Napster's Impact On The Music Industry

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Since 1999, when people began to finally understand how the internet functions, free online music streaming change the way people purchase and listen to music. It all started with the creation of Napster, the first music streaming site, where users could select songs to create their own playlist instead of random selected radio music. However, due to the major impact on music industries, Napster was shut down in February of 2001 for illegal downloading, which violated the legal copyrights owned by music companies. Similar to downloading movies to watch at home, people share music files downloaded from online free music sites instead of purchasing songs on iTunes. Moreover, now sites such as Pandora and Spotify stream music for free on apps for people to listen to wherever they go. Peer-to-peer file sharing and free music streaming sites may be convenient for listeners; however, the music industry suffer a huge impact from them. Doubtedly, one of the main reasons …show more content…

Specifically, music sites permit listeners to innocently view and download songs and albums copyrighted from companies illegally. Due to the fact that these sites are free for anyone to view, people who download free music without knowing that companies are not getting anything in return. Jamie Lendino, the managing editor of Consumer Electronics for PC Magazine, believes that music should not be free; he observed that people would purchase paintings, books, sculptures and other art crafts, however people would rather download free music than purchase songs. In the same way an author or an artist dedicate their time and effort to create a masterpiece many are willing to purchase, yet those same people would criticize musicians for wanting listeners to buy their albums because it would seem that musicians only want money. Lendino observed that since 2013, when Spotify allowed