The start of it all.
Last month Japan passed a new law that made downloading illegal music or video punishable by up to two years in prison and or a fine of two million yen (25,144.60 USD). There are few music fans in today’s age who have never downloaded something illegally, even if it was unintended. Now surveys are showing that 68% of people have not purchased any music since the law went into effect, putting it at the lowest number in over ten years (Japan Today). There appears to be little to no correlation between illegal download laws and an increase in music sales.
Yes, piracy is a huge problem that needs to be addressed. Artists and labels need to get paid for what they create. The issue is that instead of exploring alternative revenue models, the labels are intent at punishing the people who patronize their business. I am sure that many individuals who have illegally shared songs online did not intend to destroy the music industry. They were only trying to share something they loved with others.
What the record labels fail to understand is that technology has dramatically impacted consumer behavior, we want to use our media across all of our devices and it needs to be available at the same time globally. I do not see why we see album releases being delayed in certain countries, it’s practically encouraging pirate-ism (not a word).
Companies offering a way to legally streaming music like Pandora, Grooveshark, and Spotify are unable to sustain their own businesses due to the high royalty fees they are forced to pay. These services offer legal streaming and paid download options. If EMI or any of the major labels invested in one of these companies, they’re creating a platform that allows them to compete directly against Apple who hold the true music monopoly in iTunes. Someone is going to build the right application or social network that incorporates music. Apple tried with Ping, DJZ wants to do it for EDM, and Myspace could pull it off with their rebrand.
If there’s a website giving away illegal downloads, then it needs to be shut down. Increasing the penalties against the consumers of your product is not the way to increase or return revenue levels to what they were. Technology has changed everything, it’s time for the music industry to adapt.
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