The future

The rapid growth of Internet users all aroiund the world has brought many issues to light. Among them are the questions of whether paper based publications such as letters, newspapers, novels etc. have a viable future and how changes driven by the ease accessibility of information on the Internet will affect the industries and occupations that depend on publication and storage of the printed word. However, similar speculation relating to the music industry and the Internet have been largely ignored up until recently. The Internet seems poised to revolutionise many aspects of the music industry including: the publishing of music, artist royalties for use of copywrited material and the sale of recorded music.

long distance calls can be made from internet sites, maps can be downloaded for anywhere in the country, even internet service itself can now be free. Whether it is for profit or fun, internet savvy computer programers are finding ways to undermine the 'old economy'. New laws can not be passed fast enough to stop the internet revolution.

The bottom line is that the music industry is going to have to adapt to new technology. One way would be find another way to make money on recorded music than just selling CD's. For example, many online retailers are losing money on their merchandise in order to be competitive but are making up for this loss by selling ad space on there sites. Even if they can't stop people from sharing copyrighted music, people will still by CD's. It is much easier to purchase a CD than find and download every song on that CD and put it on a recordable media. Mp3 sharing poses the bigest threat to music singles since the consumer is only interested in one song. It also poses a threat to an artist who releases 1 or 2 good songs from their CD but the rest of their CD sounds like it was recorded in two days. The recording industry has to evolve and figure out how to use new technology to make money instead of clinging on to the past. If they don't figure out how to use digital media to their advantage, they will be left behind in the new millennium