So, here we go, ladies and gents. I chose to discuss how the music industry has been affected by the internet—specifically, file-sharing of mp3s for free versus for money. The RIAA is staunchly against this, though they’re slowly and reluctantly adapting. Many different artists have shared their views on file sharing as well. Some support it, others are against it, and others still are ambivalent about the issue as a whole.
Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, for example, believes that music should not be free—he works very hard on his music and feels that he and other musicians deserve compensation for creating it—however, he also believes that there’s no way yet to deal with the massive change that is still occurring but to offer his songs for free, at least initially. When he released The Slip by Nine Inch Nails, he offered it to his fans for free, stating, “Thank you for your continued and loyal support over the years — this one’s on me.”
Trent has also praised the advent of mp3 technology. He has said quite often now that it’s changed the way he listens to music when he’s on tour, because instead of grabbing a handful of CDs or cassette tapes and just listening to that small selection of music (he’s a huge music and technology geek), he’s able to load music onto his iPod and listen to that. Obviously, this is a huge improvement—after all, who wants to lug around a few pounds of CDs when they can put virtually their entire music library onto a little device that doesn’t weigh much more than a few ounces?
Tori Amos has spoken about file sharing as well. She generally seems okay with it, but likens it to someone taking a case of wine from a winemaker instead of buying it because they like it. For her, it seems to be more of a moral issue than a financial one.
Radiohead has used the internet to their advantage. In 2007, they released their album In Rainbows. Before they released the physical CD copy of it to the general public, the mp3s were offered online to their fans, who were allowed to put in any price they wanted for it. In the end, they sold three million copies.
Overall, the internet has radically changed the landscape of music. Without it, I wouldn’t have discovered some of the music that I enjoy now, such as this song, which has led me to download the album in its entirety, and put it on my wish list to buy when I have the money.
I’ve done this a lot—back in early 2002, when I first discovered Tori Amos, I downloaded all of her albums, making the promise to myself to buy them if I liked them. Nearly ten years later, I own every one of them—legally, and on CD. I’ve done this with Green Day albums, Bif Naked albums, Nine Inch Nails albums, Marilyn Manson albums, and so on.
So, to sum up, the advent of the internet has been, and will continue to be, a boon for the music industry. “File sharing” has been around in some form or another since the invention of cassette tapes (mix tapes, anyone?), and the RIAA has protested every single change in format, screaming and wailing that it is going to destroy the industry. The fact that you can now simply download and upload a number of songs instead of copying them to tape and physically handing them to someone or receiving them has nothing to do with it—people will continue to share music for many years to come.
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