There have been significant technological advancements over the past two decades, changing the way music is recorded and distributed. With the rise in popularity of the internet and the introduction of MP3 players into the market, consumers have been given a vast number of choices to obtain music - from purchasing a physical copy, to legally or illegally downloading, and streaming online – giving rise to issues that make it increasingly difficult for record labels and artists to create and maintain revenue. The music business has developed strategies to combat this and regain power over the distribution of music.
For the purposes of this essay, the internet can be defined as a medium for which music can be recorded and shared. It is a powerful global network, helping people around the world to connect with one another at the click of a button.
Over the past decade, use of the internet has risen exponentially on a global scale. In Australia alone, there were 12,397,000 internet subscribers recorded at the end of December 2013; (ABS 2013) which was a considerable increase from 12,161,000 subscribers at the end of December 2012. This trend shows the already substantial popularity of this influential tool is on the rise. As the global population’s understanding of the internet has expanded, doors
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However, with the launch of portable music devices such as the MP3 player and iPod in the early 2000s, and the establishment of Apple’s iTunes in 2003 as well as other online music platforms, there has been a decrease in physical album sales (Koh, Murthi and Raghunathan 2013). These online music platforms offered a choice to consumers, that was not available previously: the option to buy a single, rather an entire body of work – encouraging the consumer to spend