Online sharing music is good for artists

    How do you listen to music? iTunes? Youtube? Spotify? Or CD? Thanks to the advance of technology, a lot of digital content are invented and we can enjoy listening to music in various ways for free or cheap. At the same time, labels and music companies struggle, because CD sales are decreasing. RIAA thinks that the reason for it is due to Internet sharing is common (Lessig, 70~71). There are a lot of arguments about whether piracy should be regulated or not. For example, Plotkin states, “the revolution in sharing will be painful for many, but ultimately society will benefit once everyone has free and easy access to creative works " (65) in Online File Sharing Will Benefit Society. In other words, he thinks that the situation where people can share music is good even though it might violate copyright. In addition, he says at the end of the article“Napster-like sharing communities will soon begin to transform many other areas of our social and economic life. The underlying enabling technology now being used to trade music files makes the rise of these new sharing communities all but certain" (69). I agree with his ideas and if the music industry won’t admit online sharing music and find another way, it is difficult to be able to survive in the Internet era. 

   Now, we have more possibilities to find new music through the Internet, because there are a lot of tunes and music videos uploaded by someone on the Internet. An article, illegal Downloading Benefits AlI, shows this situation is good for artists. This is because even if people didn’t know an artist when his song was put on sale, people have opportunities to find the song online after a few years later and buy it. Moreover, an artist doesn’t need to spend much money to advertise. Actually, Plotkin says, “wider distribution of free music will make good artists more popular than ever" (68). In addition, the sites where people can share music on online community are invented, for example, last.fm. Last.fm is a sort of social networking site and people can listen to radio, share music which they are listening with others, and find similar artists. Through such sharing music sites, we can make new communities. Moreover, there is a movement trying to make profit via sharing music sites. According to Universal Publishing and SACEM sign global licensing agreement with YouTube, a new business model which artists can make benefit from sharing music is about to start.

   

   As time passes, the situation and technology continue changing. That is why the music industry must not stick to their traditional ways of thinking and have to find new ways to attract many people.