How Does Copyright Affect The Future Of The Music Industry?

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The music industry faces many issues of copyright infringement and piracy because of the developments of digital technology, but the positives outweigh the negatives. Spreadable media explains the power of participatory culture, which is paving the way to success for many artists in the music industry. The future of the music industry will rely on musicians to make their money off touring, merchandising and other non-recording activities rather than album sales.
Music piracy has affected the music industry along with copyright infringement with the illegal downloads of music online. “The number of infringing music files at any one time on peer-to-peer services is now estimated at 1 billion, compared to 500 million in June 2002” (IFPI, 2003). …show more content…

Artists are affected by the loss in monetary value from digital downloads and illegal sharing. Fans that download the music illegally and share it are generating a different form of value. This results in fans being responsible for the popularity of a song and artist because they are the ones who control where it spreads. This leads to a growth in the artists’ fan base but it does not bring in the funds for the artist. With this new trend of online music, artists are forced to generate money through actions other than album sales. The standard business model for the music industry needs to change in order for the artists to deem any benefits. The future needs to adapt to these advancements in technology and realize other opportunities to make money.
The digital revolution is redefining the music industry when it comes to copyright proprietorship. With music now being available anytime with the use of downloads and wireless streaming, copyright owners are now presented with unlimited financial opportunities. Musical artists can now keep their copyrights with out having to rely on record