Free Music Allowed on the Internet?
Technology is a huge part of our lives today. So much of what we do involves the use of the computer. Things that we never thought would be available to us over the computer are now there, so why not be able to download free music from your favorite artists? Artists as well as the record companies need to see the growth of technology as a good thing, and use it to their advantage so they do not miss out on the inevitable benefits.
Many artists and record companies do not think that it is a good thing to have their music available for free because they feel that they will lose a lot of money. The thing that they need to realize is that technology is only going to get better and they need to use it to their advantage. Many of today's artists make money touring and by having their music free could lead to people listening that would not normally listen to their music. This could lead to new listeners who might try it out, leading to more sales in tickets and in CDs. Someone might hear a song and realize that they really like that music and then want to go out and buy the entire CD.
There are already a number of websites that provide the music to download for free. The problem is that record companies do not approve of this and are taking the websites to court, saying that it is copyrighted, and that they do not have the permission to be using it. Napster is an example of what will happen. In Jon Pareles's article, "Envisaging the Industry as the Loser on Napster," he says how Napster had to stop letting users copy recordings that copyright holders did not want shared. The Recording Industry Association of America sued Napster and forced the website to shut down. The thing that they are n...
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The recording industry needs to wake up and realize that technology is changing the way that people want to hear and buy music. Money can still be made and people will still go to the concerts and buy the CDs. The marketing will still go on at the concerts including t-shirts, key chains and posters. This shows that the purchase of CDs is not the only source of income for musicians or the industry. If the artists allow for their music to be available for free to the fans, many more would actually buy the other merchandise to support the artist. Music should not be a competition in the sense that the artist needs to make more money. Unfortunately, many of the artists today are in it for the money and new musicians see how it can be done. Real musicians should want their music to be heard first, not to figure out the quickest way to make a buck.
“I think I’ve been a great citizen” -O.J. Simpson. The O.J. Simpson trial was one of the most followed cases in history; its estimated cost for the trial was about nine million (Blohm 64). On the evening of June 12, 1994, Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman were murdered (Piombini). The trial against O.J. began on January 24, 1995 and ended on October 2, 1995 (Blohm 59). Going into the trial, O.J.’s fate had already been sealed due to the fact that nobody wanted to prosecute him because he was a football legend and an actor (Piombini). In both cases, one can see that racial prejudice may prevent a juror of this trial from voting logically and thoughtfully.
...'t become free." Of all industries that have been revolutionized by modern technology, few have been hit as hard as the music industry. This digital era has unfortunately for music producers, made it easier than ever for consumers to get music access without paying for it. Stealing music, let alone anything in existence, is strictly against the law. Despite the legal offense of the matter, stealing music over the internet betrays the recording artists who create it. Inescapably, stealing music threatens the occupation of the thousands of working people who contributed to producing the music. In all, this sweeping music thievery is detrimental to the entire music community, and to those downloading illegally. There is a great deal of uncertainty about how copyright laws should function in the digital world, but the laws themselves are clear. So please, enjoy the music.
Hip hop was spurred in the late 70’s. The man credited as being the first rapper ever, DJ Afrika Bambataa, was the first to “talk” to his music. His unorthodox style quickly became very popular in the disco and funk clubs. For the lack of a better word,
...election and convenience of P2Ps. Because of consumer’s tendency to download single songs by many varying artists, many may wonder if increased Internet use will eventually exterminate the record album from existence. Personally, I do not foresee the death of CDs and albums as a product. The MP3 format is not quite CD quality, and the singles that are typically downloaded by consumers do not always reflect the talent or best product of a certain performer. Singles are what will make money, but B-sides, the songs that people do not buy the CD for, are also a culmination of an artist’s hard work. B-sides make an album good or bad, and consumers simply do not download B-sides. I fear that buying an entire album will become more rare as these new programs emerge that allow consumers to buy one song at a time, but the album will prevail. Newspapers and Magazines are now available online, but they still appear for retail in stores and by offline subscriptions. Online music purchasing shows no signs of dropping, and the consumers show no sign of listening to less music. The industry just has to take the initiative to make the music more accessible to music listeners at a fairer price.
Hip hop culture has been around since the 1970s. Multiple sources all come down to the South Bronx in New York City, as the origin of hip hop culture. The culture began to take its shape within the African American, Afro-Caribbean, and Latino communities. The father of the start of this culture was a Jamaican-born DJ named Clive Campbell but also known as DJ Kool Herc. He brought forth a new sound system and the Jamaican style of “toasting.” Toasting was when Jamaicans would talk or rap over the music they played. This whole new style soon brought what is now known as DJs, B-Boys, MC’s, and graffiti artists (Kaminski).
Kegan, R., & Laskow Lahey, L. (2009). Immunity to change. How to overcome it and unlock the potential in yourself and your organization. Boston: Harvard Business Press.
