Big name musicians have sued Napster claiming for violation of copyright law, including the likes of Metallica and Dr. Dre. Researchers who Metallica recruited from an external source found that 116,500 copies of their works were downloaded in a three day period, research from Dr. Dre provided similar figures. Where Metallica want individual users banned from Napster, Dre wants to block his music from being exchanged over the site; but the problem that arises is that it is technically not possible to block an artists music from being transferred through MP3 web sites.
The World Intellectual Property Organisation, which is an international body of government representatives who globalise laws, announced new guidelines which came into effect last spring which were intended to crack down on digital piracy. This lead to people fearing conglomerates and copyright holders will possess too much control over digital distribution. The framework for the digital copyright had to be agreed by 30 countries before it could formally take effect, but of these 30 countries many of the worlds biggest economical powers have not ratified the treaty, including the European Union, Japan and China.
Not all musicians and record labels are opposed to file sharing through MP3 web sites. Smaller independent music labels seem unconcerned about the possibility of people downloading their artists’ songs. Indeed, many bands see this as an opportunity to make a break in an industry that is becoming more and more difficult to succeed through talent rather than image.
There are many obvious benefits of downloading music from the Internet to actually purchasing albums from high street stores. The cost is the first that springs to mind, with the downloads being free or if you want to burn a CD-R, they can cost as little as 50p, so the savings made are impressive. Also, due to the lack of cost involved, you can try out new bands that are gaining a reputation in the music scene or whose single you enjoyed but were not sure on whether you were fond enough to buy a whole album. Most record shops only sell 6% of albums available so the wide and varied selection available on the Internet means that even the most obscure selections should be available to download.
The first 7 months of 2002 saw the record industry record a 7% drop in compact disc sales compared to the same period 12 months previously. In 2003, another drop in sales was reported, this time of 14%. Record label bosses instantly blamed the rise in use of file trading software over the Internet as the cause of the slump, however critics claim that the slump has just as much to do with the poor quality of music offered the bland and unoriginal artists that are manufactured by the labels.
Recently, bands releasing their albums or selected songs over the Internet has become an increasing trend. With bands signing up to commercial sites such as Orchard, it gives the opportunity for their music to be able to reach people from all over the world without
the need to tour or even be shackled by a contract with a record label. It is even a way of touting themselves to record labels, as they will be able to see which bands are being frequently downloaded and attempt to sign them.
MP3.com was another web site that was the target of a high profile court case. Five record labels sued the site for copyright infringement. BMG, EMI, Warner and Sony took early settlements believed to be worth around $20 million each, Universal hung on and received $53 million.
Since the outcome of the mp3.com case, more and more web sites are now becoming commercial, with people having to pay a subscription fee to be able to browse for files. These sites have organised deals with the record labels of the artists featured to avoid similar copyright infringements and allegations of piracy.
People were sceptical as to whether the commercial sites would be able to make a profit, but these sites appear to be recording moderate success. Commercial sites were devised to fill the void left by Napster, but new free file trading are constantly appearing and only close down when they become well known and attract the attention of record labels. The difficulty of closing down these sites is what has been blamed for many digital music failures. 80 million people used Napster when it was at its most popular phase, and this is a figure that dwarfs the users of commercial sites. The two major label-backed sites, Musicnet and Pressplay, refuse to release figures, citing the short time their sites have been around, but their silence appears to prove the fact that they cannot even come close to matching Napster’s popularity.
There is a debate about who owns the copyright of the music. The problem is that musicians do not earn a base salary so it is difficult to say whether they are freelancers and retain the copyright or whether they are employees who forfeit all ownership to their employers- the record labels.
It will be difficult to sanction a world-wide law as many countries will have differing views on the digital piracy debate. The legislations that WIPO tried to introduce goes to prove the difficulty of getting all of the worlds major economic powers to agree on terms and conditions. But file trading will never end, it will always be around in some form, whether in a commercial state which is approved by the record labels or in an underground form, offering a free service. The only way these sites will stop trading is when they become as big as Napster, but while they remain underground and unheard by the industry they will be able to continue without any resistance.
Even though laws have been passed which rule that file trading is a breach of copyright, it will not necessarily mean the end of MP3 websites. There are still record labels that like the ability of MP3 to promote their bands around the world. Also it is far more difficult to catch people committing crimes over the internet than in the real world, you only have to look as far as the pornography available over the internet to prove that.
