Editorialist: Many professional musicians | LSAT 68, Q5, LSATHacks

LR Question 5 Explanation, by LSATHacks

QUESTION TEXT: Editorialist: Many professional musicians claim that unauthorized…

QUESTION TYPE: Flawed Reasoning

CONCLUSION: Music sharing services aren’t to blame.

REASONING: The services deprive musicians of royalties, but recording studios take too large a cut of revenues.

ANALYSIS: This is a common argument in favor of file sharing, but it’s not a good one.

If record companies take too much money, then that’s a problem. But it’s a different problem from file-sharing.

If a musician is entitled to $100,000 in royalties and file sharing takes away $10,000, then file sharing is to blame for that loss, whether or not the original $100,000 was a fair figure.

It’s possible that both file sharing AND record companies deserve blame for taking money from musicians.

___________

1. CORRECT. Yes. It’s possible for two separate parties to be blameworthy.
2. This is like saying that cocaine is ok because lots of people do it. It’s a different bad argument.
3. This describes an ad hominem flaw. The editorialist didn’t attack anyone’s character.
4. This is like saying that there is no asteroid coming to hit earth, because then we would all die. It’s a different bad argument.
5. This is like saying that someone is a criminal because they drink water. Drinking water is a necessary condition for being criminal (and for staying alive), but it is very far from sufficient. It’s a different bad argument.