Music Recording Industry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Music Recording Industry - Essay Example Music file sharing on the Internet via websites and networks such as the notorious Napster has become an extremely controversial topic in recent years. Since May 1999, when Napster began introducing millions of Internet users to the pleasures of trading music via a peer-to-peer network, music file-sharing has become ubiquitous online. 42% of the respondents in a June 2001 study of online behavior among American Internet users conducted by Jupiter Media Metrix indicated that they had downloaded music from the Internet. Jupiter Media Metrix is a company that helps other companies develop, extend and integrate business strategies across online and emerging channels. Backed by proprietary data, Jupiter Research's industry-specific analysis, competitive insight and strategic advice give businesses the tools they need to exploit new technologies and business processes. With the rise of Internet use amongst the growing population around the world it has been easier then ever for individuals of all ages to download their favorite songs from the Internet. ... The recording industry views Napster-style file-sharing unambiguously as stealing and have tried to enforce its view by filing lawsuits against Napster and other similar online services. Napster itself has been effectively put out of business by legal action since July 2001, and a number of other lawsuits against most of the other major file-sharing services are currently pending. Among listeners, however, there is little agreement on whether or not file-sharing is the equivalent of theft, with many contending that they are actually led to purchase more music in physical form such as CDs because of their music downloading. Although the research taken in part by the record industry is very appealing, there are others who believe that the era of music file swapping across the Internet did not cause the acclaimed 5% drop in sales in recorded music. According to a research done in part by a company called Ipsos-Reid concluded that there exist a direct relation between downloading music from the Internet and the purchasing of recoding music. Those who download more music from the Internet are more likely to go out and buy recorded music from the stores. Another study conducted by Jupiter Media Metrix concluded similar results, as did the research done by Ipsos-Reid. The report which was released in May of 2002 surveyed 3,319 people contradicts the claims make by the record industry that file sharing and CD burning have been key contributors to the drop in record sales for the fiscal year of 2001. The report concluded that a considerable amount of people who download music frequently over the Internet are actually spending more on music than they did before they started downloading files. Only about 14% of heavy file traders have reported that they now spend less