Cited: MSNBC
Music piracy is still one of the most difficult digital crimes to detect and to stop. Industry analysts say that legitimate downloads of music are growing but not at a pace that many expect and also at a pace that probably signals that illegal music downloads are more than likely growing at a much higher rate. A report published earlier this week by one industry watchdog revealed that income from music downloads increased by 8% in 2011 to just over $5 billion. However, overall sales of music are still on the decline in the wake of the digital takeover of the music business, much of it due to illegal music downloads.
Pirated music saps revenue from legal music businesses, who are already working in an extremely difficult market and under the most challenging conditions given everyone’s access to what many people think is “free” music. Today, there are over 500 legitimate music businesses where you can buy music online. They are said to offer their customers over 20 million tracks of different tunes from artists ranging from Belgian Monk chants to Thelonious Monk and the Monkeys. These businesses are making some headway and can hang their hats on some major accomplishments. For example, the music service Spotifyis booming in Northern European countries while on the continent its number of subscribers has grown by more than 11%.
The music industry is counting on cooperation from various sources, official, and from biggest names in the tech industry, such as Google, who have agreed to a copyright alert system that sends warnings out to its users that are suspected of pirating-away music illegally. The music industry was a big proponent of the recently shot-down legislation in the U.S. to stop online piracy, known as SOPA. A spokesman for the music industry expressed deep disappointment with the shelving of the legislation and for the technology industry taking such an overemotional stance against it.
Legislative action or warnings from the ISP’s can’t bring back the music market overall, which has lost over 50% of the market in the last decade. At this point, those involved are just trying to hold onto what they can and to try to get everyone on an even playing field going forward. The problem however isn’t always about the tilt of the field as much as getting everyone on the field in the first place.
My take:
It will be harder and harder to get a handle on this problem because the technology will always move faster than the rules and regulations trying to stay ahead of the problem. At some point the paradigm in the arts will have to change drastically so that those that provide us with so much enjoyment and education through their music and other art forms will be properly compensated so that they can afford to continue.