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The History of Music on the Internet
Secure Digital
Music Initiative
The Future of Music on the Internet
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 The
Future of Music
on the Internet
Introduction
In only the past ten years the developments
in music on the internet have been astounding. We have seen the develpment
of such technologies as napster, MP3 and many more. The internet
has lead to the wide spread desemenation of music, making any type of music
available to anybody in the world. This essential idea is why it
has been so succesful. Everyday the internet is expanding more and
more and this is why the idea of music on the internet will grow
and grow over time. Of late there has been much talk of free music
on the internet - is it fair to the recording artists? This is one
area which will need to be settled before internet music is recognised
as a viable medium.
Music, the Internet and its Future The rapid growth of Internet users all aroiund
the world has brought many issues to light. Among them are the questions
of whether paper based publications such as letters, newspapers, novels
etc. have a viable future and how changes driven by the ease accessibility
of information on the Internet will affect the industries and occupations
that depend on publication and storage of the printed word. However, similar
speculation relating to the music industry and the Internet have been largely
ignored up until recently. The Internet seems poised to revolutionise many
aspects of the music industry including: the publishing of music, artist
royalties for use of copywrited material and the sale of recorded music.
Theories Related to Future of the Industry There are currently three arguments 1. The industry will be unchanged because of the MP3's less-than-CD-quality sound and its large disk space requirements. In other words, the MP3 technology will be shelved along with other music technologies such as the 8-track. 2. The industry will eliminate traditional record labels by eliminating the need to manufacture and distribute the physical product of CDs. 3. Argument 3: MP3 will simply whet music lovers' appetites for the benefits of a technology that can deliver songs online. Because the majority of music buyers are not willing to sift through thousands of obscure bands, web sites, etc. they are not going to be willing to completely shift to Internet music technology. Internet music technology will have a place in the market, but will not completely dominate it. Let us talk for a moment about 2 above. As we look to future of music, the most obvious change we can expect is the dismantling of traditional physical music retail operations i.e the music shop. This is not to say that retail sales of music will be obliterated, but to say that retail sales will possibly reemerge in a different form i.e. through the Internet . The Internet is accesible nearly anywhere in the world where music buyers want to purchase music. Another change is the demise of the manufacturing
and distribution infrastructure that currently supports traditional music
retail stores. Currently, the Big Five record distributors control
the physical movement of CDs. 80% of the resources of these five
organizations are devoted to the manufacture of physical CDs and moving
them from one place to another. As the Big Five sees 80% of their
operations disappear, they will be forced to focus on the remaining 20%
which is comprised of developing the careers of recording artists and promoting
those careers through radio and TV promotion, tour support, etc.
However, as the digital revolution continues to evolve, these functions
will become even more important. As more consumers have more access to
the Internet, aspiring recording artists will need experienced guidance,
financing and promotional resources in order to create quality music that
will reach audiences more mature and more sophisticated about music.
Record companies will have more distribution opportunities, giving them
more ways to expose and distribute their artists' product to the consumers
with more precise methods for targeting the ideal customer for their music.
More revenue opportunities mean more abundantly available, affordable music.
This will be good not just for established artists who will continue to
see more money spent to promote their work but for new artists hoping someone
will invest in their work. In order to be noticed above all the noise;
this marketing expertise will be in high demand.
The Future of Internet Music Distribution Music distribution using MP3 compression through the Internet has become an important happening and a major concern of the recording industry. MP3 is just one of many forms of compression that is available for audio. At this time it happens to be wildly popular and is likely to remain so. The popularity MP3 is driving changes in the music industry that will bring a leveling of income to composers and performers, increase in their share of gross revenues, and drastically increase the number of composers and performers that are accessible to the music purchasing public. After MP3 as finished remodeling the recording industry, the recording industry will consist of a three players: 1. Remnants of the current recording
industry.
First there will be the remnants of the current recording industry. This area will contain the fewest artists and will operate much like today's recording industry operates. The major difference will be that the ease of creating and distributing unauthorized recordings will limit how successful any artist can be. The more successful the artist the higher the percentage of unauthorized recordings being passed around. Efforts to create a copy proof format will fail because at some point in getting the audio from the CD to the speaker the audio has to be converted into an analog signal that can drive the speaker. This analog signal is in the computer in digital form before it is sent to the audio card and can easily be recaptured and converted into any format without loss of quality. In the worst case the line output can be patched into the line input and still have minimal loss of quality. The loss of quality would be nothing compared to copying cassette tapes. And after the first digital copy is made then all subsequent copies will have the same quality as the first. Next will be Internet companies that handle CDs recorded by full-time professional musicians. They will have downloadable (reduced audio quality) selections from the CD available at their sites. The consumer will listen to the download to determine if they want to order the high quality CD. MP3.com is slowly sliding toward this model. Finally will be Internet companies handling individual audio files from anybody who has a yearning to create music. These files will be of the highest quality that the individual artist can produce since the file is the product that is being sold as opposed to being a step on the way to selling a CD. These files will be distributed as shareware. Artist earnings will come from shareware payments and more importantly from having their music included in custom CDs where the consumer will pick which audio selections to put on the CD that they order. MP3Shareware.com is a new Internet company intent on capturing this market. The leveling of income will occur because at the high end the limiting factor of unauthorized recordings will reduce how financially successful any artist can be. The middle and base layers will provide exposure that was impossible in the pre-Internet recording industry thereby increasing the possibility of financial success for more musicians. In the new recording industry, artists will retain more control of their copyrighted products and receive a larger percentage of the profits. Both MP3.com and MP3Shareware.com offer a 50% split compared to the small percentages now given by record companies. With the Internet, anybody can put their music online quickly and easily. Mediation sites such as MP3.com and MP3Shareware.com offer several important advantages over private sites such as handling credit card transactions, a high hit rate, and the capability of aggregating many artists to produce custom CDs. Most private sites will simply provide a link to their music on the mediation site of their choice. Internet audio distribution is providing composers
and performers choices that have never been available before.
The future of MP3 Right now mp3 is changing the way we receive
and listen to music. As internet technology becomes more advanced
people are finding ways to make everything for free. For example,
long distance calls can be made from internet sites, maps can be downloaded
for anywhere in the country, even internet service itself can now be free.
Whether it is for profit or fun, internet savvy computer programers are
finding ways to undermine the 'old economy'. New laws can not be
passed fast enough to stop the internet revolution. Napster is actually
using a recent law called the Digital Millennium Copyright Act as a defense
to the pending lawsuit it faces with the Recording Industry Association
of America. Even if Napster is eventually shut down, there
are other programs available right now that can not be stopped so easily.
Gnutella is a file sharing program that links individual computers together
without a centralized server. Since Gnutella can share any file type,
people are claiming that movies will be distributed in the same way once
broadband internet access becomes available in more areas.
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