Argumentative Essay: Backlashing The Music Industry

Although claims have been made that downloading music for free without paying is stealing and hurts profits, complaints seem to originate most commonly from record labels and a handful of the larger artists such as Def Leppard and Taylor Swift rather than from every artist who has free music on sites like Napster. When Napster came out on the internet and began to develop success, only then were they targeted by the music industry: when their success became a threat. Ian mentions how she was bombarded with return emails. In her original article, she states that a representative of RIAA, The Recording Industry Association of America, sent her a decent amount of data and statistics supporting their side of the issue as well as NARAS, but more bluntly stating that “downloads were ‘destroying sales,’ ‘ruining the music industry’ and

In 2014, there was consumer backlash on Spotify because Taylor Swift had pulled all her songs from the streaming service. She and two of the world’s largest record companies, Universal and Sony, felt that “the “freemium” model, which allows consumers to listen to music for free in exchange for listening to ads, or pay to listen without ads” (Internet fight), was inadequate. In Table 1, the artist is depicted as still getting their money even when you cut out the middleman. Because music can now be accessed online, music labels are cut out of the equation and artists are not affected (Conscience Cleared). When you place music labels in position of the middle man depicted, it is easy to tell that online downloading would significantly reduce profits of these labels. RIAA members stand the most to lose if music can be accessed more easily and cheaper through another source. Most artists do not complain because it is free publicity. Free downloadable music offers more opportunities for marketing because the internet is not limited to just one