What we are getting at

It’s almost impossible to get accurate numbers when it comes to music downloads, but we can comfortably say that each year around 4 billion songs are legally downloaded, and between 4 trillionand 10 trillion songs are illegally downloaded. 

So how do musicians make money online? This graph might give you an idea.

Since the introduction of peer to peer (P2P) filesharing, with programs such as edonkey and Napster, music has become an online commodity easily copied and shared, with little thought of the larger effect it has on those who produce it.  Programs such as Limewire and even faster torrent platforms, such as the Pirate Bay, have made it all to easy for a couple of hyperlinks to land you the latest album for free. Not surprisingly, music labels and their artists have condemned such platforms as parasites who are chipping away at the future of music.

Our feature, Who’s Listening, is going to be concerned with how music is consumed online. More importantly, we will be looking at how the online music sphere is constantly changing with new technological developtments. New programs can dramatically change the online music landscape. We saw this with Napster, Limewire, Itunes, The Pirate Bay and now Spotify. We cannot avoid the internet, as much as industry folk would like to live in denial, if anything is to be done about music piracy, it's going to be done online. They need to make it easier to pay for music than it is to get it for free.  

Sony music did this is the days of Limewire. They were in the habit of releasing dummy songs with the names of their artists to push listeners, in a spell of frustration, to buy the real thing. A little ingenuity goes a long way. Of course people will never completely stop getting music for free, but you cannot treat every person who has visited the Pirate Bay as a pirate. Most just need a gentle nudge in the right direction.

This brings me to Spotify. Spotify, sparking great outrage and praise at the same time, is a perfect example of this seemingly neevernding debate between the stereotypical over-zealous industry heads, criminal programmers, and listeners who are seen to have an undying sense of entitlement.

There have been some refuseniks to Spotify in the industry. Coldplay, Adelle, The Black Keys and the labels behind them are strongly resisting the Spotify movement because the artists are not earning enough.

The Black Keys 

With millions of listens a day, not everyone is loving spotify, read this Rolling Stones article on The Black Keys vs Spotify

Some argue however, that record companies need to become more comfortable with the digital era, accepting Spotify and similar platforms as a much needed push in the right direction. Whilst it isn’t seeing huge profits, it is seen to be assisting in winning the public over to legal online music consumption. Maybe they can be the tugboat that drives us out of the pirates bay? A new, inventive move towards legitimate downloading. 

We need to understand that streaming could slowly replace piracy and is far more malleable and has greater future possibilities for artists revenue. Cd sales are dropping consistently every year, streaming being one area which is growing, offering new avenues.

To learn more about the spotify debate click here and here.

In other news co-founder of The Pirate Bay, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, is going to be deported from Cambodia! looks like Spotify might start to get a whole lot more popular.

Gottfrid Svartholm Warg

For more on the Gottfrid read this Sydney Morning Herald Article.