I feel that I learned a great deal on internet based research in this class. Before taking this class I had never heard of websites like: Delicious, twine, protopage, debatepedia, scholarpedia, etc. These can be very powerful research tools for keeping track of research you've done and for discovering new research sources. I also feel that I learned a better system of conducting research. The research journal assignment system is a good one in that it helps you make progress incrementally which makes the research process less overwhelming.
Bernstein, Arthur, Sekine, Naoki, & Weissman, Dick.The Global Music Industry:
Three Perspectives. New York & London: Routledge, 2007. Print.
This book was written to give the reader a general understanding of the protocols of the music industry and how industries from different cultures are similar or different.
This book is scholarly in that, similar to Navigating the Music Industry: Current Issues & Business Models, it was written by Dick Weissman, an expert in this field and professor at UCD.The two other authors, Arthur Bernstein and Naoki Sekine, work for the Liverpool Institute for the Performing Arts, UK, and Epic Records, Japan (respectively).Their insight is quite relevant and substantiated.
I feel this book could help my understanding of how the music industry battles piracy not just in the United States but in other nations as well.This will be important when I try to determine the worldwide music industry’s effort to battle piracy.
Jennings, David.Net, Blogs, and Rock’n’Roll. London & Boston: Nicholas Brealey
Publishing, 2007. Print.
This book examines discovery in regards to the internet, blogging, and music.It looks at how these things are affecting the music market—how people discover music and what this means for the music industry.
David Jennings runds a media consultancy, Dj Alchemi Ltd, and is also a Psychologist who focuses on how people use the internet to learn and discover from each other.He has also been a contributing writer for the music business magazine Five Eight and the Spectator.
This book is interesting in that it really explains the tools the internet offers people to learn from each other, share what they’ve discovered, etc. and how these things have changed the climate of the entertainment industries.
Talbot, Michael. The Business of Music.Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2002.
Print.
This book various topics relating to the music business.The chapter I am particularly interested in is Illegality and the Music Industry.As this book was written in 2002 this chapter really only talks about legality issues surrounding Napster and other peer to peer networks like that.However, it also discusses, in detail, copyright laws and how they are enforced.
Simon Frith, who wrote the chapter I am interested in in this book is a rock critic and sociologist.He holds a doctorate in sociology at UC Berkeley and has written several books regarding this subject.He also been a professor of sociology at the University of Warwick, Strathclyde University and University of Stirling.
This chapter will give me another perspective on music piracy and its effects.
Blythe, Mark and Wright, Peter.(2006) Technology Scruples: Why Intimidation Will
Not Save the Recording Industry and How Enchantment Might. Personal and Ubiquitous Computing. 30 Mar. 2007: 411-420
This is an article that was published in 2007. The article looks at the ethical implications of copying and argues that the legal measures the industry is taking is not helping, but hurting their cause.
Both authors are from the Department of Computer Science at the University of York, Heslington, York and thus one can conclude that their insight is scholarly.The article is also quite well documented and cited.
The article will help me argue the point that the industry is handling this crisis in the wrong way and that there are better ways to deal with it.
This book looks at the Warner Music Group specifically.They were one of the most successful record label groups of the 60s, 70s, and 80s.The book was written by one of the executives of WMG and he talks about how the business changed during the 90s, leading to the downfall of WMG.
As one of the heads of the largest music group in the industry I think Stan Cornyn’s insight will be very relevant and useful for this paper.He will certainly provide a biased viewpoint but one that is necessary to understand nonetheless.
I feel like this book could help to get an idea of how the record label was affected by piracy on a more personal level—in terms of how it affected the “higher ups” at big labels and what they felt about it.
Paradise, Paul R. Trademark Counterfeiting, Product Piracy, and the Billion Dollar
Threat to the U.S. Economy. Westport, Connecticut and London: Quorum Books. 1999
This book, as the title suggests, looks at piracy and counterfeiting and the economical issues surrounding them.
The book is well cited including many pages of sources.Paul Paradise has written several books about piracy laws, counterfeiting, and economics.
This book will help me understand the beginnings of this issue (the book was written in 1999) and how instantly devastating piracy was to the music industry.
RJA #13a: Field Research Report– I am still waiting for my uncle to email the answers to my interview questions. Here are the questions I sent him:
1.) In what ways has the music industry tried to compete with what is essentially considered to be "free" music online? I know that music has been licensed to companies like Amazon, iTunes, etc. to offer people a legal alternative. What confuses me is that pricing seems to be pretty level among tracks and that different bit rate qualities aren't offered. I could be wrong but doesn't iTunes only sell songs at 128kbps? Someone could easily download an illegal mp3 at much higher bit rates...even FLAC. If legal sources of downloadable music do offer songs at different qualities why aren't they focusing on these incentives in their advertising?
