Music piracy has been an alarming topic of discussion within the music industry in the last decade. With the Internet being more readily available all over the world, the majority of the music distribution online has been conducted illegally. In the US alone, $12.5 billion is lost annually to music piracy as reported by the RIAA. Today, mega star recording artistes and giant labels oppose music piracy because of the losses they stand to bear. Prior to the existence of the popular mp3 music format, these record labels and artistes enjoyed longevity and outstanding record sales at the cost of the consumer. I remember Eminem, as early as 2001, selling as much as 9 million records for his album “The Marshall Mathers LP”. Back then, digital music had not gained popularity so I was obliged like everyone else to go purchase the entire album even though I only liked about a handful of tracks from it. Fast forward today, consumers have reacted differently to the way music is commercialized. The same Eminem, over the course of the years of the notoriety of the mp3 format and its distribution over the internet, has struggled with mediocre sales with “Recovery” being his most successful album since 2002’s “The Eminem Show”. In my own honest opinion, if I am not able to listen to the entire track of the album, I am not buying it. In today’s world, people who purchase music are the same people who were able to download it for free. Before the release of an anticipated album, what do most people do? They google the title to see if there are any leaked tracks floating the Internet. Once they find the entire album, they listen and rate. If they are hardcore loyal fans, on the release day, they go out and purchase the album. If the album was worth the download, the same individuals, through appreciation for the contents of the album will purchase a legal version once it has been officially released. On the other hand, recording music artistes like Sean Kingston and DubFX have used the Internet and its distribution channels as a means to gain popularity and attain record deals.
I am not condoning illegal distribution of music, but it is what the highly lucrative music industry decades ago did not anticipate. Now, there are means initiated by agencies protecting music and business partners to control the online distribution of music content as mentioned here. Effective models have been categorized under download/subscription and streaming. Examples of the download/subscription services are Nokia's Come With Music, Google's Music Link Service, an TDC's PLAY service. Streaming services such as Myspace Music, Spotify, Lala have helped in promoting artistes and identifying music tastes and generating additional revenue like concert ticket sales.
Even with legislation and policies set in place, I still believe that consumers and even emerging artistes will rely on the internet as sources of retrieving and distributing music; legally or illegally.
