By Chidera Anyanwu
Upon researching on my topic of music and the web, I stumbled upon an interesting blog entry that focused on how music has changed throughout the years, based mostly on the accessibility of songs online. Downloading music is a major phenomenon in the US today. With millions of people in the United States downloading music each day, less CDs are being sold as the focus turns to mp3 players. Thus, to accommodate the numerous songs on these music players, more software programs are being made. This entry speaks about a software that comes with web-downloaded and purchased songs. This software, called digital rights management, DRM, is attached to downloaded music by major music label companies to limit the use of their music to consumers. It explains that with the amount of people buying music online, the software prohibits users’ ability to share music, and often times, it plainly bans it. The program also limits the hardware and software in which the music may be played. Unknowingly, consumers are buying into these money making schemes through the web. Consumers are spending their money and not receiving the proper benefits of such an expenditure.
In the discussions being held everyday, around the world and in our classroom about the affects the web has on society today a lot of the main points have been about full accessibility and the freedom that comes with it. However, this entry is suggesting the opposite. Could the internet be in fact restricting us instead? Is our obliviousness to these restrictions affecting the way we buy music online? Are we become more careless about the quaity of our music and more focused on the amount we have? In fact, should companies be allowed to restrict our access, as consumers of their product? Do these restrictions not oppose the common view of an all-accessible internet?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/21/AR2006102100105.html
5 Comments
October 1, 2008 at 9:43 pm
The move that these companies are making is what all companies are doing. They are just out there to make money by increasing their revenue through any means possible. However, we can also view these measures as a way to keep revenues up. As more and more music is available online, users tend to share songs with eachother rather than have people buy their own copies via cd or an internet market like iTunes. Instead they use programs like iMesh and Limewire to download free music, which takes a heavy toll on the income of music companies. All in all, the increased restriction on online music seems to be the beginning of a trend where companies will open up new marketplaces to make money regardless of the views of the average user.
October 5, 2008 at 2:46 pm
I agree with Charles. I think that the music companies are definitely using Digital Rights Management as a way of making more money and protecting their artists. Although the rights of the consumer and the producer are often debated on the internet, it is illegal to share purchased music due to copyright infringement policies. With more and more restrictions on sharing music being implemented, the public demand for cheaper and easier ways to access free music will increase. In the future, the public and the government must converge to come to terms with what will and will not be accepted for sharing and downloading music.
October 5, 2008 at 3:27 pm
It is very interesting to hear Childera’s point on whether society is starting to care more about quantity than quality. I made the same argument in my Rethink Essay, when talking about the effect the internet has on our friendships. I also made the argument that our society now cares more about quantity than quality because of social networking sites, such as Facebook and Myspace. We don’t actually strengthen the relationships we have over these sites, rather we weaken them, while at the same time making more and more acquaintances as I like to call them, because if you think about it they really are not friends. Most of the people we are friends with on these sites we talk to maybe once every few months, if that.
It seems to be true with the music issue. We are all downloading illegally (except for me) and just trying to get as much music as we can. Do we actually know half the songs that are on our iPods? More often than not, the answer is no, and that is just proving the point that our society now cares more about quantity than quality.
October 5, 2008 at 3:31 pm
While some part of me says that the internet shouldn’t restrict our access of music online, and it has turned into a limited experience online, the other part of me knows that we have all figured out ways to get around this. From file sharing websites such as 4shared, to limewire, a music downloading site, users have found ways to get all of their music for free if they like. I personally feel bad when sharing music with friends if the artist is not well known, and would have benefited if I had bought their cd, but I dont feel bad not paying for popular music artist’s songs. Other bands such as radiohead have recognized and dealt with this issue but acknowledging that the music the make is for their fans not for the money(kind of). They put their new cd this year online, and users can pay as much as they want to/can. I personally paid $0, but then felt like I was still supporting radiohead when I paid for a ticket to their concert this summer. The world is changing, and the internet has had a big effect on the way that users get and exchange their music.
October 6, 2008 at 2:00 pm
As we have discussed in class, the internet has greatly impacted many aspects of our lives. I do not think that the problem is wether or not the internet is restricting us from listening to the music we want. As others have mentioned above, there are numerous different ways to get around the restrictions that companies create. I do not know whether it is better to rebel against the music company’s restrictions or pay the extra money to download a song. However, the the laws of cyberspace are still being developed and discovered. This problem exemplifies yet another difference between the laws of the real world and the laws of the internet. There is no simple solution, but we must consider the affects that our actions will have on all parties involved.