Music And The Internet

Music and the Internet
Beethoven said “There ought to be but one large art warehouse in the world, to which the artist could carry his art-works, and from which he could carry away whatever he needed. As it is, one must be half a tradesman”. Nowadays that warehouse has become the internet. Everything started with mp3 file sharing, Napster, the invention of the iPod, and the emergence of manyindependent artists who see it as a nuisance to CDs (because it is what is considered "professional”), who now have far more control over the dissemination of his music and gives more advantage to sell their songs at different prices. Today's digital world is nothing more than clusters of binary code and music is no exception. It led to a bitter battle between the internet and the music industry,that at the end produced a more symbiotic relationship for the benefit of the user and the business.
The problem started with these simple questions. Is piracy a criminal offense that occurs only when downloading and copying of songs is made for profit? Or downloading music for personal, non-profit is also a crime? That is, can be considered "online piracy" the act of listening, download and sharesongs online lyrics without permission and without compensation to the artists? “End-user piracy can be more difficult to detect than commercial piracy since goods never physically exchange consumers' hands (Bender & Wang, 2009). But the point is that, beyond the ideological issues, the real background of this discussion does not refer to the legal issue but concerns directly the functioning ofthe recording industry and its consequences in terms of the cost music products. The main problem behind this issue is not the means of distribution or the legal system to protect the rights but the very structure of the music industry. It must adapt to a new interactive media, collaborative and a new profile of consumers who want to avoid the high costs, and all this will help reduce the amountof piracy in this industry.
The music industry has always adapted to the technology and the trend this bring. Internet just brought a new different way to play the game. “The coming revolution won’t kill the music industry, they say. But it will cause publishers to think of new ways to make money, possibly give a new role to fan clubs and music-based communities, and cause a long, hard look athow we view copyright” (Sagan). They have shown it in the past, and they should do it again.
Remember when people only bought music from a store and when CD ruled as the most common music format? Well, before that, it was the tape and vinyl discs; now the new format is MP3. After Napster came into play and brought free music, the “total revenue from U.S. music sales and licensing plunged to $6.3billion in 2009, according to Forrester Research. In 1999, that revenue figure topped $14.6 billion (Goldman). The music industry went into attack mode and blamed Napster for their plummeting record sales. They were not looking at themselves as the ones to be blamed. The industry failed to realize that lower price music reached more people. The consumption of music through unauthorized means hasbeen a very effective method for famous or unknown artist, from known and independent record labels to get their music heard. The more people get to know someone's music, there will be more new fans willing to consume original copyright songs, visit official websites and attend live performances.
Let's face it is impossible to stop the habit of copying and sharing songs. It's a necessity we have hadever since the first recording was made known. Now technology makes it easier than ever. It will be completely fruitless for the musical industry to invest in the financial efforts for anti-piracy campaigns and new safety systems to prevent people from copying and sharing music. Instead of fighting with the piracy, even if they have valid reasons, why not put the feet on the ground and sell...