Tuesday, May 04, 2004
Thoughts and notes on digital downloads and file sharing on the back of research for an upcoming assignment…
The debate on digital downloads is an interesting one in that the impact on accessibility for consumers of music has dramatically expanded. I suppose in some senses this relates to the home recording audiotape issues of the 70s… viewed as a form of piracy by the copyright holding community in opposition to the rights of the public to make their own copies (either for personal use or sharing with friends etc). The gatekeeper’s panicked in the face of what they thought was a potential loss of income. Of course this issue escalates dramatically with the advent of computers, digital technology and the Internet. Here is a vastly superior system whereby quality reproductions can be made with much greater ease, exchanged in a globally accessible set-up to virtually anyone who has a computer – a scary preposition to copy-right owners like record labels who’s sole existence is premised on the commercial exploitation of those copyrights they license from artists. On top of that are the vague comprehensions on how to deal with an emerging and fluid technology that affords such an anarchic quality, the question of secure and controllable formats in an already format crazy techworld (and the issue of standardised formats - MP3, SDMI, WMA, WAV etc) … and most importantly how to make consumers pay for something that denies the tangible aspect embodied by purchasing CDs etc.
Strangely for all my rampant music obsessions I have only downloaded one album – the Grey Album mash-up by DJ Danger Mouse (but more on this later) – I suppose the reasons behind this position are possibly reasons that could be extended to questions about the issue in general… paranoia about credit card usage online, no access as of yet to broadband (and thus download speed), and preference for the tangible “package” with art and hardcopy of what I’m paying for. But then iTunes is now a year old (and not available in Australia until later this year – due to the protection of copyrights per territory breakdowns) and in the US has 700,000 songs available and is accounting for 2.5 million downloads weeky. They charge 99 cents a track and it has to be observed how this will change music consumption as the market has been dominated by Album sales as against single sales… but this is becoming a track by track process. It will be interesting to see what the figures are per album versus single track downloads and how this will impact on music production by artists and labels… and further on eventual sales of CDs etc.
Then there is the significant presence of filesharing sites whereby a massive variety of music can be sourced and downloaded for free. Napster was the most notorious of these and was eventually halted by a major court action co-ordinated by some of the major labels… to then be co-opted in a deal with BMG. Of course this hasn’t exactly ended the practice and with a proliferation of other such sites there have been a recent spate of legal actions directed at organisations (Australian based Kazaa) and various members of the public caught with downloaded music. The Australian Record Industry Association (ARIA go to news section) has blamed the declining record sales on the impact of this free availability of music on the net… although this tends to be complicated further by a literal information overload… the choice of cultural media available today for entertainment including significant growth in DVD, video games, computers… and the film industry… let alone the effects of CD burning/ripping. That said there is the possibility of a generation thinking that music should be free due to its ubiquitous presence in society via radio, TV etc… that a wealth of internet users gaining access to music for free possibly galvanises this type of attitude is open to debate.
For my way of thinking I’m more excited by the anarchic elements the Internet offers… freedom of information and universal access to the means of production (pending of course their access to computers). The concept of true independence in regard to the possibilities afforded artists to release and distribute their music direct from websites is an exciting proposition. Of course the exponential growth of music artists in the world able to access this global system compound a “smaller needle in a larger haystack” scenario and the act of getting noticed on a large scale basis is to some degree still reliant on the dominant gatekeepers… not that it isn’t possible and certainly direct interest in Internet movement is now being acknowledged by marketing groups and record labels as they recognise its promotional strengths… even the more controversial Internet success of artists performing more obvious copyright infringements such as mashing. As for established artists exiting record contracts, they can use their already evident profile to capitalise and release music direct as Prince has recently done in setting up his own retail download website.
On another revolutionary note there is the recent Mash-up practice whereby albums are fused together in a cut and re-paste mix… possibly influenced by the work of Belgium’s 2ManyDJs … DJ Danger Mouse mash-up that cut and pasted the vocals of The Beatles White album with the Jay-Z Black album beats and music by using digital music-editing software like Acid. This recontextualised music has existed to such a high level of popularity completely due to the Internet. There have been further mash-ups using Weezer with Jay-Z. As much as legal action has attempted to stop this form of piracy, the Internet has encouraged its own response of support and continued proliferation … on the other hand major labels have asked perpetrators behind some of these to complete industry sanctioned versions… and in the case of David Bowie (go to /news/press) has authorised his own competition to encourage the practice, providing downloadable software and plans to release his selected track as an MP3 single on the iTunes website.
Things are getting crazy in the cooker and about time… now we can ponder the possible impact of rampant virus proliferation and the like on this growing preference for the Internet. That said I just wish I had more time to really test out and explore the limits and eccentric elements of the Internet… let alone listen to the constantly growing amount of music released each week. Time to stop writing.
Music that flipped my way…
Great Spanish female hiphop artist MALA RODRIGUEZ with her latest album Alevosia. I just love the Spanish language for its ricochet flow in a hiphop context… and complemented by a salsa vibe. For more info try this English Latin site THE LAB (go to 8-02-02) with info on her first album Lujo Iberico.
