Daniel OʼBrien

Info-Tech Arts
1712QCM
Semester 1 2010

DTP Authoring Project

Daniel O’Brien
s2702866

Word Count: 947

Introduction/Abstract

As digital music is on high demand, musicians are faced with the issue of distributing their music to

their audience. File sharing has become one of the most efficient and successful forms of delivering

music instantly to the consumer, yet controversial as it is free to download and no rightful payments

go towards the artist or the production company. File sharing, also known as 1 P2P, can be used as a

promotional tool for artists, rapidly distributing their music to the broader listener. File sharing has

many benefits for both the artist and the consumer, and many musicians have come forward and

backed this claim. With the downturn of CD sales since music piracy became evident, the recording

industry, as well as the artists and consumers should work together to benefit all those contributing

to the music industry.

File Sharing Benefits for Artists, Consumers and Record Labels

File sharing has been made illegal for its negative effects on the recording companies; however, its

capabilities to provide music instantly to the listener proves beneficial to the overall popularity and

success of the artists. P2P programs also support independent artists promoting themselves. The

capabilities of the internet allows consumers to download music of their choice at their leisure, from

the comfort of the own home, for free. It is obvious that file sharing has become a popular form of

marketing. In 2003, 200 million users worldwide were actively sharing music through P2P

programs (Yolevski, 2004, section 7, para. 2) “Mp3 downloads offer a new way for consumers to

try new music, a typical good experience, in order to make more informed purchases, which could

increase CD sales” (Peitz, 2004, para. 6). File sharing has its benefits for the consumers and the

record companies, and many artists have accepted that file sharing can not be completely stopped

not can it be ignored.

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Musicians Support File Sharing

Musicians have seen the advantages of file sharing and rather then work against it, they embrace it

and try to work alongside it. “File sharing has become another form of promotion for many

artists” (Yolevski, 2004, section 9, para. 5). It is the large record labels that are taking action against

P2P programs, as oppose to the artists themselves, building up tension between the production

companies, the artists, and the consumers. Neil Strauss states in the New York Times: “musicians

have found themselves watching helplessly from the sidelines as the recording industry has begun

suing people who are their fans, their audience, and their consumers” (Strauss, 2003, para. 3). As

the record labels have authority over their artists, they go ahead and sue P2P users, artists are not

asked what there opinion on the matter may be. Growing intolerant of this treatment towards

themselves and there fans, they ask themselves is this fair? “Some musicians say they are beginning

to wonder if the action being taken in their name are a little extreme” (Strauss, 2003, para. 5)

Solution

For the past decade, we have fought against music piracy, only to reveal that the situation is only

getting worse. Musicians have admitted that after their efforts of fighting music piracy with no

satisfactory results, a solution must be offered to please consumers, but still financially support

artists and the recording industry. Much to the record companies dismay, some artists like Moby

from the band ‘System of a Down, have come forward with their views on file sharing, “the record

industry’s efforts are misguided and that, to succeed in the market place, it must work with the new

technology instead of against it” (Yolevski, 2004, section 10, para. 5). Robbie Williams has also

bravely backed file sharing, he states: “I think its a great idea, really I do. There is nothing anyone

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can do about it” (Farrell, 2003, para. 5).

One of the first P2P programs ‘Napstar’, was sued for copyright infringement. However, soon

enough, many imitations of ‘Napstar’ were created throughout the internet such as ‘Audiogalaxy’,

‘Morpheus’, ‘Gnutella’, ‘KaZaA’, ‘Limewire’, and many more. It has been proven over the last

decade that file sharing is something that can not be stopped. Since preventing these programs

entirely seems almost impossible, manipulating them in ways that benefit both consumers, artists

and production companies can be achieved.

Conclusion

In Neil Strauss’ (2003) article, Moby suggests that record companies should treat file sharing users

more like fans instead of criminals:

How can a 14-year-old who has an allowance of $5 a week feel bad about downloading
music produced by multimillionaire musicians and greedy record companies,” he wrote.
“The record companies should approach that 14-year-old boy and say: ‘Hey, it’s great that
you love music. Instead of downloading music for free, why don’t you try this very
inexpensive service that will enable you to listen to a lot of music and also have access to
unreleased tracks and ticket discounts and free merchandise” (para. 7)

Digital technology has changed the way artists sell music, market, and promote themselves. It has

changed the way consumers gain music and have forced record companies to re-think there

strategies of releasing music to the public. It does raise a few complications for those involved;

however, there is a logical solution that satisfies all contributors of the music industry. Musicians

have begun to notice that the record companies efforts to prevent file sharing is doing more harm

then good. They have realised that these P2P users are in fact their fans and the reason they are

successful in the first place. Digital technologies have transformed the music industry in many

ways, and rather then maintain previous approaches of selling and marketing music, adapting new

strategies and tactics as technology capabilities increase is the key to the continued success of the

music industry. 4
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Bibliography

Bhattarcharjee , S., Gopal, R.D., Lertwachara, K., Marsden J.R. & Telang, R. (2007). The Effect of
Digital Sharing Technologies on Music Markets: A survival analysis of albums on ranking
charts. Vol. 53, 1359 - 1374. Retrieved April 20, 2010 from JSTOR database.

Dale, N., Lewis, J., (2009). Computer science illuminated (4th ed.). United States of America: Jones
and Barlett Publishers Canada.

Farrell, N., (2003). Robbie Williams Backs Pirates. Retrieved April 20, 2010, from
http://www.computeractive.co.uk/vnunet/news/2121273/robbie-williams-backs-pirates

Peitz, M., (2004) Cesifo: How Serious is the Threat of Online Piracy? Retrieved April 23, 2010,
from http://www.cesifo.de/cesifo/newsletter/Piracy.htm

Strauss, N., (2003). The New York Times: File-Sharing Battle Leaves Musicians Caught in Middle.
Retrieved 22, 2010, from http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/14/technology/14MUSI.html?
ex=1378872000&en=2832300e467debbe&ei=5007&partner=USERLAND

Strowel, A (Ed.). (2009). Peer-to-Peer File Sharing and Secondary Liability in Copyright Law.
United Kingdom: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited.

Yolevski, K., (2004) Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic: File Sharing Retrieved
April 20, 2010, from
http://www.cippic.ca/index.php?page=file-sharing/#faq_how-widespread