DeKALB | The recording industry is sending a message to college students across the nation to stop illegally downloading music.

That message has finally started to hit home.

More than 400 students at 13 campuses, including 28 at NIU, have received “pre-litigation” letters from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), prompting students to voice their concern.

According to SurveyU, revenue in the music industry has been declining as a result of file-sharing networks. A recent survey conducted by SurveyU found 60 percent of students disagree. Students feel it increases the artist’s fan base and, in turn, makes other financial contributions to their success.

“I think they should embrace it,” said Rob Rhodes, a junior psychology major. “More people are listening to their art.”

Illegal downloading is a very serious issue in the eyes of recording industries, but 40 percent of students feel they are just being picked on by large, money-hungry companies, according to SurveyU.

“I think they are just looking for a scapegoat,” Rhodes said. “I think the declining sales have nothing to do with illegal downloading.”

Freshman business major Nick Nolte was one of the NIU students who received a letter from the RIAA. Nolte was asked to settle outside of court for $3,000 by a certain deadline. If the deadline was missed, he would have been taken to court and sued for a higher amount.

“I was upset, but I also knew what I was doing,” Nolte said. “I understand why they’re doing it, but just suing people out of the blue is kind of bogus. There are so many students on campuses across the country doing it, and I got caught.”

While the survey states only 16 percent of college students plan to change their behavior in the future to favor more legal downloads, NIU students are finding themselves a little more hesitant to swap songs outside the realm of the law.

“Since I’ve gotten caught, I’ve deleted all of my downloading programs and all the kids on my floor stopped downloading,” Nolte said. “The way [recording industries] are going about it is working.”