Everyday you probably see people talking or jogging by with earphones in, the chances of that person listening to illegally downloaded music is huge. According to the Recording Industry of America reports “63% of U.S. people illegally download music” (RIAA). Also, according to Stop Online Piracy Act (sopa)- they argue that online piracy is a larger problem than most people truly think, one that cost the U.S. economy between $200 and $250 Billion per year, and it responsible for the loss of 750,000 American jobs. Some people understand the economic cost and problems of music piracy, others say it doesn’t matter is these superstars lose a little but of profit. But I think that if they are working hard and trying to provide entertainment for people then we should at least provide them with pay to make sure that they are still able to do what they love to do. According to the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, in 2011 was thought to be promising for record labels, as total albums sales increased by a whole 1.3%, though the industry’s struggle are still continuing for the sales then dropped 4% in 2012. The Pennsylvania Law Review also states that, as much as 95% of music is downloaded illegally yearly, for free. The quality of music being created is greatly affected by music piracy, but people are so interested in the free music people don’t take it into account.
20 days later on April 29th, Apple came up with a potential solution to music pirating on the Internet; the story covering this topic was published on Page C11, Philadelphia Inquirer, The (PA). “Two years after angering the recording industry with its "Rip. Mix. Burn" ad campaign, Apple Computer Inc. has won its cooperation in creating the Internet's least restrictive commercial music service yet. The iTunes Music Store announced by Apple chief executive officer Steve Jobs yesterday draws from all five major labels in offering more than 200,000 songs at 99 cents a download - and includes some big-name artists who previously shunned online distribution” (Page C11, Philadelphia Inquirer, April 29, 2003). I think the creation of Apple’s new “solution” is not really going to get a lot of customers because, say you buy 10 songs for $.99 per download the price comes out to be around the same price of an album with 10 songs on it.
The issue surrounding this problem arose when the Recording Industry Association of America claimed that Napster was basically giving out free music and was not paying the fees to issue “free” music. Napster claimed that all the music was shared among its users and were shared from computer to computer rather than a free website issuing free files for all to download. With the innovation of new technologies today, new problems will always come up due to better ways of getting things done. The same incident happened with the “new and improved” VCR. After fighting some battles, it was made legal for consumers to record from their own home and uses it for personal matters. Again, this situation is similar, but with more strings attached.
Hip-hop culture, once confined to the streets has broken into the commercial realm with force. Hip hop records top the charts week after week, rap videos have taken control of MTV, BET and the BOX, and there are dozens of hip hop magazines on the newsstands. A stroll on any city street in the United States reveals the proliferation of hip-hop styled apparel. The culture itself had much humbler beginnings, however. On the street corners and in the parks, young men and women battled through freestyle rhymes and dance moves. Whatever the time period, and whoever he MC may have been, Rap has incorporated, and included several of the "classical" musical characteristics present in most western music today. These characteristics have influenced the popularity of this genre from coast to coast; as well as, giving the music a chance to penetrate into the homes of a vast array of people (White, Black, Hispanic, Asian, etc.). When one is referring to certain musical characteristics, pitch, dynamics, timbre, rhythm, melody, harmony, key, texture, form, and various others are usually mentioned. It is fascinating to see how many of these characteristics are present in the hip-hop culture, more specifically in rap music.
Before the 1990’s, if people want to listen to music, they just visit a music store and pick up a CD and then put it into a stereo equipment. However, the development of MP3 file format gradually changed the way people listen to music. This format lets everyone download music easily and it can be converted to CD as well. But, there is still a problem: searching MP3 files on the internet is maddening and people seldom can find the music they want. Therefore, the birth of Napster solved this problem, creating a virtual music community in which music fans could use the Web as a “swap meet” for music files. More importantly, Napster is easy to use and it’s free, which expands the range of audience in age. Bandwidth also contributed to Napster’s success. The greater the bandwidth, the faster the file can be transferred. So, Napster really changed the way people listen to music, discover music and interact with music.
Since 1999, the situation around music has been changed drastically. In that year, the novel software “Napster” was released. With this software, people became able to get any file they want easily, sometimes illegally. Some musicians and people in the entertainment industry have tried to exterminate that P2P “Peer to Peer” technology. But it looks as if their efforts are in vain. People are going to use P2P technology more and it might as well become the official way to handle music distribution. The music industry should rather take advantage of the technology than keep trying to exterminate it.
the style of Africanism. Hip hop fashion in this period also influenced high fashion designs.
Today 's rap music reflects its origin in the hip-hop culture of young, urban, working-class African-Americans, its roots in the African oral tradition, its function as the voice of an otherwise underrepresented group, and, as its popularity has grown,
At the turn of the millenium, the music industry has been faced with an unforeseen phenomenon that has affected its very foundation - mass scale music piracy. The decline of CD sales in the past three years have been blamed on the availability of songs that can be downloaded from Internet sites and service providers like Napster, KaZaA and Morpheus free of charge. Today the issue of intellectual copyright infringement in music has been taken more seriously than ever before, as large record labels and companies like Sony and EMI struggle to maintain healthy album sales in the face of online music piracy. In addition, music piracy affects more than just the corporate world - it affects the very artists who create music and receive no compensation for their efforts. In fact ?many high-profile and buzz artists, including Eminem, Oasis and most recently 50 Cent, have seen their upcoming albums undercut by file-sharing online before their scheduled releases, prompting record labels to move up street dates to avoid losing album sales.? (Grossberg) In light of this, are a few positive aspects in the face of such widespread negativity but music file sharing continues to be a controversial topic in the world of music and the arts in general.