Music: The digital renaissance
...n users. Most of these users make use of peer-to-peer file-sharing programs to build music collections for their own enjoyment, however some produce CDs and sell them illegally. This has become a major concern for the major record labels, and they have good reason to be (Statistics released by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry show that China is currently topping the world chart for pirated music sales. The figures show that 90% of all music sales in China last year were fakes. Worldwide, the sale of pirated CD copies rose over 300 million on the year before to 950 million, and the pirate industry raked in over US$4 billion. Closely following China in the piracy stakes are Indonesia, Russia and Mexico). Leading the most dominant anti-piracy campaigns, the RIAA claims that the victims of piracy are not merely the artists and record labels, but the consumers as well. A recent article posted on the official RIAA website (www.riaa.com) makes apparent the believed social costs of free music on the internet: “The rush to make all content available online to all consumers has real world consequences not only to consumer and electronic companies, artists and large content companies, but more importantly to small businesses that provide jobs to people in my community, and piracy affects the ability of these small business owners to exist … In addition, I believe that my colleagues and I must also be concerned about the long-term social effects of teaching our children that everything in life — if it happens to come online — is free. How can a parent be expected to teach a child the dignity of labor and the value of “an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay” if the child or family members go online and steal other people’s hard work? The RIAA reports on its website that the music industry loses $4.2 billion a year to piracy, and also states that 35% of people surveyed (who download over 20 songs a month) report buying less music as a result. Along with anti-piracy campaigns, the RIAA has taken several software companies including Napster to court under copyright infringement laws. The company eventually shut down after repeated attempts to create a fully legit peer-to-peer internet music service. The downfall of Napster only fueled the creation for other variations of peer-to-peer file sharing programs, bringing up an interesting point: The economics of the internet seem to work against not only the business models that treat music as intellectual property, but also the legal structure of intellectual property itself. The question is not whether the RIAA will be able to close down every peer-to-peer software company, but rather whether or not our current legal system of copyrights will hold. The innovative technology of the internet will always move in favor of the masses (the consumers), and attempting to thwart these technologically driven changes seems a bit unrealistic. In these sorts of situations it would be better to put more effort into adapting rather than fighting. From the perspective of the average consumer, the concept of being able to receive free music is irresistible. Why go out and buy a $16 non-refundable CD, which has 15 tracks, 14 of which you’ve never heard before, and probably wont care about for the simple fact that you purchased the CD for a few if not one of the songs!? A good place for the RIAA to start would be in re-evaluating the prices of their CDs. It is a well-known fact that major record labels often suck all of the profits from their artists, leaving them almost no commission for their works, making the RIAA a somewhat untrustworthy source of guidance for what to do when it comes to music. Even some of the statistics released from the RIAA are questionable, not because they are false, but simply because of just how much information is left out. They mention how 35% of the people who use peer-to-peer software which they surveyed claimed to buy less music. What about the other 65%? When they claim that record sales suffer due to online file sharing, it is interesting to note that even though Napster was around, in 1999 and 2000, music sales went up 11% and 8% respectively. Now it seems like the file-sharers aren’t really the enemy of the industry, it is simply destroying itself. The industry claims to support music and its artists, however many people (mostly the artists themselves!) have many reasons to believe that they are only supporting themselves. These sort of major changes in the industry have happened before, and each time, they have been met with opposition fro...