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File sharing and music Piracy

Sinead Miller

File Sharing and Music Piracy

Downloading music is a big step forward for the UK, you are able to listen to your favourite artists work within a matter of seconds so people will just buy music as they can do so from the comfort of their own homes, however, it has now lead to the temptation of downloading music illegally. This has led to organisations losing out on millions of dollars. Britney Spears states that downloading music illegally is just as bad as stealing a DVD from a shop, and has even gone on to demonstrate how she feels by appearing in commercials to express her feelings. Some may say that they have put in a lot of time and effort to produce their music, and people are taking advantage of their work by not paying for their music.

 

On the other hand, people may justify their acts by pointing out that one billion dollars has a lot of 0’s for just one song. Keith Urban says ‘All I want is for people to hear my music’ I don’t care if you download it illegally, give it to your friends, I really don’t care’. Others may argue that by downloading music illegally people can come to know new artists, and therefore buy tickets to concerts which is worth much more than buying a CD. Illegally downloading music may even seem harmless to people, it does not have a major effect on anyone, and you wouldn’t class someone as a criminal if you heard they had been downloading music for free. When surveyed, these were the main reasons people decided to download music illegally.

50% of the infringers said they do it because it's free
46% because it’s convenient
43% because it's quick
26% said they do it to try before buying.

According to a new report from Gartner it is suggested that the consumer spending on online music will reach $6.3 billion this year, up from $5.9 billion in 2010. So it should not sound surprising when over 33 million albums and 10 million singles were downloaded illegally of a popular file sharing site Bit Torrent in just the first six months of the year. This caused retail sales a loss of over 500 million pounds. It is estimated that 76% of downloads today are illegal and due to many people downloading an artist’s album or song free and illegally.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In my opinion, downloading music should not be an issue because there are so many artists, competition and choice. With music being so expensive, people will not be willing to pay for what they are being offered if it is so easy to download it illegally. I feel that the music industry has been robbing the general public since the first pair of headphones, and it has only got worst. So much money goes into the industry, and artists claim that it is ‘a passion’ or ‘a dream’, if this were true, music being free should not be such an issue. I think recording artists have other ways of making money, most major artists’ sale their own names, have concerts and engage in other activities. Technology has come such a long way since the 1940’s, and the value of music has decreased dramatically. Today, it is so easy to just record a song and put it on the internet, millions of people can have access to your work within minutes. I think that artists need to accept the fact that their work is just not worth billions anymore, and you cannot expect people to contribute $5.9 billion a year into the industry.

The number of people who download music illegally since Napster, the original file sharing programme is already almost equal to the number of people who do so legally. I do not believe the future is looking very bright for the music industry as the numbers are just increasing, downloading music has not just become a bad habit, but it is normal so less people are likely to start paying to download music.

Evaluation, Audience Feedback and Web Publishing

Sinead Miller

Task three: Web Publishing, Audience Feedback and Evaluation

My article was based on the topic of downloading music illegally. I started it by writing some of the views of some popular artists. I thought this would be good because the public are always interested in what the rich and famous have to say. The majority of my research came from the popular newspaper ‘The Guardian’ and the internet. I think I was successful in summarising what the artists were saying, however, in the future, I could widen the amount of research I do. I could look in other magazines that are similar to mine, used an online encyclopaedia or different forums.

 

I kept my journalist writing formal and relevant, but think my writing skills could have been improved by knowing my target audience better so that I could relate to them. I was aiming to write to write to a younger generation, people in their late teens to late 20’s. I could have used some anecdotes that were more relevant, so that they could relate better to them. This would have also given a better connection between the audience and the magazine. To improve my writing, I am going to read more Magazines so that I am familiar with their language and idiolect.

 

This is the first project I have done using InDesign. I have found the basic skills easy to learn and remember. I can easily import and export texts and photos, and change the image and ethos so that it will be appropriate to the style and image I was trying to display. I need to use InDesign more often so that I will be able to use it as effectively as possible.

If I want my final design to be an improvement, I need to become more familiar with the software, and I think it will be useful to understand some of the terms used, so that I will be able to make full use of it. I also want to know some shortcuts so that I can minimise the amount of time I waste.

College Magazine Contents Page draft 1