2.) How does the music industry (I suppose RIAA) know, exactly, how much blame to assign to internet piracy in regards to lost profits? It seems difficult to know just how many songs are being downloaded and by what artists, etc and with easily accessible, streaming music sources like Pandora, Last FM, etc. consumers are not necessarily even required to download the music they want to listen to at all. One website, playlist.com, lets you create your own playlists from a seemingly infinite catalog of tracks that can be played on any computer at any time. Not only can you listen to the playlists whenever you want but you can skip to whatever track on the playlist you want at any time. Its almost like having your own iTunes library on every computer with internet access.
sub-question: i know pandora licenses their music but I'm sure playlist.com doesn't. How is this site still up? What does the industry do to combat these kinds of sources that lessen the perceived value of music as well as the need to buy it?
3.) With today's digital recording technologies the recording process requires less raw talent and has become much easier & faster to do. Now it is not only easier for record labels to record their artists but for people with home studios to record as well. Artist that really have no business recording have been able to put out their own material. The overall standard of music has been reduced, in part, because of this. Copycat artists hear something one day and in that same day record a complete track that is beyond just being influenced by it. There is this dangerous sort of "homogenization" going on in music right now. Sometimes I wonder if this prevailing tendency to excuse, or in many cases praise, mediocrity has done more to the perception of music's value than the piracy phenomenon has.
4.) one of the core components in this issue, I feel, is the value people put on physical copies of music. One sentiment I have heard over and over again is that the music industry had it coming, in a sense, because of the price they put on these physical copies. $12-15 per CD is apparently more money than what people think they are worth. Now, I have no idea what it costs for a label to put out a cd. Surely it isn't cheap given the costs of recording, marketing, packaging, shipping, etc. But, is it possible that the record industry could survive by drastically reducing the cost of physical copies in an effort to regain their market interest and profit from volume sales? What ways could the industry re-connect with with their former market and how are they doing it?
5.) One cold fact is that internet piracy is probably never going to disappear. However there must be incentives the industry is working on to give people a reason to become music collectors again. When I was interning at Reprise I remember looking at some of the packaging some of the material came in and thinking "this must have cost a fortune to produce". Usually the better packaged copies were reserved as promotional copies to send to stations, etc. Of course some are also sold in stores for die-hard fans who want something more. For the average music "fan", however, packaging is of little importance.
one idea, albeit completely unrealistic and naive perhaps, is that record companies could set up a system where the customer is rewarded after a certain number of purchases. For instance, if a customer buys a certain number of cds, dvds, etc. of an artist of theirs they reward the customer with a ticket to that artists concert. The reward couldn't be music or anything else that could be digitally copied otherwise the value of the reward might not be recognized. Merchandise and tickets, however, would always have value.
I found these figures on the damage done on the RIAA website:
•71,060 U.S. jobs lost = $2.7 billion of worker’s earnings lost
•$422 million tax revenues lost
•$291 million in personal income tax lost
•$131 million in lost corporate income and production
taxes
Total Loss Annually= $12.5 billion (globally)
perhaps the government could get involved and help the industry set up a reward system (as i'm sure it would cost a lot while the system gained steam) in an effort to recoup some of the tax revenues they're losing.
RJA #13b: Annotated Bibliography, Part 1–
Chris Goodwin
Professor Clark
English 1020
18 November 2009
Healthy Music: industry, culture, and economics
An Annotated Bibliography
Weissman, Dick.Navigating the Music Industry: Current Issues & Business Models.
Milwaukee: Hal Leonard Corporation, 2003. Print.
This book looks at the record industry from a business stance, offering business models for various situations.This includes information on Napster’s business model as well as other peer to peer sites.
This source is a scholarly source.It was written by an associate professor at the University of Colorado at Denver.He has written several books on the music industry in regards to business practices and financial aspects.He has a fairly large list of citations in the book and it seems to be well documented.It was also written in 2003 and so is relevant today.
This source fits into my research in that it provides a perspective on this issue from the business standpoint.In addition to providing information on Napster’s business model it also looks at those of the music market industries: retail stores, online stores, etc.A lot of the book will not be useful to me but several chapters will be.
Lathrop, Tad. This Business of Music Marketing & Promotion: Revised and Updated
Version. New York: Billboard Books, 2003. Print
This is a very well known book that examines every detail of the recordindustry including marketing, promotions, distribution, licensing, etc.
