Napster's Negative Effects On The Music Industry

As with any new technology, there are many different aspects of the Internet that have only begun to be explored. One particular aspect is the transfer of music over the Internet. Although it is still in its formative stages, the ability to transfer music over the Internet has become incredibly easy, and in some cases, free of charge. The music industry itself has only just begun to attempt to compete with web sites such as Napster. The point of concern, though, is that sites like Napster are hurting the music industry by making free music available virtually to anyone with an Internet connection. “More than 16 million digital music downloads take place daily” (“Mubu Launches,” 2000). As more and more information becomes available on this issue,

Many people in the music industry have complained that people are not buying as much music through retailers anymore because they can get almost anything they want for free, and the technology has created a digital transfer system that provides the same quality on the Internet as a CD. As one writer points out, “With the advent of the CD, the pirate gained access to the equivalent of a master recording which will not degrade no matter how many times he copies it. We now face a new threat – that of CDR’s. With CDR’s the pirate now has the ability to tailor his pirating according to demand – no need to worry about inventory” (Tyrrell, 2000). Despite the use of this new technology, though, it has not been proven for certain that the music industry has suffered a financial loss: “…there are conflicting studies as to whether the unauthorized copying of music is hurting or helping sales” (Gessell, 2000). The numbers actually indicate that the music industry as a whole is not suffering any losses, but evidence does show that “sales of music in record stores rose 12 percent in the first quarter of this year, sales at outlets close to universities – where Napster has been popular – fell by 4 percent” (Parkes,

Record sales not only benefit the record labels, but they also benefit the songwriters. “The obvious problem is that more than 90 percent of the music tracks that are being shared for free through services like Napster are copyright-protected works. Napster, however, makes no provision for collecting royalties for the owners of these copyrights, nor does it provide any other means of compensating artists and record labels” (Toomey, 2000). The president of Time Warner, Richard Parsons, has been vocally opposed to web sites, such as Napster, because he believes that they are encouraging illegal acts like piracy: “‘Digital music is illegal,’ he said. ‘They are ripping off artists and hiding behind third-party neutrality. The music being passed around on the Internet is stolen, and the artists have a right to be paid’” (Katz, 2000). As one writer points out, the “music lovers” who helped create this sort of technology and all those who use it should recognize that what they are doing is in many ways wrong: “The Internet music entrepreneurs who operate with business models that do not compensate musicians should be held accountable for enabling piracy. They should be held accountable not only by the courts that protect intellectual property rights, but by the fans who want access and recognize the need to compensate artists” (Toomey,