1	How Music Has Been Affected by the Internet
2	Introduction Since the beginning of the entertainment industry’s time, music has constantly fluctuated in different kinds of ways. Music has gone through so many changes over the years, some were for the good and some were for the worse. But that all depends on whose point of view you look at. The internet has been around for quite some years now with many different features and aspects to offer to its users. And recently music has had such a major collaboration with the internet, making the internet the most popular source for music.
3	History of the Internet The internet started around the late 80s Can use for businesses, medical advice, references, jobs, restaurants, items to purchase, banking, pictures, music and an abundance of other categories as well Music is related to the internet in the way that one can view music videos online, listen to music samples, purchase music, use music on their web sites, and much more . . . More and more young people today are using the internet as a source of music. Whether its illegal or legal, downloading is very popular among the young people in recent years. Internet has a major influence on the music industry in ways of both negative and positive effects.
4	The positive influence internet has had on music
5	"One way internet has affected..." One way internet has affected music in a positive way is online music sampling. - View music videos online - Online music samples on different web sites - MTV.com’s “The Leak”, which is album sampling As more people began to use the internet, advertisers grew more aware of where they should target music listeners with their advertisements. - Radio station sites - Any store sites - The artists’ sites. - Other popular visited sites Online Buying is another positive effect. - Simple and Fast - Convenient - Majority of online stores have discounts
6	The negative influence has had on music
7	"Illegal downloading is music’s #..." Illegal downloading is music’s # number one downfall. - Napster and other successors thereof - 60 Million Americans download music illegally - RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) reported music sales went down 8.2% Piracy is another problem the recording industry has run into is. - Burning/dubbing for profit - RIAA estimates $5 billion in music revenue is lost to pirates every year The music industry has another issue with Music Stores. - Due to the downfall of sales stores were unable to move inventory - With a decrease of music sales for 2 years, many name brand music stores were closed down world wide in 2002. - The recording industry was scared that they were no longer in control of “new technology” like before with records, cassettes, CDs, etc.
8	The artists' point of view Opinion on negative influence - Downloaders and pirates don’t realize that they are taking away from the artists’ creativity. - They are also taking away from their profits as well. - It’s never guaranteed if an album will do well, so when people download it makes it harder for them. Opinion on positive influence - Artists are finding different ways to get most of their profits elsewhere; they are getting most of their revenue from touring now. - Musicians who are not signed to major labels see the internet as a potential source of getting their music to a wider audience - The artists are getting free advertising when people download. The RIAA says out of the people who buy music, 70% of them actually sampled the music online first.
9	The public point of view Opinion of the negative influence - Some people either do not think about the effects of their downloading or they are just simply apathetic about it. - The people the RIAA go after are the ones who download hundreds of entire albums; they are the people the RIAA go after and make examples out of. Opinion of the positive influence - The people that do feel guilty don’t really download in its entirety. - There are also the people who disagree with this type of illegal action and do not do it at all. - A lot of people think that downloading can be a good thing, it just depends on how it’s handled by everyone.
10	Conclusion I think the internet has enhanced music. The internet will continue to evolve in the future as it has in the past. Here are some websites that I used. They defined many things for me that I did not understand, they provided a lot of useful information, and offered different point of views. - PEW Internet and American Life Project http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/71/press_release.asp - The Heritage Foundation http://www.heritage.org/Research/InternetandTechnology/bg1790.cfm - Rolling stones online magazine http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/_/id/5936866