I believe this is a scholarly source as it is very well documented and is known to be a very good book on the subject.It was required as a text book when I went to CSU Chico for my degree in music in the recording arts program.It is a current publication as well.
This will fit into my research as it helps me to understand the inner-workings of the record industry more, especially as it pertains to the sales of the product, how it is marketed, packaged, and promoted.This is important to know when discussing what the industry is doing in response to internet -piracy.
Hull, Geoffrey P.. The Recording Industry: 2nd Edition. New York & London:
Routledge, 2004. Print.
This book examines the industry behind the music business.It focuses onthe three facets of income in the business: sales, publishing, and live performances.It was written for students.
This is a scholarly source that cites many other sources.It is well written, concise, and straightforward.
One chapter, in particular, will help me a lot with my research: The Recording Industry and the Internet.It examines the internet as a promotional tool, distribution tool, and piracy tool.
Towse, Ruth. Creativity, Incentive, and Reward: An Economic Analysis of Copyright
and Culture in the Information Age. Northhampton: Edward Elgar Publishing,
Inc., 2001. Print.
This book looks at the cultural industries (including music) and the economical issues surrounding them.It looks at copyright and economic incentives, artist’s rights, and artist’s rewards.
It is a scholarly resource that is heavily cited and is written by an author who has written several books on these industries.
I believe it will help my research in regards to copyright issues and rewards/incentives needed to keep the music industry thriving.
(1) what I've accomplished: I have written my formal outline (still needs work. will talk to you (Professor Clark) this week). I have several books checked out from the Auraria library although I need to go to the Denver Library as well. I have my introductory page done though I need to iron my thesis out. I do have my background info on the topic done though. I also have some visual aids saved on my computer that I'm pretty sure I am going to use. I have my questions typed up for when I do my FR interview.
(2) what you still need to do and when I'm going to do it: I still need to conduct my field research interview. I will most likely do this Friday afternoon over the phone unless his schedule changes. I need to meet with you (Professor Clark) regarding my thesis statement and paper organization. Hopefully we can do this during the lab on Thursday. Last but not least: I NEED TO FINISH MY PAPER! I'm going to start working on it again on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.
RJA #12b: Presentation Plan– I'm going to start out by, of course, giving some background information on the topic: technology involved, dates involved, demographics involved, etc. Then I will present some of the problems (and benefits) associated with this issue, highlighting which ones I feel out weigh others. I might play a video at this point (or at the end...not sure on time). At this point I'll indicate my position and give supporting info that persuaded me over the course of the semester.
This paper will examine the effects of the internet piracy phenomenon on the music industry as well as the music market as a whole and whether or not these effects are largely beneficial or harmful. As members of this market it is important to discover the true effects of this phenomenon so that we may help foster a greater musical experience for ourselves and for future generations. One must consider the artistic, social, and moral implications presented by this topic so that they may decide how to involve themselves in the bettering of our culture and our lives.
Internet piracy is something we are all familiar with. It arose in the 90s not too long after the internet itself began. The issue of intellectual property became a hot button topic as record labels lost sales due to internet theft. Music became very easy to steal, copy, and trade online very quickly. On one hand people were exposed to a much larger database of music than they could possibly have in their own home record collection. On the other hand the temptation to steal from this database proved too tempting and instead of listening to the music and then purchasing hard copies for themselves people settled for the poorer quality, compressed, digital copies. Aside from the moral issues regarding stealing from artists and labels we also have hurt ourselves in that, over time, the experience of discovering new music became less exciting as its intrinsic value was altered. A sort of "homogenization" of music ensued as people were exposed to and influenced by a much larger pool of music.
RJA #11b: Visual Aids
graphs indicating financial gains/losses from the time this behavior started pie charts indicating which demographics are most responsible images of sources of downloads to help describe how they function charts comparing the effects of downloading on both major and independent record labels. images of court documents from cases surrounding this issue charts showing the effects on world economies
Research Question: Has the widespread behavior of music piracy over the internet helped the industry or has it only hurt it?
Thesis statement: The music industry has been dramatically affected by internet piracy by loss of profits as well as the loss of their artists staying power. Due to the ease of acquiring music the internet offers the music market has subsequently become over saturated with copycat artists, amateur musicianship, and has lost any sense of originality. This homogenization has led to an even more fickle audience response.
RJA #10b: Argument
Internet piracy first helped the music industry by introducing music to a broader audience but eventually hurt the music industry as record sales dwindled.
The music industry adapted by churning out fast food music to sell as many records in a short time, given the fickle nature of its new audience.