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The debate on digital downloads is an interesting one in that the impact on accessibility for consumers of music has dramatically expanded. I suppose in some senses this relates to the home recording audiotape issues of the 70s… viewed as a form of piracy by the copyright holding community in opposition to the rights of the public to make their own copies (either for personal use or sharing with friends etc). The gatekeeper’s panicked in the face of what they thought was a potential loss of income. Of course this issue escalates dramatically with the advent of computers, digital technology and the Internet. Here is a vastly superior system whereby quality reproductions can be made with much greater ease, exchanged in a globally accessible set-up to virtually anyone who has a computer – a scary preposition to copy-right owners like record labels who’s sole existence is premised on the commercial exploitation of those copyrights they license from artists. On top of that are the vague comprehensions on how to deal with an emerging and fluid technology that affords such an anarchic quality, the question of secure and controllable formats in an already format crazy techworld (and the issue of standardised formats - MP3, SDMI, WMA, WAV etc) … and most importantly how to make consumers pay for something that denies the tangible aspect embodied by purchasing CDs etc.
Strangely for all my rampant music obsessions I have only downloaded one album – the Grey Album mash-up by DJ Danger Mouse (but more on this later) – I suppose the reasons behind this position are possibly reasons that could be extended to questions about the issue in general… paranoia about credit card usage online, no access as of yet to broadband (and thus download speed), and preference for the tangible “package” with art and hardcopy of what I’m paying for. But then iTunes is now a year old (and not available in Australia until later this year – due to the protection of copyrights per territory breakdowns) and in the US has 700,000 songs available and is accounting for 2.5 million downloads weeky. They charge 99 cents a track and it has to be observed how this will change music consumption as the market has been dominated by Album sales as against single sales… but this is becoming a track by track process. It will be interesting to see what the figures are per album versus single track downloads and how this will impact on music production by artists and labels… and further on eventual sales of CDs etc.
Then there is the significant presence of filesharing sites whereby a massive variety of music can be sourced and downloaded for free. Napster was the most notorious of these and was eventually halted by a major court action co-ordinated by some of the major labels… to then be co-opted in a deal with BMG. Of course this hasn’t exactly ended the practice and with a proliferation of other such sites there have been a recent spate of legal actions directed at organisations (Australian based Kazaa) and various members of the public caught with downloaded music. The Australian Record Industry Association (ARIA go to news section) has blamed the declining record sales on the impact of this free availability of music on the net… although this tends to be complicated further by a literal information overload… the choice of cultural media available today for entertainment including significant growth in DVD, video games, computers… and the film industry… let alone the effects of CD burning/ripping. That said there is the possibility of a generation thinking that music should be free due to its ubiquitous presence in society via radio, TV etc… that a wealth of internet users gaining access to music for free possibly galvanises this type of attitude is open to debate.
For my way of thinking I’m more excited by the anarchic elements the Internet offers… freedom of information and universal access to the means of production (pending of course their access to computers). The concept of true independence in regard to the possibilities afforded artists to release and distribute their music direct from websites is an exciting proposition. Of course the exponential growth of music artists in the world able to access this global system compound a “smaller needle in a larger haystack” scenario and the act of getting noticed on a large scale basis is to some degree still reliant on the dominant gatekeepers… not that it isn’t possible and certainly direct interest in Internet movement is now being acknowledged by marketing groups and record labels as they recognise its promotional strengths… even the more controversial Internet success of artists performing more obvious copyright infringements such as mashing. As for established artists exiting record contracts, they can use their already evident profile to capitalise and release music direct as Prince has recently done in setting up his own retail download website.
On another revolutionary note there is the recent Mash-up practice whereby albums are fused together in a cut and re-paste mix… possibly influenced by the work of Belgium’s 2ManyDJs … DJ Danger Mouse mash-up that cut and pasted the vocals of The Beatles White album with the Jay-Z Black album beats and music by using digital music-editing software like Acid. This recontextualised music has existed to such a high level of popularity completely due to the Internet. There have been further mash-ups using Weezer with Jay-Z. As much as legal action has attempted to stop this form of piracy, the Internet has encouraged its own response of support and continued proliferation … on the other hand major labels have asked perpetrators behind some of these to complete industry sanctioned versions… and in the case of David Bowie (go to /news/press) has authorised his own competition to encourage the practice, providing downloadable software and plans to release his selected track as an MP3 single on the iTunes website.
Things are getting crazy in the cooker and about time… now we can ponder the possible impact of rampant virus proliferation and the like on this growing preference for the Internet. That said I just wish I had more time to really test out and explore the limits and eccentric elements of the Internet… let alone listen to the constantly growing amount of music released each week. Time to stop writing.
Music that flipped my way…
Great Spanish female hiphop artist MALA RODRIGUEZ with her latest album Alevosia. I just love the Spanish language for its ricochet flow in a hiphop context… and complemented by a salsa vibe. For more info try this English Latin site THE LAB (go to 8-02-02) with info on her first album Lujo Iberico.
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