When I was 17, I was a waitress in Nashville. And if it were not for the U.S. copyright laws, I might still be waitressing to pay the rent, despite my talents as a country singer and songwriter.

Because of those laws, I’ve been paid fairly for my own recordings and performances, and for the use and enjoyment of the many songs I’ve composed for other performers.

In the past several years, however, my livelihood has been put at risk by fast-changing electronic technologies. Now, it’s increasingly easy for music fans to steal musical work without paying for it. It’s as if I own a storage locker but anybody can take the contents because the padlock key is freely available.

Sometimes in our culture, it’s easy to break the law. People don’t even think about it, like going 70 mph in a 55-mph zone on an open freeway. Or stealing music with the click of a button. The law is even more likely to be ignored if there is no understanding of the reason for it.

Those of us in music and other creative arts must do a better job of educating the public about copyright law and why protection of creativity is important. Reaching students is especially important because it has been made so easy to steal copyrighted material for all or most of their young lives. Many of them just don’t know any better.

We songwriters, recording artists and music teachers nationwide are going to try to do something about that. March 21-25 is Copyright Awareness Week. Teachers in their classrooms, with the help of the National Association for Music Education, and a group of other singers and songwriters will be making a concerted effort to inform young people about copyright. Radio public-service announcements encouraging young people to know about copyright laws have been recorded by 3 Doors Down, Gavin DeGraw, John Legend, Martina McBride, Paul Overstreet, Leslie Satcher and me.

Music enthusiasts need to understand that copyright protection isn’t some us-against-them system. Yes, we singers and composers do benefit from it. If we couldn’t make a living from our artistic creations, we would have to be in some other line of work and our professional accomplishments would not be available, legally or illegally.

And the young people who are just starting to create music in their rec rooms and garages also need the protection of copyright if they are to become our next generation of professionals. It is not us against them. It’s us and them against stealing.

It is also us and them for our country because the copyright issue is a growing international problem. Creativity is the No. 1 export of the United States. We can only keep it that way by teaching our future generations to respect and abide by the copyright laws. They do not expect Chevy to design a new truck and then give it away free. Revlon doesn’t come up with a new shade of lipstick and then invite girls to shoplift the product from the drugstore.

My fellow songwriters and I enjoy writing the music and lyrics that people like to listen to. The words of the copyright laws are music to our ears, too, as they should be for young people starting a new career in the creative arts. America is creative. Let’s keep it that way.

Allen is a singer and songwriter who lives in Tennessee.