This "dumbing down" of music has spawned a number of imitators as the art itself became easier and easier to produce. This has hurt sales as well.
this article is credible, in my opinion, as it was found on a blog that focuses on legal issues and is moderated by an Attorney's firm that specializes in content licensing, privacy and protection of personal information, unlawful competition, and freedom of expression and defamation. it was also posted in 2009
2.) Book:
The cult of the amateur : how today's internet is killing our culture/ Andrew Keen.
this book was published in 2007 by a reputable New York publisher (doubleday) and thus is recent and relevant to current technological issues surrounding this topic. It focuses on how web 2.0 hurts our culture: including our exposure to music.
3.) Book:
The internet and the college campus : how the entertainment industry and higher education are working to combat illegal piracy
This book, published in 2007 focuses on the relationship between internet piracy and college students (the largest demographic of internet pirates). It was published by the US Gov. for the use of the Committee on Education and the Workforce.
4.) internet
http://wiki.idebate.org/index.php/Debate:_File-sharing#Listener_benefits.3F_Do_music_listeners_benefit_from_file-sharing.3F Although this is a user made article i believe it is credible as it thoroughly cites and backs up its information. It includes background info on the topic and sets up arguments on both ends of the spectrum with what I consider to be very valid and interesting points.
5.) Microform
Costs of Internetpiracy for the music and software industries [microform] : hearing before the Subcommittee on International Economic Policy and Trade of the Committee on International Relations, House of Representatives, One Hundred Sixth Congress, second session, July 19, 2000
This document is in regards to a hearing in 2000 (sort of the beginning of this phenomenon) that examined the costs internet piracy has on the music industry. Published by the U.S. Government
Generally when I begin doing any kind of internet research I start with wikipedia just to get an overall sense of the subject as well as any sub-topics contained within. I always keep in mind that the information on wikipedia is not necessarily accurate. you can usually tell if something is fairly biased. The nice thing about some wikipedia articles is that they will include sources at the bottom of the pages. This helps if you are having a hard time finding sources on your own. At least you can peruse the list and then look up a selection of them to see if they are worth using later.
http://scholar.google.com/schhp?hl=en
Google scholar is also a good place to start as there are usually credible articles/blogs that can give you more ideas/viewpoints on your topic. For this reason I also like technorati (technorati.com)
Skyline, prospector, and (now) gale virtual reference library are helpful to me in regards to finding scholarly articles and essays.
RJA #7b: Internet Research Tool Test–
My internet research tool is Metacca Keywords: internet piracy music industry torrents strategies: under "advanced web search" I searched my keywords sorted by relevance with the maximum "results per page" displaying "sources" and with each source that metacca searches being used. date of search: 10/17/09 # of hits: 195 Relevance: oddly enough the first few sites listed were pretty irrelevant but as i looked further through the list i found some decent sources hidden in there. I'd say the overall relevance is 3.
RJA #7c: Field Research Plan
I will be interviewing my uncle. He has extensive music industry experience including over 10 years working in A&R at a major record label and his current job working for iTunes. He will be an invaluable resource as he has not only experience at a record label who's mission is to sell physical music/video formats (records cds dvds etc) but also experience working with iTunes (5 years now) which sells digital/downloadable music/video formats. He has experience as a musician working with several bands (some with moderate success such as the Wallflowers) over the years as a producer/studio musician and as a solo artist currently. It is because he has such a well rounded background in the music industry that I think his insight will be quite relevant. Some questions I might ask are:
1.) Do you think internet piracy affects major lables or independent labels more? 2.) Does this piracy help some artists or does it tend to hurt most of them? 3.) In what ways does the record industry determine the impacts of this kind of behavior? How reliable are the figures? 4.) iTunes tends to sell mp3s at 128kbps resolution. People are able to illegally download mp3s by artists at much higher resolutions than that online. Why does iTunes choose to give illegal music sources this advantage? 5.) how effective do you think digital copyright protection is and how can it be improved? 6.) although larger artists might lose sales it seems that smaller artists gain more exposure through illegal file sharing. Do you think this helps or hurts the music industry? 7.) what incentives can the music industry provide to lure more buyers?
As he is my Uncle I will be able to interview him over the phone at any time.
