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iPods & MP3 Players
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Music Revolution: Downloading MP3's
by my-tech-guide.com
For years, Internet downloading has been forecast
as the future of music distribution, but until now it seemed
like a far-off reality. That's because it took about two hours
to download a three-minute song of CD quality.
A
music revolution disguised as a digital-encoding format,
MP3 allows for downloads in five minutes or less. This will
affect the way all of us buy, carry and listen to our favorite
tunes.
In the near future, experts say, we'll download songs from
the Internet onto a disc, card or chip that fits into our car
or home stereo. A few years later, we won't even keep our favorite
music on hand, since our home and mobile entertainment systems
will be able to access any popular song or album ever recorded
at the touch of a button.
Every day more than 250,000 visit MP3.com, the format's first
and largest dedicated site, where they download from among
40,000 songs by more than 9,000 artists. There's no charge
for the downloads, and it's also free for bands to upload.
For
artists who find getting signed by a major record label
more difficult than threading a needle with a garden hose,
MP3 is a godsend. The World Wide Web offers struggling musicians
an avenue to millions of potential fans they could never have
previously reached.
Most record companies, understandably, are less than thrilled
with the free-downloading paradigm. Acting through their lobbying
group, Washington, D.C.-based Recording Industry of America,
their first reaction was to stamp out MP3 sites distributing
music without permission. Last year the RIAA sued five, settling
the cases out of court.
Violating copyright is punishable by up to five years in prison
and $250,000 in fines. Repeat offenders can be imprisoned for
up to 10 years. If that's not enough, the copyright owner can
sue for damages and lost profits.
Established artists don't tend to see MP3 abuse as such a
two-headed monster, however at least not yet.
Kids have been bootlegging CDs and getting stuff for free
from the radio for years and it hasn't cut into anyone's profits.
What it's about is the labels trying to control the slavery
level. They're worried because they still want to give (artists)
that loan money to make a record so they'll own them forever.
You
won't find the songs on MP3.com anymore, however, because
the artists' record companies ordered them yanked. Petty's
label, Warner Bros., reportedly cited a company rule forbidding
artists from placing more than 30 seconds of a song on-line.
Warner
Bros. did not respond to requests to comment on MP3, nor
did the other major labels that were contacted for this
article. ''I
think record companies are starting to embrace the
Web for its potential upside, instead of avoiding it
for its potential
damage,'' says Richard Conlon of BMI, a performance-rights
organization representing half the music broadcast on American
radio. Conlon says there will still be a place for record companies
in the cyber-future.
''I
think you're always going to have a need to sort through
the clutter, a need for strong promotion,'' he says, explaining
that hits will always have to be promoted to radio stations.
However, that function in addition to publicity and artist-development
can be handled by free-lance contractors. Whatever the fate
of record companies, it will probably be better than that of
music retailers. If you're a record-store manager now, don't
expect to be one in 10 years.
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SolveYourProblem.com : 2007
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