Digital Technology on the Media Industry

The digital age has brought innumerable benefits to society throughout the past decade. Many new markets have been created, and routes for innovation have opened, but not all industries have flourished as a result of this era. Music piracy, which is the illegal act of obtaining or distributing sound recordings without the owner’s permission, is theorized to be the ultimate downfall of the music industry. CD sales have plummeted and caused the music moguls to panic, but their worriedness might be narrow sighted. Through speculative research, it can be surmised that the act of piracy can positively influence a musician’s career, allow for new opportunities and niches in the market, and have little side effects to anyone else in the business.

According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), 30 billion songs were illegally downloaded between 2004 and 2009. Even with sites like iTunes and Rhapsody offering legal downloads, peer-to-peer file sharing still exists. Illegally downloading music has had a significant impact on the music industry resulting in a loss of profits and jobs, and changing how music is delivered to the masses. (Adkins, n.d.) Showing that even having the ethically correct option P2P sharing of illegal media is still thriving. The RIAA reports that music sales in the United States have dropped

After the period elapses, any person can use, print, publish, and distribute the original work. The music industry has been in dispute for many years in respect to music piracy. It went after software and website developers, as well as consumers in the courts (Easley, 2005, p.163). As a result, this may be why governing the expansion of the music industry towards later benefits for the industry; however, not toward those who pirate from them (Easley, 2005, p.163). There is clear evidence of a willingness to pay for online music in general through legal download services such as iTunes (Easley, 2005, p.163). It is clear that some new markets are emerging; for example, services such as 4G LTE combine music with other services. These markets may provide both better margins and better copyright protection to the music industry. Nevertheless, some forms of music piracy may ultimately come to be seen as an effective marketing channel for those services (Easley, 2005, p.163). Clearly the industry is adapting piracy issues.

For many years illegal file sharing and music swapping has been going on. Two very popular cases are the MGM Studios, Inc. v. Grokster case and the A&M Records, Inc. v. Napster case. Both cases differ in many ways however they also have similarities. A lot of music and other sorts of entertainment are being distributed for free all over the internet. What some people do not think of are the consequences that will be faced if they get caught. Not only is the distributor at risk for getting caught but those of us that download the software illegally can be charged.

In the article “Internet Piracy Harms Artists”, Phil Gardson explains how internet piracy such as online music sharing and other forms of copyrighting music hurts hardworking singers and songwriters. He also asserts that it is imperative that Congress should in act a law against these types of crimes to help protect artists.

When thinking about music downloading and streaming we must not only consider legal mediums (which only exist because the practice was illegal after Napster’s failure) such as iTunes and Spotify, we must consider the overwhelming presence of illegitimate or illegal streams and downloading mediums such as FrostWire or YouTube2MP3. The music industry revenue streams have been changed, molded, and affected by the music downloading and streaming world in many ways. The music industry makes money through three ways: album/single sales, royalties, and concert revenues. All three of those streams have been effected in various ways some negative and some positive. Musician, and record label founder, Isaac Hanson said it perfectly; “I think downloading is both saving and killing the music industry at the same time”. His quote is confirmed by the data as well as my This partially confirms my theory that the music downloading has completely destroyed the music

Digital piracy on music has been a majorly disputed affair for the last eighteen years, about whether or not it favors the musical artists or affects them in a negative fashion. One of the many sides of the Digital piracy controversy expounds that it benefits the artist(s) by giving them a great deal of exposure that they may not have received had they not downloaded it for free, which in turn makes for a very significant acquisition in terms of sales on their part.

