It is clear to see that the music industry is in a transition period. Just like the change from Vinyl to Cassette and then from Cassette to CD, the way we listen to music is changing. As a global society we are moving with the times and the music industry is now caught up in our whirlpool of change.
In this current digital age consumers demand a digital format so they can feed their Computers and Ipods with MP3’s and other files. The physical albums in CD and vinyl format are slowly becoming a thing of the past. The music industry needs to find ways to move with this trend to stay afloat..... It needs to work with Piracy.
Piracy can be good.....
Living in this digital age we have the whole world at our fingertips (literally). We are able to hear the latest song online by the click of a button and download it with a click of another. This makes it so easy to hear new songs, artists or even genres that we have never heard before are so easy to hear online. Little known artists and indie bands are benefiting from digital downloads because it gives them a platform to launch their product for a fraction of the price it used to cost. Consumers can listen to new music online and if they like what they hear in most cases will purchase the music because they can sample it first.
Some Bands have already embraced the music download world by releasing albums on their own websites to be downloaded. Radiohead were the first major band to do this with their album In Rainbows. Fans of Radiohead were able to decide how much money they wanted to pay for the album. This “honesty box” type of system proved to be somewhat of a success and paved the way for other bands and artists to do the same.
Small steps like this are steps in the right direction... It’s one small step for artists, one giant leap for the music industry.
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I definitely agree with the idea of smaller bands benefitting from digital format as a way of being heard. I know there are a lot of songs, and some of my now favourite bands, in my iTunes library that I would never even know about if there was no online downloading. The "honesty box" could really go either way depending on the generosity of the person. A lot of selfish people would take advantage of that sort of situation. I personally have pledged a few dollars towards online album releases :)
ReplyDeleteHey Daniel,
ReplyDeletenice blog, i dont really like piracy, i have done in the past before - students have no money, anyway i think that paying for music online is a good way for the smaller bands out there to come out and get a bit of cash for the work they have done. also the only problem with that is there is always a way to get the music for free