Topic 5 – Final Reflection

photo credit: spettacolopuro via photopin cc

photo credit: spettacolopuro via photopin cc

This week’s topic was centred around access to free online content. Whilst we were directed towards the topic of free access to research papers and educational resources, I decided to concentrate on an area that has always interested me. The way the entertainment industry has evolved over the years is fascinating. Specifically how the Internet has drastically shaped it in recent times.

The Internet has killed off many industries and also helped to improve many others.

What is so interesting about the entertainment industry is that the Internet has both benefited and hindered it.

I discussed the main problem that has arisen, the free content culture that has developed – leading to prolific piracy of content. And how the Internet has benefitted small up and coming artists trying to get noticed.

I received a comment on my blog from Charlie, which highlighted that on average an artist only receives £1.04 from a CD album sale. This was considerably lower than I originally thought it would be. And this makes the figure that Spotify pays (£0.007 per play) seem much more favourable.

If we assume an album is 14 songs long, it would only take 10.6 full plays of an album for the artist to make the same amount as a CD album sale. Obviously more people are more likely to stream an album than buy a CD, so this really changed my perspective on the streaming of music. Maybe it will become the future of music distribution!

It is worth pointing out that an artist would receive more than £1.04 from an online album sale on iTunes due to the lack of manufacturing, distribution and high retail costs (but the copyright, record company and VAT charges would still remain).

Elsewhere on the topic I commented on Nabeels blog post, questioning his statement “Once I purchase a product I have every right to give it to whoever I like”. In his reply it turned out that he knew that these actions were against the law but was actually questioning the laws themselves. He backed his point up by referring to the free content culture of the youth today, which was a valid point.

Dom


Leave a Reply

Your e-mail address will not be published. Required fields are marked *