MUSIC PIRACY

Ever since music became digitized, "a guy I know" has looked for ways to get it for free. He spent all of his money growing up on CD’s and I guess it is just his way of getting reimbursed. If you name a P2P file sharing client, he’s probably used it. When Napster was released, he thought it was the best thing in the world. Of the billion plus files shared by Feb 2001 (Whelan, A 2012), he’s probably responsible for more than most. But when Napster shut down, he had to look elsewhere to satisfy his file sharing needs. And so began the seemingly endless list of virus infested P2P software downloads; a well-known risk of file sharing. After a while he just gave up; that is until he discovered torrents.

Torrents are different from previous ways of downloading music in that the files are taken and downloaded from many (sometimes thousands) of different sources (WiseGeek N.D). This is the main reason why torrent download clients have yet to meet the fate of Napster and why it’s impossible to track the origin of any one file in order to prosecute an individual for illegally sharing music.

There has been a lot of debate surrounding the effect of digital piracy on the music industry so I have included some recent figures to help you make up your own mind.

• 30 billion songs were downloaded between 2004 and 2009
• Annually, US internet users consume $7-$20 billion worth of digitally pirated music
• It is estimated that 1.2 million jobs in Europe will be lost by 2015 across the film, music, software and TV industries

http://www.webpagefx.com/blog/internet/online-digital-piracy-infographic/

Thanks for reading. Please enjoy this vid.

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References

WiseGeek N.D ‘What are Torrents?’ accessed: 24/04/2012, http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-torrents.htm  

Whelan, A 2012, Convergent Media Pratices, lecture, BCM112, University of Wollongong, delivered 23 April

Video sourced from: http://www.videosurf.com/video/south-park-not-a-big-deal-10791435


Image sourced from: http://media.photobucket.com/image/music%20pirate/eliteskater08/Music_Pirate9jhDetail.png?o=17