The music industry, the use of copyright laws and modern technology.

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“We have the opportunity to create a personal jukebox in the house and car.”  “This is the takeoff point for the music business” (“A Little Net Music”, 34).  These statements by AOL Chief Executive Stephen M. Case reflect the latest trend in the music industry for the distribution of recorded music.  Advances in technology now allow individuals to record their own digital copies of music, with its high fidelity, from numerous Internet web sites.  In 1999 approximately 100,000 music downloads were officially recorded, by 2004 these downloads are projected to reach over 1.2 billion.  The music industry is big business and its actions influence the nation’s Gross National Product (GNP). “Universal Music Group had revenues of $3.75 billion in 1999” (“Turning Traitor”, 32). “But that’s a fraction of the $40 billion that the recorded music industry racks up in sales” (“A Little Bit of Net Music”, 34).  The cost of doing business in the music industry is very high and the music companies are trying to figure out new ways to get their products to consumers and for them to buy them.  This trend in music (switching to Internet based systems) can influence the economy by changing the traditional methods of retail sales and increasing the company’s sales and profit and by exploring new methods of distributing its products to consumers.

The music industry maintains its control over the music it distributes by the use of copyright laws.  These laws allow the originator (or owner) of the music (also books, pictures and movies) to control its release and reproduction.  People and companies that want to reproduce or use the music must pay a fee to the owner of the music.  When the most common way to own a copy of a particular piece of music was a vinyl record, the music industry was not overtly concerned about unlawful duplication of its products. Improvements in technology have changed the format of the music that available at retail outlets (digital recordings, Compact Disks) and how some consumers acquire copies of that music.

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Personal computers now have the processors, sound cards, software, and memory to record, play, and faithfully reproduce a particular piece of music infinitely. One of these new advances in software is file-sharing programs.  These programs allow a person to go to an Internet web site and by using the program download digital copies of the music.  These copies are as clean as the original recording and are in effect free to the consumer. One such company that provides the software and downloading service is Napster. Napster provides a web site that allows users to gain access to music files from ...

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