Ben DiSera

 From 1999 to 2009, music sales and licensing dropped $8.3 million dollars. ◦ This number started at $14.6 million and dropped to $6.3 million. ◦ 1999 held the highest revenue figure to date of music sales and licensing.  This number comes from the sale of CDs/tapes and hard copy albums.

 In 2008, worldwide digital sales (iTunes, etc.) reached $3.7 billion. ◦ This is only 5% of the music that is actually downloaded. ◦ The IFPL (Internet Furry Proximity Locator) estimated that 40 billion songs were downloaded last year and it is also estimated that users illegally download 1 billion songs a month.  Even though it is not reflected in the money circulation, music consumption is at an all-time high because of it being so accessible, portable or plentiful. Its EVERYWHERE! (how many songs can a device hold?)

 In 2010 there was a prediction made that 1.2 billion tracks would be downloaded illegally.  The BPI (British Phonographic Industry) estimated that only 370 million tracks would be legally bought that year. ◦ With these numbers, we can conclude that illegal downloads represented 75% of all music that was obtained digitally. downloads-12-billion-in-2010.html

 Some artists are for people illegally downloading their music because they want to side with the “consumer” – the audience(s). They believe that artists should have their own right to decide whether or not their music should be free or when it should be paid for. ◦ Question – do you think that putting free music online will help or hinder artists more in the long run? Why? ◦ Let’s ask our guest artist in the classroom what he thinks about downloading music. to-download-say-musicians html

 Illegal downloading could help artists because if more people here their music, the more it will be spread around and the more people will, as a result, come to live performances.  Illegal downloading could hinder artists because the money spent on recording the music may not be made back from people buying the music.

 Unlike Metallica, the band Radiohead found with their album "Kid A" that although album sales did take a small hit, their concert sales more than made up for the decline. According to Time Labs online, a study done in the United Kingdom proves that music artists make more money on concerts and overall sales with the help of illegal downloads. This is because performers make a majority of their money off of concerts and a small percent on album sales. The record companies and labels that sell and create the music artists are the ones who make the majority of their money off of album sales and are also the ones who promote anti-music piracy ads. Granted, while the record companies do make a large profit on concerts, the artists are taking more of the profit percentage.

 If it benefits all of the people who make the music and promote the music, why is it illegal? What it seems to be is that everyone is getting a slice of the pie? The music artist and the music labels get the large quantity of money they desire as well as free advertising, and the music lovers get free music. The truth is, it's not as illegal as it seems. In fact, 95 percent of music downloads from the internet are illegal downloads and only less than five people in the world have been arrested for illegal downloading as opposed to the millions of people that download illegally.

 While accepting Best Male Artist in the 2010 People’s Choice Awards, Keith Urban said, “I don’t care if you download it illegally. Give it to your friends, I really don’t care.”  Another artist who has the same opinion is Lady Gaga. She claims it’s good for her career although only a small portion of album sales goes to the artist. Gaga said, “The big money is in touring.” 