Due to the increasing popularity of online file sharing, record labels lose money whether they protect their music or not. The book 2000s Music, written by author David Larkins and musician Greg Wilson, states., after Napster was sued, illegal file sharing grew even more popular as opposed to less (Larkins 1). The popularity of free digital music harms musicians for obvious reasons, a loss of revenue. Since the internet cannot control illegal downloads, the pay musicians receive is negatively affected. J.J. Arias, a Georgian University Professor of Economics stated in his academic journal, the enforcement of copyright laws in the digital realm proves to be a costly venture (Arias 124). Illegal file sharing networks are mostly ignored since it often costs more to find and remove file sharing than it is to ignore it. Because of this,

Although the action of retrieving music illegally can be easily accessed as group three states, “majority of the music that is consumed illegally by the individuals...would not have been purchased if illegal websites were not available to them” it provides a weak point because either way people see it music is available to them with purchase and if that is the only option than that process will occur. The society that illegally downloaded music created can be seen in one huge source known as, “Napster” in an article, by Stephen Seigel he states, “ Napster allows its users to "share" songs with other users, completely bypassing the traditional forms of music distribution” (“Nipping at Napster”). Napster allows people to share all types of

The Internet already makes it easy for the computer savvy individuals to copy music illicitly. Widespread file sharing has led content providers and distributors of content to view their customers as growing threats to their survival. Anything we can watch, read, or listen to over our computers can be copied. If Americans are willing to steal intellectual property, and if increased access speeds will enable us to do so almost effortlessly, then a large part of our entertainment-based economy is in peril. Napster showed that people who wouldn’t even consider shoplifting would readily download pirated music. Just as people have less incentive to work if high tax rates appropriate the fruits of their labors, so media companies would have less

The question then became “Just because we can get the music we want without paying for it, should we?” (Tyson, 2000, p.1). This issue of illegal downloads, which is also referred to as piracy, has been a hot topic ever since the introduction of Napster. According to Recording Industry Association of America “In the decade since peer-to-peer (p2p) file-sharing site Napster emerged in 1999, music sales in the U.S. have dropped 47 percent, from $14.6 billion to $7.7 billion” (RIAA, 2014).

We all know that downloading pirated music and films is illegal, but what exactly is it? The term piracy refers to the copying and selling of music, films and other media illegally; in other words you are copying and selling copyrighted media without the permission of the original owner (NiDirect, n.d.). With the massive growth of the internet and its ability to store and capture vast amounts of data, we have become much more reliable on information systems in all aspects of life, but it does not come without the risk of information technology being used unethically. With the number of IT breakthroughs in recent years “the importance of ethics and human values has been underemphasised” often resulting in various consequences. Not surprisingly one of the many public concerns about the ethical use of IT is that “millions of people have downloaded music and movies at no charge and in apparent violation of copyright laws at tremendous expense to the owners of those copyrights” (Reynolds, Ethics in Information Technology, 2015). This essay covers the ethical issues of downloading pirated music and films and the impact it has on music corporations and recording and film companies.

Introduction: Setting the trend for the future, the distribution and consumption of recorded music transformed dramatically with the launching of Apple’s iTunes in 2001. The proliferation of online music subscription services and other music sharing services exerted a great pressure on the conventional music distribution business model. Combined with this transformation, piracy of digital music had a profound impact on the whole industry. These worsening conditions in the market place for recorded music forced both established and upcoming new artists to experiment with new ways of selling their music.

Ever since 18-year-old Shawn Fanning created Napster in his Northeastern University dorm room in 1999, downloading and sharing music online has become one of the most popular things to do on the Internet today. But why wouldn't it? Getting all your favorite songs from all your favorite artists for free, who wouldn't want to start sharing music? The answer to that question are the people who feel that stealing from the music industry is not morally right, because that is exactly what every person who shares music is doing. People who download music think it's something they can get away with but now it might be payback time to a lot of those people.

Companies like Apple, have decided that it is best to get in with the downloading business. However, an end to the illegal downloading conflict remains to be realized. The RIAA and associated artists continue to wage war against illegal downloaders while computer savvy audiences persist in sharing music files online every day. While it is undoubtedly true that downloading music is a crime, it remains to be proven that it is wrong. Without establishing this principle, most downloader's are likely to continue the activity. Even with new, inexpensive and available means of downloading files, they can still be shared for free online. The rift must be repaired between music lovers who feel that they have been taken advantage of in the past and recording companies and artists who worry about their future livelihood.