Recording Industry Association of America President Cary Sharman has written to the New York Times to challenge an article written by the paper's Jon Pareles that claimed downloading music from the internet was not illegal. Pareles pointed out that it was people who uploaded music for others to share that were facing legal action from the record labels, not those who subsequently downloaded tracks. But Sherman told the paper: "both uploading and downloading are direct infringements of copyright."
Responding the fact that some music on the internet is available to download with the endorsement of the rights holders, Sherman continued: "A number of musicians are giving away their work as a means of promotion. That's their right, and downloading that music is legal. It's just that there are a whole lot of musicians who have not chosen to give away their work, and it would be unfortunate if anyone believed that it's legal to download their music anyway."