Free Internet Music

Well, not with music for downloading from the Internet affect the sales of music, or not? Two studies designed to answer this question

Before you read on, remember that these studies be done in a real application in a divisive society. The Recording Industry of America filed an action against a company called Napster. Napster distributes free software that will find it easy to compress and downloading music files, commonly known as MP3 files. The association argues that its members lose sales because people are downloading music and not buy.

Napster is not alone on his side of the problem. There is another association. This is the Digital Media Association. They provide all types of companies such as Napster, address and digital media.

In fact, there are many people from all sorts of political and socio-economic situation of both sides in this issue.

There are people who try things online, without, through Napster. They do things always talks E-mail and newsgroups, as well as the use of other music-sharing technologies. ). If Napster goes into a black hole somewhere, there are several alternative technologies and equipment ready to take their place. And two of them, at least, Gnutella and Freenet, there is no central entity to continue.

Artists from both sides of this thing. The band Metallica (one of my favorites) and rapper Dr. Dre (had) not a favorite of both charges against Napster. Other artists, including David Bowie, Chuck D and others who see the network as a way to go directly to their fans. L'artiste anciennement connu sous le nom de l'artiste anciennement connu comme le prince couper un récent accord avec les gens de dossier qui lui donna le contrôle de ses enregistrements originaux afin que la distribution est possible en ligne directement. So the majors are fighting at least some of the artists who create content for them.

And there are sites that are on the case for anti-Napster forces from all sorts of reasons. Some do it because they believe that the free sharing of music over the net is theft, and they are against theft. Another viewpoint was shared Fix in The New York Times by a man named Michael. Stehpanie Michael's wife, is a singer and songwriter. "We wish it was a fair system for artists to put their work online. This is not so much about compensation for us, but it's about permission. It should belong to the artist.

But back to these associations and their studies.

The Recording Industry Association says that sales of music CDs in stores near schools with broadband Internet connections to both oppose the current national trends and decreased since 1997. They see this as evidence that broadband connections are used to download music on the net, and therefore that the students are not buying CDs and other music media.

Weall Now go to the other side. The Digital Media Association, a study by market research firm, Yankelovich Partners, where 66% of consumers say that listening to a song online, at least, to buy the incentive to place more than one CD or cassette with the song.

The first lesson is the former that it is "lies, damned lies and statistics.% Or in this case, one might say," surveys.% Each of these groups to the proof "that the statistic is a valid book. The question is, if the evidence is stronger? Digital Media, the investigation seems to address the problem directly, while the music industry uses the end.

But it seems that the music industry is a case here. Let's start with the examination of the Yankelovich survey. As Yankelovich is a well-known companies, this survey is to clearly make a comment. First, there is an investigation. It is not considered to any actual behavior, but he asks the people what they were doing and why. Therefore, it is very easy to formulate your questions so that answers that you might like.

To see how it works, we'll turn some of their conclusions to. From what they told us two thirds of consumers say they have not been asked once, a CD or cassette with a song they downloaded from the net to buy. And the other two thirds? Well, they had only "invited fessa at once. It does not seem like much to me and it seems that the issue is reloaded seriously.

Remember that it is twenty-three million visits to sites to download music each month. This number increased to about 20% per month. This means that many people simply do not see nothing wrong with downloading music and listening to him and have not even tried to buy into the music they heard. The Digital Music Association says, "music over the Internet is creating new markets. Also% of its own analysis seems to be nothing else to say. This survey shows us that one third of people who flock? Music, in other words, the electricity from the grid , said it makes it more likely to buy CDs in stores, but 61% said they had no effect at all on their buying habits.

What is the Recording Industry Survey? Start Now, that this is not a poll. Instead, it is a look at some statistics. Consider us.

Data are from a company called Sound Scan. Its performance in detail the activities of the store. Here is what they found.

Increases between the first quarter of 1997 and first quarter of 2000, CD sales to the general public by almost 20%. If we look at the shops within a mile of a college campus, we see that the sales were not much more, but have not diminished. It is when we reach the Top Forty wired colleges (as chosen by a publication on the Internet) that we find something interesting. At these schools, shops were within one mile of CD sales by almost 13%.

Why look wired high schools? Since standard dial-up connections to the Internet and other slower roads often have an effective barrier against downloading. It is simply too long to download a song. But when you experience a connection that fast as a wired colleges to provide free or a nominal fee to their students, then it is quite simple.

