Illegally Downloading Music

In one of our classes the topic of music piracy came up. Piracy is a huge issue in the world of media. Although piracy is affecting artists in a negative way, it benefits them as well.

Piracy in the audio industry is when someone or a group of people give free music of other artists without for free. This is not good as artists aren't getting as much money as they should be getting from releasing music. Record labels are shutting down and artists are focusing on uploading music even more now online rather than sell them so they can make a living off concerts. However in the past years artists have been earning more from concerts rather than albums or paid music.

Piracy does benefit the artist in a way as it is a good way to market the artists, people are becoming more aware of these artists and buying concert ticket as well as merchandise where majority of the income of the artists are coming from. But its still not giving artists the amount they deserve. The more money artists get, the better equipment can be bought and lead to better music quality.

Although people are not buying albums, record labels are still making a lot and still earning from booking of concerts of the artists. This is keeping record labels from shutting down. But record labels are losing customers. Musicians that have made an impact on the industry such as Metallica and Jack White have all opened up there own labels. Metallica have Blackened studios and Jack White has Third Man records. These musicians don't need aid of any record label as they are not focusing on album sales as much as marketing as well as concerts.

Didi, M. (2016). e E ects of Pirated Music on Individual Musicians. Skidmore College Creative Ma er. Retrieved June 28, from http://creativematter.skidmore.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1014&context=econ_studt_schol

Granados, N. (2016, February 01). How Online Piracy Hurts Emerging Artists. Retrieved June 28, 2017, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/nelsongranados/2016/02/01/how-online-piracy-hurts-emerging-artists/#25f752d17774