I often listen to music on Youtube--it's free and easy to find.
Recently, I noticed that at the bottom of the video, Youtube is starting to provide a link to iTunes and Amazon.com so that the viewers can find an MP3 of the song to purchase.
Is this an effort to combat the copyright problems?
At least it is helpful to Youtube users not having to search for the songs on their own.
Thoughts?
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
The Fate of the Music Industry
As this article at Freakonomics points out, the music industry is struggling in the face of the digital era. File sharing is rampant, and record companies are losing money to illegal downloading.
But aside from all the illegal stuff, Freadonomics brings up an interesting point about albums vs singles. How many people, when they buy a cd, absolutely love every song? I know that even on the cds that I enjoy the most, there is always at least one song that I feel compelled to skip.
Somehow, the music industry doesn't seem to understand the importance of making more singles available so that their customers are not forced to purchase whole albums, half of which they don't want. We discussed in class about the "long tail," in which people are perhaps more willing to spend money on singles than whole albums--and consequently spend more money in the long run.
As a musician, I totally understand that every song a band produces is not necessarily good--and everyone eventually makes a flop. By producing singles, a band doesn't have to release all its bad songs (as it might with an album) and instead can spend its energy on the good stuff.
While the "delivery technology" of the music industry will continue to change, I don't think that the music industry will die out. After all, people are still buying musical instruments (like the harp...which isn't cheap!)
But aside from all the illegal stuff, Freadonomics brings up an interesting point about albums vs singles. How many people, when they buy a cd, absolutely love every song? I know that even on the cds that I enjoy the most, there is always at least one song that I feel compelled to skip.
Somehow, the music industry doesn't seem to understand the importance of making more singles available so that their customers are not forced to purchase whole albums, half of which they don't want. We discussed in class about the "long tail," in which people are perhaps more willing to spend money on singles than whole albums--and consequently spend more money in the long run.
As a musician, I totally understand that every song a band produces is not necessarily good--and everyone eventually makes a flop. By producing singles, a band doesn't have to release all its bad songs (as it might with an album) and instead can spend its energy on the good stuff.
While the "delivery technology" of the music industry will continue to change, I don't think that the music industry will die out. After all, people are still buying musical instruments (like the harp...which isn't cheap!)
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