Digital Recording Of Music example essay topic

This is a revised version of MP 3. The original Sucked ass so I took some liberties with it so as not to get an F. This one should be much better... Mp 3: A Boundary or a Bridge? One of the newest, most exciting and innovative ways to get music these days is not in the mall and not at a huge mega-sized electronic store, it's not even by a mail order CD club. It's the computer. It sits conveniently on a desk and now allows access to every imaginable genre of music, twenty-four hours a day, rain or shine, snow or sleet, in the comfort of your own home.

Technology is changing the way we listen to music. Now downloading a Mp 3 from the Internet is a lot easier than going to the store and buying an overpriced CD. A near CD quality digital recording of music, Mp 3's are digital computer files compressed to make them readily available over the Internet. It seems the high prices, new technology, and availability are causing most music lovers to turn to this new form of music media to combat their expensive addiction to compact discs. It has become so simple to search out and download music that more and more people are finding it favorable to just copy their music to a recordable CD (CD-R). That would mean people could, from their own home, create illegal copies of the copyrighted material at or near industrial compact disc quality.

Further adding to consumer accessibility, manufacturers now produce portable MP 3 players, so now the need to buy CD-R's is eliminated and you can just download it to the player and store the music digitally. Being so convenient, accessible, and relatively safe, Mp 3 is bound to explode in more ways than it already has. What most people don't realize is that the reproduction of a musical work, distribution of copies of a musical piece, and the public performance of the work without the copyright owner's consent are all violations of copyright laws. However, they do know that getting caught is very unlikely. Catching people who violate copyright laws is difficult unless they are participating in the large digital distribution of the music.

We must ask if it is the web site promoting the pirated music or if it is the specific user who downloads it? Robinson 2 The reason I bring this up is because this could be the biggest thing to happen to music since the record. With Mp 3's come probably thousands of artists that no longer have to wait for an agent, scout or label to pick them up. Through the Internet they will be able run their own label and no longer need the support of a big record company to distribute their music. Thousands if not millions of artists on the net, (including my own band Nowhere Fast @ web) are already doing this. Some even have clubs online where you pay a fee to get in much like a cover at a bar and you get to hear the music of all the bands that are playing at that club that night.

Understandably, this scares major record companies and has them all worried that in a few years they will be looking for new jobs. What would a world void of record companies be like? Artists would be their own promoters and distributors. This would have good and bad effects on the economy. First, retailers would probably either be forced out of business or coerced to succumb to the new craze, selling Mp 3 software and recordable compact disc media.

Second, Record companies, not being able to sell the highly marked up CD's, would be forced to become resourceful to survive. Finding way's to control the unique new market would be essential for their endurance. Third, the consumer, with this newfound power to bypass the middleman, would hold the power to dictate the market, compelling the industry to adapt to its newly evolved consumer. People would no longer have to be deprived of music because of availability or cost. It would create a myriad of options for people to indulge their intellect. A better relationship between artist and fan would also evolve.

Fans could visit web pages, learning and communicating with their favorite artist. In turn, the artists would also increase profits by cutting out almost all of the middlemen. Technology and music will have peaceful and profitable relationship with out the pressures of a label in the very near future. As technology further allows for faster download times and increased sound quality Mp 3 will become a force to be reckoned with. Already the mainstream has accepted the new form as well as embraced it, creating very big problems for major label big shots.

When artists begin to take advantage of Mp 3 as much as the consumer has, that is when we will witness the downfall and uprise of many a musically economic power. Some will evolve, some will be forced to evolve and others will simply vanish. It remains in the hands of the ever-ruling yet vigilant consumer. You decide for yourself.