The Impact of the Internet on the Production, Distribution, and Consumption of Popular Music

In our society today, there is a growing number of consumers using the Internet as a main source for music. The smaller music companies are having to come up with new and different ways to use the Internet to increase their sales. The music companies can drive there sales because so many people are previewing songs online by downloading it first. The artists are also able to capitalize on their music via the Internet. The Internet is capable of reaching all types of people all over the world. The music industry has been made

In may of nineteen ninety nine, Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker had had enough of paying for music. So, like any entrepreneur of the late nineties, they took to the internet, and founded Napster. A free website that used file-sharing technology to allow people to get their favorite songs by sharing files over the internet. The website was so successful, record companies began to take notice of their dwindling sales. By December of the same year, Napster was sued by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and basically anyone else who produced music for copyright infringement. Although the site got shut down, Fanning and Parker started what would become the music industry's streaming revolution. Music has become more and more vital over time because of the technology we use. Learning more about music can be beneficial to people all over the world. Today we will discuss the ways in which we consume music in the twenty-first century, how it has evolved, and what it means for the music industry going forward. I am going to discuss the way we listen to music because I have done Research about this topic and this is something I am passionate about. First, I will talk about the different technology that was so big decades ago. Then, I will talk about the different ways we consume music today and what that mean for the future. The changes in music development had in incredible impact on the music industry.

Social media is a technology that is utilized by almost every in not only America, but all over the world. It has changed the way we lead our lives, the way we communicate, and the way information is distributed. Additionally, this technology has had a prominent influence on individuals’ opinions and how they perceive the world around them. The presence and accessibility of social media has revolutionized many industries, and the music industry is no exception. Social media is reshaping the way we consume and interact with music has changed over the years as social media technologies have evolved. Furthermore, social media has gone on to changing the way music is produced and publicized. Music lovers are not the only ones to avidly depend on social media, but the dependence is present from the sides of music creators, producers, and marketers as well.

Napster, a free online file sharing network, allowed peers to share digital files directly with each other by way of connections through its software and system. The no cost peer-to-peer sharing gained popularity, particularly with trendy music. A&M Records took notice of the free digital music downloads and brought suit against Napster for direct, contributory, and vicarious copyright infringements (Washington University School of Law, 2013).

In the magazine article, “How The Web Changed Music Forever”, Veronica Majerol describes how over the years, music and the way it is dispersed has changed alongside the evolution of technology. Long before the internet existed, “If a band was lucky enough to get a record deal, it gained access to a label's vast resources and connections.” which then allowed their music to be broadcasted on radios around the world, played in jukeboxes, and made into records. The mid-1990’s changed all of this when people began discovering the internet; new opportunities surfaced with this development. Disaster occurred for the record industry once the vast majority began using the internet to illegally download copyrighted music; listeners no longer needed to

Starting in the year 1999, a company called Napster opened up a whole new world to the Internet where every song ever made was instantly available to you on your computer for free. It was created by an 18-year-old Northeastern University student named Shawn Fanning. Napster transformed personal computers into servers that shared mp3 files all across the Internet (Mayer, 2008). It became popular very quickly because exchanging mp3 files freely and having any music desired right at your fingertips had never been possible before. However, this program that provided the privilege of having free instant music to download did not last long, it was shut down after just two years by

The article “Stealing Music: Is It Wrong Or Isn’t It?”, by Michael Arrington, presents the difference in the term “stealing music” as applied to the older decades and nowadays, in the 2000’s. It also presents the situations where sharing music is a good thing, and where it is not. Finally, it explains the abandonment of copyright infringement, due to the increasing lack of record labels. The article begins by discussing what the term “stealing music” really means. The article also explains the websites, such as MySpace Music, where streaming music can be done without any trouble. Furthermore, it discusses that in the country of China, you can listen to music free from Google websites.

Christopher Jones’ article “Metallica Rips Napster” is in an early summary of the 2000, Metallica v. Napster, Inc., California lawsuit. The lawsuit included the peer-to-peer file sharing website, Napster, and University of Southern California, Indiana University, and Yale University. Most people don’t even think about file sharing, in this day and age it is generally an everyday behavior. It is very simple for a document or file to be shared between friends or even strangers over the internet. However, in April of the year 2000 the heavy metal band Metallica and the peer-to-peer audio file sharing website Napster were in the center of a lawsuit that would change how online file sharing works forever.

“Back when I was a teenager, we would have to buy an entire album just to have one song,” Brittni’s father explained, to her utter disbelief. Brittni shook her head, thinking of the thousands of songs in her iTunes library, and she wondered how people could afford to buy dozens of albums just for a handful of favorite singles. Buying music over the internet may seem commonplace today, but in the 1990’s, audio on the internet was merely experimental. In 2000, computer programmer Shawn Fanning introduced an internet site called Napster that irrevocably changed the internet, the music industry, and the complex relationship between the two.

No one can deny that technology is actively changing the music industry. Production, distribution and sales of music have been affected dramatically within the last 10 years along with artists, composers, and technicians. Most of the changes have been great for consumers, but vastly negative for professionals in the music industry, however a few artists have found ways to adapt to the changing atmosphere of digitally downloaded music and use it to their advantage. We’ve seen music change form from physical, tangible products like records and CD’s to electronic single tracks stored in an invisible cloud. Two major factors in this sudden revolution are online music stores (specifically iTunes) and file sharing websites that allow music to be downloaded illegally.

Napster, a free online file sharing network, allowed peers to share digital files directly with each other by way of connections through its software and system. The no cost peer-to-peer sharing gained popularity, particularly with trendy music. A&M Records took notice of the free digital music downloads and brought suit against Napster for direct, contributory, and vicarious copyright infringements (Washington University School of Law, 2013).

The music industry has experienced a difficult period for the past decade. since the initial decline of Napster both record labels and artists have seen their revenues dwindling. As the music industry has progressed vinyls were swapped for CD’s and more recently on demand audio streaming. Since its introduction, digital audio streaming has been regarded as the demise of the audio industry by some artists and promoters, however, it is also perceived as the future of the industry as it has shown promising growth over its relatively short existence. This is due to various positive and negative factors that are entwined in the system, This factors being primarily overall revenue and profitability of the method, as much as convenience for both consumers, promoters and artist. In order to understand such debate, one must first assess the actual definition of music streaming, furthermore, identifying its effects towards the music industry and what could be regarded as its life blood: Artist income and average revenue.

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.

Throughout the computer industry there has been many advances. It all started out with downloadable computer games, after that there was free game sites, and to complete the advancement of peoples understanding the internet came downloadable music. The millions of dollars in legal fees was a waste of money for the recording industry. Napster’s court trial went on for a long period of time, and lawyers and fines were just ridiculous. Free recording is a great instatement in society; this is the reason why lots of people stay on computers. Within a small period of only 15 months, other networks just stepped into Napster's place. In this paper, there will be several ideas that will discuss that downloading

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.