The Digital Takeover: Online Media Downloads & File Sharing -Maliq Kendricks

Whatisthisallabout? What is this all about?  In the past, music was not bought online but physically in a retail store. Whether it was a compact disk, cassette tape, 8-track tape, or vinyl disk.  In modern day, this purchasing of music by store has ceased almost completely, and almost everyone who buys and listens to music gets their music from the Internet.  The technological advancements of today such as smart phones, laptops, tablets, or anything else that can do downloading through a working internet connection have made it so hard for musicians, labels, and managers to make profit.

How music has taken different forms over the years..

changed These devices changed the scope of the game, giving more life and focus to music downloading and file sharing programs rather than the purchasing of actual compact disks.

topped $14.6 billion $6.3 billion According to CNN Money, in 1999, CD revenue topped $14.6 billion in average disk sales, in comparison to the measly $6.3 billion that the average CD made in 2009 These statistics demonstrate how the advancement of technology has not only affected people’s commitment to go out and purchase their music selections, but also how it has given light to the use of online media such as downloading and file sharing.

What is downloading and file sharing? Downloading and file sharing are two distinct internet tasks that can be done with almost any type of media.

Downloading Downloading Walmart Downloading a file is like going to Walmart. When you're in the store: you pick an item up off of the shelf and place it into your shopping cart. (the shelf) (the shopping cart). When you download, you're just picking a copy of the file up off the network computer (the shelf) and placing it onto your computer (the shopping cart).

File sharing File sharing File sharing is like a potluck. I bring a sweet potato pie, and everyone can get a slice. (network), (owner). In the midst of me sharing it with everyone else (network), everyone knows that they need to save me a slice before its gone (owner).

Downloading musicsharing files Downloading music and sharing files has become an essential part of people’s lives throughout the 21 st century. everyone With technological advancements of today’s world, downloading music whether it is legal or illegal has become something that almost everyone does.

What started it all?!

NapsterNapsterNapsterNapster 60 million users freely  In late 2000 and early 2001, the program had close to 60 million users around the world who were freely downloading and exchanging digital mp3 files. 2 years revenue.  After much success for 2 years, music artists and producers began to see the impact of what the program was doing to their revenue. sued$20 billion  In early 2001, a company by the name of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) became fed up with Napster and sued the program in a $20 billion infringement case.

similarother different fashion Because of Napster’s contradictive success, similar but other programs arose and conquered consumers’ attention as did their predecessor. Nevertheless, to be more successful than Napster was, the programs worked in a different fashion. LimeWireFrostWireVuze uTorrent Programs such as LimeWire, FrostWire, Vuze, and uTorrent made it a goal of theirs to not be anything but better and more long-standing than Napster.

LimeWireLimeWireLimeWireLimeWire  Mark Gorton, founder of LimeWire, who was also a former Wall Street trader, with degrees from Harvard, Yale, and Stanford took it upon himself to make sure that his program would be able to coordinate within the confines of cyberspace law.  In 2010, one law suit of the many thirteen that the program faced was filed against the program ruling that the platform intentionally caused a "massive scale of infringement" by permitting the sharing of thousands of copyrighted works by its 50 million monthly users  The RIAA believed that the program owed them an estimated $72 trillion dollars and in their filed law suit, the RIAA requested $150,000 for each download of 11,000 infringed song tracks

Intellectual Property Both programs faced law suits from the RIAA, and each included the concept of Intellectual Property.

What is Intellectual Property? work inventioncreativity patent copyrighttrademark Intellectual Property is defined to be a work or invention that is the result of creativity, such as a manuscript or a design, to which one has rights and for which one may apply for a patent, copyright, or trademark Most people regard Intellectual Property as being the mother of all subjects dealing with “who has the right to what”, especially when dealing with copyright laws.

Copyright Copyrighted To have something Copyrighted is defined to be the exclusive right to make copies, license, and otherwise exploit a literary, musical, or artistic work, whether printed, audio, video January 1, 1978 This law stands for any work granted by law on or after January 1, 1978

Tying it all together…  In regards to both Napster and LimeWire, there were many Copyright legal matters that were brought up in each of their cases.  The music industry felt as though all of the Copyright Laws that the government had invented, were being blatantly overlooked.  According to the law, any materials owned by people who wrote or produced them, have the say so as to how the materials should be sold and distributed; but this was not the case!

legal After Napster and LimeWire managed to pull their names out of the dirt, and after their law suits were settled, both programs were able to make a comeback in the world, in a legal way.

iTunes Today, people have created programs like iTunes which have made it possible to download and share files in a way that they cannot be sued but also make profit.

net As time progresses, technology will only improve and who is to say what will be done next ? The Question.