Search Engines: cloudlet Key Words Used: music industry piracy Strategies: I searched the tag cloud at the top looking mainly at the larger/bolder tags Date of Search: 10/9/09 Hits: 374,717 Relevance: 4
Meta and Multi Search Engines: metacca Key Words Used: music industry internet piracy Strategies: I adjusted the timeout to 1 second and adjusted the "page modified" dropdown menu to show all pages modified in the last month. sorted by relevance Hits: 105 Relevance: 2.5
Directories: Wow Key Words Used: music industry internet piracy Strategies: set it to only show resources. looked at some of them but they weren't that great Hits: 1180 Relevance: 1
Invisible Engines: Deep Peep Key Words Used: music industry internet piracy Strategies: none Date of Search: 10/10/09 Hits: 0 Relevance: 0
RJA #8b: Social Media blogged.com Key Words Used: music industry internet piracy Strategies: look at blogs, not just posts Date of Search: 10/10/09 Hits: 24863 Relevance: some were very relevant but some were totally off. 3 google blog search Key Words Used: music industry internet piracy Strategies: show past month Date of Search: 10/10/09 Hits: 5509 Relevance: 3.5
RJA #8c: Multimedia
blinkx Key Words Used: music industry internet piracy Strategies: none, the first search brought up some interesting videos that were quite relevant Date of Search: 10/11/09 Hits: 1251 Relevance: 4.5
In this online article I found information on the following subtopics within my topic:
1.) Legal, Ethical, and Business issues 2.) protocol architecture for peer to peer (p2p) websites; how they work. 3.) business models for p2p websites like bit torrents _____________________________________ Debatepedia (09/17/09)
Keywords searched: music downloading, file sharing Hits: 2 article title matches and tons of page text matches Hit relevance: 5 (this website seems to be a very good resource for finding out what kind of arguments are already out there on my topic)
In this online article I found the following information on my topic:
1.) Arguments regarding the listener's benefits of file sharing 2.) Arguments as to whether file sharing is copyright infringement 3.) The artistic aspect of music; Is music art or a business? 4.) Do artists benefit from file sharing? What kind of artists (major label or independent) are affected most? _____________________________________ Scholarpedia (09/17/09)
Keywords searched: music downloading, file sharing, music industry Hits: 0
*not sure if I am doing something wrong but each phrase/keyword search I input comes up empty handed. _____________________________________
Gale Virtual Reference Library (09/17/09)
Keywords searched: file sharing Hits: 23 Hit relevance: 4.5
In my search results I found the following information on my topic:
1.) Piracy and sharing 2.) articles on specific p2p sites such as Napster/Kazaa 3.) The artistic aspect of music; Is music art or a business? 4.) Is free and unlimited file sharing good for society? _____________________________________ RJA #5b:
Keywords searched: internet piracy music Hits: 950 Hit relevance: all over the board...some were completely unrelevant
By M. William Krasilovsky, Sidney Shemel, John M. Gross
This Business of Music: The Definitive Guide to the Music Industry
9th Edition
New York, NY
Billboard Books
2003
By M. William Krasilovsky, Sidney Shemel, John M. Gross
This is an article/paper I discovered on Google: Scholar which sets up different mathematical models to describe the music market when downloading is possible and when it is not.
This is a paper that was written by an economics student at the University of Chicago; also found on Google: Scholar. In it he looks at the roots of the internet piracy phenomenon of the late 90s- early 2000s with sites such as Napster and KaZaa.
This blog includes information about a study where 204 college students were monitored to better understand their illegal downloading activities. Students where also given an anonymous survey to answer.
#2A: Has the development of digital music formats helped or hurt the music industry; specifically the recording artists.
#2B: I am interested in researching a topic that seems to have many contrasting points of view among the music community: whether or not digital music formats have hurt or helped the industry. As a former music major, focusing on the recording arts, and having worked in the music industry as a director of radio promotion at Warner Brothers Records and as a manager for a music software company this topic has come up in conversation many times. I would enjoy researching this topic properly so the next time it comes up I will have a more informed reply!
As I mentioned earlier, I already have a background in the music industry. I also have several family members that currently work in the industry as well, including one who works for the iTunes store. I am quite familiar with the general pros and cons surrounding digital music formats. For instance, MP3s have made aquiring music extremely easy; both legally and illegally. While illegal downloads hurt the industry they may also help unknown artists get their name out and build a fan base.
I am hoping that this research project will help me understand the intricacies of this issue so that I can argue my point more effectively. Although I know that easily downloadable mp3s can help "underground" artists break through make themselves known I am curious to find out the statistics showing how this activity affects record sales and/or ticket sales. Some artists, such as Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails, have actually posted free, downloadable albums on their own websites. It would be interesting to find out how that benefits them. Perhaps it doesn't?
There are so many facets to this issue and I suppose what I am hoping to gain from this project is a better understanding of what they are and how they affect the artists as well as the industry as a whole.
