Monday February 8th 2010
The Music Business Journal (of the Berklee College of Music) is a student publication that serves as a forum for intellectual discussion and research into the various aspects of the music business. The goal is to inform and educate aspiring music professionals, connect them with the industry, and raise the academic level and interest inside and outside the Berklee Community.
The music business has suffered piracy more than any other media. The past 10 years have been unprecedented with music sales down more than a third in many countries. During this past decade the record industry has also embarrassed itself with desperate attempts to restrict piracy through litigation.
Today, however, more consumer friendly efforts to thwart piracy are gaining considerable strength due to legal alternatives and greater cooperation between the music industry and the ISP's.
Three Examples
The first is Google’s music streaming service. Google has partnered with Rhapsody, Imeem, iLike, and Lala and receives licensing from EMI, Universal, Warner Music, and Sony Music. Google is allowed to highlight music from independent labels through Lala and MySpace’s iLike. Currently this service is only available in the US.
Next is Nokia’s “Come With Music” package, a full subscription service paid ‘invisibly’ with the purchase of many of its phones. With this subscription model the user has access to over four million songs for up to one year after the subscription terminates. This service was started in UK and is presently available in many countries in Europe, South Africa, Singapore, Australia, Brazil, Mexico, and Russia. “Comes with Music” plans launch in the US in 2010.
Last is Spotify, which permits customers to stream tunes for free with limited commercials. The consumer can easily download and install the application to their smart phone and computer for syncing and then begin listening to music instantly. Spotify may become the most successful model for providing a long-term substitute for illegal downloading. It is not just that it is free, but that it streams instantly and authorizes the sharing of songs and song play lists. It is the most socially engineered alternative to piracy, and provides the most enjoyable experience so far.
In the meantime, the music industry and the ISPs continue to work. together. For example, recently, so-called ‘graduated-response laws’ have been enacted in South Korea, Taiwan, Britain and France. This approach works with the cooperation of national recording industry organizations who report copyright infringers to the ISPs. The ISPs can then send warnings to subscribers and penalize them with a slower internet connection and/or a momentary shutdown.