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Essay / The Negative Impact of Technological Advances on the Music Industry room for “improvement” or “persistent progress”. change” as times advance, ultimately leading to inevitable losses. Nowadays, individual purchasing of music content has become obsolete or a thing of the past and online services like interactive streaming have become the redeeming feature of the music industry. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essayIntroduction and BackgroundThe story goes that any industry that has always been prone to technological innovations has always had its fair share of volatility. The constant introduction of innovations in the industry such as radio, vinyl records and CDs has forced it to reinvent its business models around the clock. All of these innovations ultimately proved to be lasting innovations, but the entry into the digital age of the Internet resulted in a destructive evolution of pre-existing business plans. Pre-existing models were based on the principle of payment per title or per album. vinyl record/CD. These models took into account higher production costs, such as higher manufacturing costs, higher retail storage costs, etc. But why? Because once a song was written, composed and recorded by the artist(s), it had to either be burned onto a vinyl record or burned onto a CD – which required suitable manufacturing units. In the past, a vinyl record was burned, packaged and shipped to various outlets. The vinyl record was then placed on a shelf; it required about 12 inches of retail space. This retail storage space cost a fortune and an artist or record label had to incur that cost until a person brought that vinyl record back from the store. These costs obviously have a considerable impact on the price of a vinyl record. Typically, a new release costs between $15 and $50, also depending on the number of songs it contains or the production quality of the vinyl record. The digital age has opened up many opportunities for artists/record labels, such as online download stores and later ONLINE STREAMING. These online digital retailers allowed consumers to download music files at a fixed price per individual track or album. This model was called the “payment per track or per album” model. The consumer can download the music file and store it digitally on a hard drive. Purchasing a digital music file does not grant ownership of the song but merely constitutes a perpetual lease for personal, non-commercial use. Unlike physical retailers, using digital download platforms one can purchase songs separately instead of purchasing an entire album. Here, artists or record labels can benefit from higher distribution and a wider customer base (since the sound recording can be reproduced en masse on a computer). and are downloaded as many times as necessary as vinyl records that had to be physically pressed at a manufacturing center and then sent to physical outlets for sale. Therefore, smaller distribution and narrower customer base). The Pay Per Album/Track business model represented a great reduction in the costs of producing these recorded files (which are also known as audio files inMP3 or Mpeg 3) and the opportunities to make good profits are high, which in turn allowed for lower prices per track. But why was the price per piece low? - Since mass reproduction of a digital track did not require much but an efficient computer, the cost of production is much lower than physical production where manufacturing units are required to make vinyl records properly in a hurry. The volume of production is also much higher in the case of digital reproduction of music (here the break-even point is very low, as are their marginal costs). Digital downloading of musical content offered very affordable and efficient means to consume and sell music.PiracyHowever, the business model mentioned above was not able to guarantee the rights of copyright holders. Once a music file was downloaded from the digital download store, it could be stored on personal hard drives and therefore vulnerable to piracy. These downloaded files could be copied and sold illegally without any permission from the copyright holders. Introduction of the worldwide web offered for great help in providing a platform for the distribution of these illegal copies. The success of piracy depends not on consumer preferences, but on how easily it was accessible to the masses. Among the main reasons why piracy has grown so quickly in the West are the increase in download speeds, access to writable CDs, and the development of the MP3 format. Many of these factors are also blamed for the global scale of piracy. Online piracy reached its all-time high, or as we might call it, its arrival to the “mainstream” public for the first time in May 1999 with the birth of a P2P website. (Peer-to-Peer), Napster. It was used to share and download music files. These music files have been shared without any royalties passing to the master copyright and publication rights holders. Napster had approximately 80 million unique accounts worldwide. Eventually, Napster was taken down after a series of unsuccessful lawsuits in 2001. Global music piracy caused $12.5 billion in economic losses each year. On-demand streaming Now, instead of paying a fixed price for a song or album, interactive streaming services allow immediate access to their catalog. millions of songs. It generated revenue for copyright owners by charging fixed monthly subscription fees from consumers or through advertising revenue. Digital download stores used to allow the music file to be stored on one's hard drive, but with streaming services, the consumer can choose the length of time they choose to use a streaming platform's library/catalogue/services . Interactive streaming services allow their users to listen to exactly the music they want to listen to, when they want, with access to their extensive catalogs. This contrasts with non-interactive online radio stations where the choice of music is limited to what the radio chooses to play for the listener. The streaming business model was initially viewed with a skeptical approach, thanks to the explosive growth of streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music, now that interactive streaming has established itself in various areas of digital entertainment as the leading business model. Music on Spotify and other streaming services is properly licensed, that is, it,.' (2012)
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