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Within the last few years the music industry
has suffered due to advancing technology, specifically the Internet.
Record sales have dramatically decreased as potential consumers
turn to services like Kazaa, Morpheus?, and Napster? to create
their own CD’s free of charge. This new technology has left
executives in confusion as to how to solve the issue of music
piracy. Though lawsuits have been filed and precedents set that
could put an end to free downloading it is hard to implement a
plan to stop the public from, what entertainers call it, “stealing”
music. After researching this topic I hope to
find the detailed effects that the introduction of downloading
agents has had on the music industry. More specifically, I hope
to find statistical data that shows the change in the music industry
over the past few years. I also hope to find out the legal ramifications
of downloading music. I would like to understand more thoroughly
the Napster court decision as well as the legality of companies
like Kazaa. Furthermore, I would like to be able to make an educated
prediction of where the music industry will be in five years.
I would like to be able to also provide some of my own ideas on
the topic and offer some possible solutions that the recording
industry could follow. My intended audience would be on both
sides of the issue. Students, like myself, would be interested
in this topic because they download music and paying to do this
or being forced back to buying compact disks would affect their
budget. It would also be important for them to know the legal
ramifications so they don’t get sued for having downloaded
music like some people already have. I also think that members
of the recording industry, such as artists, and employees of companies
like Virgin Records? and Jive? would be interested in my research
as well as the solutions I propose. Keywords UNC Library catalog: Lexis-Nexis Academic: Web search engine: Google
Section
II Print sources from the UNC
libraries Merriden, Trevor. Irresistible forces : the business legacy of
Napster & the growth of the Non-paper source from the UNC libraries (actually the only one I could find was in the Duke libraries) The Napster litigation and the future of peer to peer file sharing.
½ in, 60 min. Duke Program
“Napster: Catalyst for a New Industry or Just Another Dot-com?”
Ivey Business Journal 66, “Sales Of Recorded Music Decline For The Second Year In
A Row.” Research Alert 20, no. Tedeschi, Bob. “Services for downloading music -- legal
and with making a profit in mind – Dana, Rebecca. “To Fight Music Piracy, Industry Goes to
Schools.” The America's “Music Sales Decline - Again.” The Online Reporter
(January 4, 2003): NA, available from Guerinot, Jim. “Taking Issue: 'The Solution Lies In The
Fact That Free Music Is Not Really
Section IV Title of Web Page: News.com: Tech News First. Title of Web Page: IFPI: representing the recording
industry worldwide Title of Web Page: Recording Industry Association
of America Title of Web Page: Wired News
Section V The
Rise of Internet Downloading And the Fall of the Music Industry Before the introduction of mainstream
Internet people bought their music first through tapes then through
compact disc’s. Just as CD’s replaced cassettes as
technology grew, MP3’s and the Internet began to replace
CD’s. At first this seemed like a great innovation that
would forever help the consumer; however, in reality it would
only be a couple of years before the full ramifications of downloading
music off the Internet were seen. As people downloaded music from
programs like Sean Fanning’s Napster and were able to burn
their own CD’s at home, there was no more need to go to
the stores to purchase music. Thus, record sales began to decrease
and the artists were not being compensated. As sales went down
and profits fell, the music industry began to face issues that
had never been faced before. Napster led the music downloading
and file sharing industry and really became mainstream between
1999 and 2000. Soon any American with a computer and Internet
access could download software like Napster to start downloading
music. According to the IFPI
this kind of piracy is best described as the “the unauthorized
duplication of an original recording for commercial gain without
the consent of the rights owner.” Essentially people were
now able to download music files, or MP3 files, from one another.
As Napster became popular, similar programs were created such
as Kazaa, Morpheus and Limewire. However, Napster, being the first,
soon found itself tied up in litigation and taken to court. While
the ultimate ruling was to close Napster, which it did, the other
downloading agents remained virtually untouched. As CD burners
began to grow in popularity, people were soon able to not only
download music free of charge, but also make actual CD’s
from that music. CD sales began to increase at
a decreasing rate around 1999. It was not until 2000-2003 that
the large effects were seen. The Worldwide sale of music CD’s,
records and cassettes fell for the third year in a row at the
end of 2002. At this time IFPI released the data on worldwide
music sales. In the United States alone there was a 10 percent
decrease in music sales. Market Researcher Nielsen Soundscan reported
that through December 22, 2002, CD sales fell by 9.3 percent.
What is causing this steady decrease in profits and sales? Those
individuals associated with the RIAA
blame music piracy and illegal downloading agents. However, some
of their critics claim, “that record labels are simply not
releasing enough good music.” It is no coincidence that as technology
grew and the Internet could be found in the majority of US homes
music sales declined. From 2000 to 2001, alone, the sale of Full-length
CD’s dropped 6.4 percent and CD singles fell by 49.4 percent.
Through use of peer-to-peer file sharing and the downloading of
MP3 music files online people are able to mix their own CD’s
rather than having to buy several different CD’s. It was
inevitable, perhaps, that this practice would soon be called into
legal question. Music, a song for example, is protected under
copyright law and as people upload it on to the net and others
download it without any compensation to the artist an illegal
activity occurs. However, on the other hand, some say this practice
is not really illegal because people are sharing files from each
other. Without regulation of unauthorized
music downloading on the Internet the end of the music industry
could possibly be in the not-so-far future. If record labels cannot
make enough money from CD sales to cover the costs for recording
fee’s, artist’s signing contracts and overall operating
costs the music industry/business will plummet to the ground.
Fortunately recent actions taken by the RIAA have decreased Internet
downloading within the last few months. According to a market
research group, “the unauthorized distribution of music
over the Internet dropped by nearly a quarter from April to June.”
With the Internet came free music
downloads and out went record sales. Technology literally led
to the beginning of one industry and the possible end of another.
However, through current lawsuits and legislation, the music industry
could witness a revival in its sales. As music piracy has recently
declined due to the enforcement of copyright infringement laws,
hope has grown in the overall recording industry, and perhaps
maybe so will sales. List of Web Sites Title of Web Page: IFPI: representing the recording
industry worldwide Title of Web Page: News.com: Tech News First. Title of web page: Grammy.com |