Illegal downloading of music and its effects on the industry - Research Paper Example

Illegal downloading of music and its effects on the industry Introduction Throughout the 20th century, music has taken several great leaps and this is reflected in the 21st century as well. These changes are credited to advances in technology, which not only aids production but also aids distribution of such music. In the presence of advanced technology, music has changed into something that is easier to listen to, find, and eventually purchase. One of the technological advancement promoting the ease of obtaining music is the internet and its use. Each day, the number of internet users is increasing rapidly. In addition, one of the main uses of the internet is downloading music. This is because it is perceived as fast way of obtaining new music. However, most internet users who download music for free are aware or not aware of the implications of their actions. Another way of obtaining new music in the current age is file sharing. File sharing involves getting music from friends free of charge. Both illegal downloading and file sharing costs the music stores, music executives and the musicians a great deal of money as it involves theft. Today, the number of internet users who take the opportunity to get free music through downloading online is overwhelming. As a result, about 95% of the music downloads are illegal. In this paper, the discussion agrees that illegal downloading of music online has devastating effects on the industry and should be prohibited. The music production comprises of the musician, music executives and music industry. The people most involved in illegal downloading of music are young people who include high school and college students who fear not being prosecuted. Through downloading music from online, these people deny the record companies and artists their deserved pay. Most of the sites used by the young people to download free and unlimited music are run by people with intentions of getting rich while exploiting the creativity of our beloved musicians. As a result, the musical market place has been changed for the worse through the widely prevailing music theft. For instance, the UK music market has been worse hit and is putting measures to deal with this problem. The most common effect is some musicians going underground owing to reduced incentives and labels establish and fund new projects (Jahankhani, Watson, Me 522).. Despite being a lucrative business, on average, Verderber, Verderber and Sellnow highlight that musicians earn peanuts annually with no additional benefits. This irony emerges from the fact that some other people infringe or steal and distribute copyrighted music illegally thereby decreasing the music sales. In their argument, music companies state that free and unlimited downloading of music has led to the violation of their rights. These industries suffer lose not only in terms of money but also in effort and time. Apart from individuals, record stores also contribute to the menace of promoting illegal music download. The record stores benefit through selling ad space on their walls and gain profits. Such profits play a significant role of paying musicians for their work thereby reducing incurred expenses. Additional arguments by the music companies reveal that burnt CDs containing favorite songs by the consumers cost a great deal of money since each CD would only contain (a) particular song(s) (Essaylib para3). For the musicians, recording contracts include obtaining advances and loyalties from recording companies. Advances are provided to musicians prior to the recording releasing. In the case of the recording earning sufficient money, the recording company recovers its money for the advance paid out. Conversely, little music sales mean the recording company has to call off the loss. In order to avoid loses, recording companies are forced to offer lower advances to musicians and fire some of their employees to cut down costs like in BMG and Sony music. In terms of loyalties, artists are paid for each song sang. This implies that, illegal downloading of music or stealing means that the record company or the artists achieve no compensation. Most artists take up music as a profession and depend on its generated income for a living and so is the case for sound engineers and others. Through illegal music downloads, no compensation goes to the artists for their creative work. In addition, the availability of free unlimited music erodes the musician’s power of pricing. For legitimate online businesses that sell music, music theft reduces the businesses’ pricing power resulting to cutting costs through reduction of artist compensation to generate profits (Verderber, Verderber and Sellnow 283-284). Filesharing services are also a contributing factor to illegal music downloads. According to BPI research and information, the proliferation on unauthorized downloading of music free of charge increased with the launch of Napster file sharing service in 1999. Numerous studies have revealed that there is a very strong link between lose of sales and illegal music downloading. In file sharing, the strongest negative relationship arises from illegal P2P file sharing and music sales. Music sharing is contributed by the little or no willingness to pay for music by majority of internet users and music lovers. In most cases, the programs used in illegal download of music are legal by nature. However, when a file sharer illegally downloads music for free, artists and music companies come up with propositions to have such websites unlicensed for such purposes (BPI research and information 1-2). Though peer-to-peer technology, music files are shared by direct exchange with other systems. Prior to the launching of Napster, file sharing was limited to files exchange on the file transfer protocol. The launch of Napster overcame the speed limitation of traditional file sharing resulting and introduced internet connections (BPI research and information 3). Since then, companies have introduced file sharing programs that can outdo Napster in their performance. In order to curb the negative impacts on the artist and music company, a code of conduct amongst file sharing websites is essential to restrict the kind of files that should be transferred freely. In order to deal with illegal downloading of music and other unauthorized files, universities and other learning institutions have adapted policies that prevent students from participating in illegal music download and distribution. McMillan from the University of New York reveals the stand of the university as not permitting any illegal downloads or use of university computers to distribute illegal music. McMillan further reveals that the primary target by the music industry is not on illegal music downloading but on illegal music distribution. The efforts of the university to curb illegal music downloading and distribution involves blocking the network connection for any student whose network address is listed in a received copyright complaint. Such students could also have their account privileges suspended. This move is prompted by the fact that most illegal music downloading is confined among students in colleges and campuses. In colleges and campuses, numerous students have the allure of why they should pay for something when they can freely obtain it. In addition, students do not understand why they should not share downloaded music with their friends. In learning institutions, taking a person’s work without attribution is a grave act and this should be extended to created work of art. Like New York University, learning institutions are a good way of eradicating infringement and piracy on music files. Sharing among university and college students extends to other peers at home and workplace. This means that grave harm is caused to musicians and music lover have to consider losing their access to good music in future. Standards such as those in New York University are essential to avoid the risk of silencing inspirational musicians (McMillan para2-3 & 7). Illegal downloading of music not only affects companies that work hard to distribute media files to the public. When people download music illegally, the distributed media files have few or no buyers. No one purchases these music files from the stores given that they can obtain it freely from online. Each day, numerous people are breaking the law by illegally downloading copyrighted files. In addition, most of these persons have no regard for their actions while on the other hand musicians and music industry are failing miserably (Verderber, Verderber and Sellnow 283). Conclusion The discussion in this paper has explored numerous reason why downloading music illegally has devastating effect and should be banned. Copyrighted material is intellectual property. In this case, illegal downloading of music is infringement of such copyright laws. As the illegal music down loaders enjoy free music of their choice, the artists, music distributors, graphics and others have their compensation reduced. For most musicians, music is a profession and reduction in income from music will see them lose their profession and seek for alternative employment. This indicates that musicians will be forced to seek for alternative means of earning at the expense of music. In the end, most musicians who inspire us will be drawn out of the industry and music lovers will miss inspirations from such musicians. Works cited BPI research and information. The impact of illegal downloading on music purchasing. 2009. Web. Essaylib. Example essay on illegal downloading. 2012. Web. Jahankhani, Hamid, Watson David L and Me Gianluigi. Handbook of electronic security and digital forensics. Singapore: World Scientific. 2010. Print. McMillan, Marilyn. A note on illegal downloading. 2007. Web. Verderber, Rudolph F. Verderber, Katheleen S. and Sellnow, Deanne D. The challenge of effective speaking. Stamford, Connecticut: Cengage Learning. 2007. Print. Read More