitudes influence music piracy behavior. Music piracy is a socially accepted illegal practice. Understanding attitudes towards music piracy… half of paper… digital download October 14, 2007 (Mayfield, 2008). In Rainbows was unique from previous digital releases in that it was made available to consumers on a pay-what-you-want basis from the website www.inrainbows.com. After choosing In Rainbows to download, customers were directed to a "checkout" page on the website where they were asked to specify how much money they intended to pay for the album. Essentially the customer could pay whatever they wanted and had the option of downloading the album for free. The digital version of the album was followed by a physical release to global audiences via XL Recordings on December 31. The physical version sold for $13.98 and came in a cruciform box containing stickers, which was intended to provide fans with the ability to create their own packaging by reusing an old plastic jewelry box (Music Week, 2007).