Free Internet Music Trade example essay topic

Treble in the Music Industry Close to four months ago, when I heard the word 'Napster' I thought it was a new phrase for telling people they had nappy hair. I had no idea what it was, but yet I heard everyone around me talking about it, so I surfed on the internet and decided to check it out. I went ahead and downloaded it the program, not knowing four months from now Napster would have a tremendous influence and impact in the music industry, changing the way we view music forever. First of all, what is Napster? Napster is a program created by Shawn Fanning, an 18 year old 'inarticulate' teenager, who was frustrated trying to find good music on the internet, and how so many of the pointers on the websites offering current music seem to only led to dead ends. it is a program enabling users to "transfer music files directly without going through a centralized file server or middle man". (Greenfield 1), Napster is program that freed a vast library of copyrighted music, turning the music industry on its head.

For obvious reasons, recording artists as well as record companies are in opposition to napster, which are the loss in profit and sales and piracy issues that deal with copyright regulation and code. As Greenfield states", Napster has forced the record companies to rethink their business models and record company law ers and recording artists to defend their intellectual property". Changing the way the record companies have been operating their business for centuries by an 18 year old 'inarticulate' teenager is not an easy pill to swallow the record companies take much offense to this partially because Napster is the fastest growing site in history, passing the 25 million mark in less than a year of operation. (Greenfield) and potentially taking away 25 million consumers from their business. Napster sends a disruptive message of change to the music industry, kicking out the old and bringing in the new and because of this the profitable orderly business of recording, promoting and selling music will never be the same again. Basically the music industry will become obsolete, thus losing jobs in the music industry, but according to TIME magazine", record sales have gone up and there is virtually no indication that record sales are at a loss". (pg. 56) due to Napster, and free internet trade.

Free internet music trade actually promotes new artists and recording artists by allowing the user to download music free of charge, and listen to their music allowing the user to make the decision whether or not to purchase the album. As quoted from Micheal Gren z, an 18 year old teenager at creek high school, he states: It's free and it's their music and the kids are listening to it. I heard this one song and I thought it was pretty tight, so I went and bought the CD. That's money for them. (recording industry) I don't know why they " re trip pin'". RIAA (The recording industry association of America) has sued Napster, claiming the website and Fanning's program are facilitating the theft of intellectual property. (Greenfield 1) So does that mean the record companies are going to file a suit against every American who lends a friend a CD or cassette tape to copy?

According to the copyright law, lending a friend copyrighted music to make a copy of their own is not prohibited, as long as there is no profitable cause involved, and that's what Napster is. Napster is a program where a millions of friends who have a common interest in music, come together in the 'Napster" community to lend music to each other. There is no profit involved with the transfer of music files, nor profits are made once the file has been downloaded by the user. As Fanning states: "It builds community, it breaks barriers, it is viral, it is scale able and it dis intermediates... exactly what a web application is supposed to do.".