I think the music industry has a pretty good thing. But in the interest of good relations, I told myself that I went out and speak to a real person on the street, or in this case in the net. I spoke with a young man I know who has access to a broadband connection, and too much is a music lover.

I asked him if he were downloading music on the net. He said: "Sure.% Then he looked at me like I was being stupid, such a question must face.

I persisted. "Have you ever downloaded a song and then decide to buy a CD with the song on it because you love him?" He gave me a look that only youth can give people my age. " Why would I do that? Ä He said: "I can play whenever I want without having to buy, and I can burn a CD to take with me in the car.%

I mention this because I believe that human nature is that which is here at work. The boy does not see the downloading of music over the net like stealing something. The Recording Industry of America, because it is their job to call on them to see things differently. I took her approach. I told him of musicians who stole their work. I do that again.

"Okay," said the young man: "Get rid of this logical. You know, as do these clowns? You're in the concert than I do in my life. What will they miss a lousy fifteen - dollar CD? Ä

I digress for a moment to address the economic aspects of this address. Record companies make money (is) about $ 14 billion per year now because it has a lock on the distribution channel, which broadcasts music from the CD, for the record stores to detail. This helps to maintain high profits, tends to things more difficult for record companies over small, but if you create vulnerable distribution systems. Billboard Magazine tells us that classical CD $ 17 makes about $ 9.50 to the cost of sales and margins. Record companies earn about 60 per CD. What the artists varies according to the contract.

Artists also money for the residues and dissemination. In other words, they are paying a little every time their music played on the radio, or in some commercial enterprises is to be used.

I have not found a place where the network was the young man to buy music. It was as if he heard music from a band he had not heard, and really loved. Then he went out and get a CD. It would take a lot of things at once.

It is an essential point is that here I think it was worth testing. A dynamic that is not involved in the process that many young people think that people who make music are ridiculously overpaid from the start. At some level, they make the decision whether they need the thirteen dollars more than the record labels and artists, or because they have already stolen, there is nothing more difficult to steal a little behind. Is it fair or ethical? You decide.

Whatever your decision, we must find a solution to this thing. The genius of the free distribution of music on the net is already out of the bottle. Children (and adults, but) mostly children, are used to every song they want for free will not slip or soft music to buy, as the majors want to download yours.

The "solutions" seem to be a few groups.

It is the America of the 21st Century, "Sue them into the Ground" solution. Record companies like these. Lawyers, as it still more. You can see battalions of them spend their time checking without the intellectual property right cases, once their CV. Ah, this is a part of the solution obtained with lawyers, and probably much richer than the artists.

This is offset by the "guerrilla" solution. It is people like Eric Corey and his merry band of pranksters, 2600: The Hacker Quarterly. You will tell the people how the encryption, which people use music to break to protect their property.

It is the "we can still Supplements This Thing" solution. For example, see Sony. It has about fifty songs from his extensive catalog available for digital download. The price per song is $ 2.49, slightly higher than on a CD. Does it make sense to you? Eliminate pay the costs for the distribution of just over a dollar a song, and then more?

Then there is the voice of reason. They are usually much less pronounced than in others. Here are some suggestions. Here are some things you might consider whether to include some of their proposals.

We could allow the proliferation of online music as a combination of subscription and pay-per-song. The young man I interviewed said he would be willing to forego a pirate's life, if he can unlimited downloads at a reasonable price for a monthly subscription to obtain.

What makes sense? He said about twenty dollars per month. He also offered the suggestion that the drawing by category could be done, that people who liked to say, metal and classical would pay twenty dollars for the first subscription and ten others.

And what is appropriate to pay for a single song? He never admitted it thought that was the one, but his spur of the moment, the reaction is only one quarter would be correct. Note that figure is about one tenth of what Sony plans.

Another proposal that has found its way into my mailbox has been developing a similar system to the antenna. In this, the artist will receive a small amount each time someone downloaded their work.

You can expect that the music industry to follow the business news in a few points. Pay attention to the physical product to have things (special clips, videos, interviews) that the product line does not. At the same time, online deals is much larger than on the hard disk. Archive, a searchable archive is a big part of it.

Mix it with some other experiments, such as artists (such as Todd Rundgren) folks Register for subscriptions that allow them to receive music from artists as they developed and before it for sale on CD. There are also many smaller groups, examining the possibilities of the network can be a way for them to make enough to live without ever with record companies too.

Whatever happens at this point, the distribution of music to be very different in ten years of what we have to be accustomed. But then, why the music industry be any different?