The underground music scene also provides an alternative way of acquiring music. After adopting these methods, even the most materialistic beast would become satisfied. Like most aspects of our lives, the music industry relies greatly on the Internet and may even depend on it in some instances. Barriers were broken when Napster was developed. From this program, music lovers everywhere are able to download their favorite songs for free and store them on their personal computers.
Many artists believe that people who are downloading their music are stealing from them and they are striving to stop it. On the other hand, many artists and music lovers are happy with the new technology of music downloading. I believe that there is a way to reach a happy medium in-between these two groups to solve this problem. With a few website modifications, along with some minor changes in the music world, we will be able to leave this problem behind us. Thanks to today’s technologies, music can be compacted into MP3s and sent all across the Internet.
IT growth has let us; the computer users explore the infinite possibilities of the "Computer Age". Napster's instant popularity is due to its ability to spread musical files free of charge, reducing the need for CDs, it provides new artists with a huge audience, which is all greatly opposed by every major record company. Napster's proposition is simple: users download its free software, which indexes MP3 music files on the user's hard drive and makes them visible to other Napster users when connected to the Internet. From there, all it takes is a simple title or artist search to find other users from whom to download MP3 files. Users typically may find the latest hits through the free network, allowing them to download and listen to the music without paying.
They have started a movement to maintain their security by developing the SDMI or the Secure Digital Music Initiative (Machrone). This “initiative” is the record companies attempt to control the development of MP3s. Several experts say that it is too late “The Geenie has left the bottle and is not coming back.”(Machrone). This may be due to the several different ways to come across MP3s. advocates of direct distribution say the industry fears that if artists can simply send their music directly to the customer, then labels, distribution, and retailers will become obsolete.
People that use Napster think that downloading music is a way of sharing. People get things for free by sharing all the time. Kathryn Balint says, ?Ever since the advent of tape recorders, copy machines, and VCRs, people have been doing it, and sharing their copies with others? (A-1). The users of Napster say there are many reasons to use Napster.
It also brings about the questions of how "free" the internet should be. Where do we even begin to regulate this giant beast called the World Wide Web? The way this technology works is it allows internet users to share and download MP3 files directly from any computer connected to the Napster network. The software is used by downloading a client program from the Napster site and then connecting to the network through this software, which allows sharing (uploading and downloading) of MP3 files between all users connected to the network. While Napster does not condone copyright infringement, there is no opportunity in the software to stop this, or for royalties to be paid to artists whose songs are being duplicated for free.
Of course, like anything, there are drawbacks; however, I believe that technology has only added to the tools that musicians have. Yes, this adds to the number of ways they can misuse these tools, but it also brings new and interesting opportunities into existence. My main reason for being in defense of high tech is the fact that technology has allowed musicians to call attention to and promote their music in ways that a physical record could never do. Technology has given musicians the capability to reach a wider audience from all around the world. Not only that, but it has also made purchasing any type of music especially easy for consumers, being both quick and affordable.
Others have used its powers to make political statements, such as songs that protest war and government action. No matter what someone’s age or background might be, it is a safe assumption that just about everyone enjoys some genre of music. And it is even more pleasurable when it is free. Music piracy can be defined simply as the illegal sharing of music. Piracy is made possible by host websites which create a ground for internet users to upload and download music files to one another without having to pay.
Once the software is installed on the user's hard drive (which is an extremely simple procedure), the user can locate songs stored on the computers of other Napster users by title and artist. Once a specific song is located, the user double-clicks the title and the song starts to download to his/her hard drive in MP3 (MPEG audio layer 3) format, a fairly efficient audio file form which compresses original CD data by 12 times without any discernible loss in sound quality, as long as the file is played in a mp3 player. There are no expenses involved. It is important to notice... ... middle of paper ... ...new technologies. The record companies could do many things like: lowering the price of their CDs, sell music over the Internet using the Napster model, give access to musicians that today have not even the remote possibility of accessing markets, etc.
Television is also a very effective way for artist to get their albums sold. Not only do people get to listen to the music, but they also get to see a video of the musicians. People are known to have short attention spans, so sometimes people don’t listen to a whole song on the radio, but if there is visualization too it is more likely they will concentrate on the video. If a person concentrates on the song they are more likely to actually enjoy the song. Music videos are more effective for this reason than just hearing a song on the radio.