The RIAA believes that decreasing CD sales are caused directly by illegal downloading. As a result, the RIAA began using controversial methods to attempt to combat the problem – it has been pursuing lawsuits against average citizens who it believes have obtained music through illegal downloading. The RIAA blames these music “pirates” for the losses incurred by the RIAA and its members. However, a look at the facts tells a very different story and indicates that the methods used by the RIAA to combat illegal downloading are not solving their problem
Napster was an online music sharing service started in June of 1999 by Shawn Fanning. It was the first commonly used music sharing system on the Internet. Users of the Napster service said that the music industry had let them down, only publishing a few hit songs per CD and leaving the rest of the album with “filler”. Napster users that had purchased CD’s have made them available to other Napster users through the file sharing service. Then, a Napster user could selectively download specific songs that they liked from artists they enjoyed listening to without having to commit to buying an entire CD. In essence, the Napster users were “sharing” their music.
Everybody Loses With Illegal Downloads And Pirated Copies
Music pirates are the first to lose because the recording industry and law enforcement officials are cracking down around the world. Do the crime and you will pay the fine or do the time. Consumers also lose because the shortcut savings enjoyed by downloding music drive up the costs of legitimate product for everyone Honest retailers (who back up the products they sell) lose because they can’t compete with the prices offered by illegal vendors, or free illegal downloads. Less business means fewer jobs, jobs often filled by young adults. Record companies lose. Eighty-five percent of recordings released don’t even generate enough revenue to cover their costs.
Record companies depend heavily on the profitable fifteen percent of recordings to subsidize the less profitable types of music, to cover the costs of developing new artists, and to keep their businesses operational. The thieves and downloaders often don’t focus on the eighty-five percent; they go straight to the top and steal the gold.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the creative artists lose. Musicians, singers, songwriters and producers don’t get the royalties and fees they’ve earned. Virtually all artists (95%) depend on these fees to make a living. The artists also depend on their reputations, which are damaged by the inferior quality of pirated copies sold to the public (when transferring files from a CD to an MP3 or similar format, quality is lost).
People who download music for free don't buy CD's, since they already got them for free, and as a result they take from the industry, but don't put any money back in, destroying both the music industry and anything that relies on the music industry
However during the 2 1/2 years that Napster was operating, CD sales increased by over $500 million dollars from what they were in 1998. Since 2001, CD sales have continued to decrease steadily
Where other ad-supported, on-demand music services have failed or been driven under by lawsuits, free music thrives on YouTube in part because it can offset licensing costs with lucrative video advertisements — and simply because it’s YouTube, and record labels cannot afford not to be there. Rather than pulling their music from the site, most of the major labels embraced it by creating a joint venture with YouTube (Vevo).
Approaches to new media:
Playstation 3 new application 'Vid Zone' allows users to stream music free of charge
the music industry has attempted to combat the illegal downloading of music, is by making digital downloads available through numerous online services. One of the most successful is Apple, Inc.’s iTunes music store, which to date has sold over 1,000,000,000 songs worldwide at 99 cents per song. DRM restricts a consumer’s ability to play the music he/she purchases through the iTunes music store on anything other than an iPod or iPhone. Apple has indicated its willingness to provide free downloads to its users by charging a premium for the iPod and iPhone when purchased but the music industry currently opposes any business model that would provide such free downloads
Well done wes good statistics and good information. You have included the political side and maybe include the historical side. Maybe include some of the songwriter that have been affected by this. :D
ReplyDeletegood use of descriptions, andin depth analysis
ReplyDeletemaybe more use of terminology? :-)
Good use of statistics also the approaches to new media are very helpful and a good example to use in an exam:)
ReplyDeleteYou have also explained a political view and well known examples.
Maybe include more S.H.E.P - could expand on this.
Also more examples and references of where you got your information from.