Music Influences the ecomony
"We have the opportunity to create a personal jukebox in the house and car." "This is the takeoff point for the music business" ("A Little Net Music", 34). These statements by AOL Chief Executive Stephen M. Case reflect the latest trend in the music industry for the distribution of recorded music. Advances in technology now allow individuals to record their own digital copies of music, with its high fidelity, from numerous Internet web sites. In 1999 approximately 100,000 music downloads were officially recorded, by 2004 these downloads are projected to reach over 1.2 billion. The music industry is big business and its actions influence the nation's Gross National Product (GNP). "Universal Music Group had revenues of $3.75 billion in 1999" ("Turning Traitor", 32). "But that's a fraction of the $40 billion that the recorded music industry racks up in sales" ("A Little Bit of Net Music", 34). The cost of doing business in the music industry is very high and the music companies are trying to figure out new ways to get their products to consumers and for them to buy them. This trend in music (switching to Internet based systems) can influence the economy by changing the traditional methods of retail sales and increasing the com
"The music industry through the its association - Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) sued Napster for $100 million in damages" ("Napster is rocking the music industry", 41). The RIAA claims that Napster is illegally allowing individuals to copy copyrighted materials. With the average retail cost of a new release CD $17, the RIAA is claiming its members have lost millions in profits. The losses are not isolated to record companies, "a typical $17 CD shows that distribution, shipping, and store markup account for more than $9.50 of the retail price" ("Why Napster is Good News", 76). Berman, Denis K. "Why Napster Is Good News". Business Week. 1 Aug 2000:76. Lyons, Daniel. "Turning Traitor". Forbes. 24 Jan 2000: 131-132 Personal computers now have the processors, sound cards, software, and memory to record, play, and faithfully reproduce a particular piece of music infinitely. One of these new advances in software is file-sharing programs. These programs allow a person to go to an Internet web site and by using the program download digital copies of the music. These copies are as clean as the original recording and are in effect free to the consumer. One such company that provides the software and downloading service is Napster. Napster provides a web site that allows users to gain access to music files from other users by downloading them for their own personal use on their computer. These figures begin to show the effect of the music industry on the GNP as a whole. When one CD is not sold, many sectors of the economy show negative effects. At the wholesale level, the artists that write and record the music, companies that manufacture the CDs, containers and labels, trucking companies that move the CDs to music stores all lose money. At the retail level the owners of the music stores and finally their employees all lose some money when a music is distributed outside the normal distribution method (as well as the owners and employees of used CD stores). These losses do not include the lost tax revenues that the Federal, State and local governments do not receive as a result of these downloads, thereby reducing the amount of money available for public projects. "The cost to send a song directly over the Net is $1 and dropping rapidly... If labels claimed just half of that $9.50 themselves, they
Some common words found in the essay are:
Net Music, GNP CD, Getting Paid, Companies Lands, Napster Napster, America RIAA, Compact Disks, Peer Peer, Executive Stephen, Sam Goody's, music industry, music companies, business week, net music, retail outlets, web site, record companies, copies music, music industry 41, particular piece, internet based, digital copies music, rocking music industry, net music 34, industry music companies,
Approximate Word count = 1577
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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