Dealing With Music Piracy in the Digital Age

An intriguing news story out of Europe announces that France is about to initiate a strategy to combat illegal downloading by partially subsidizing a music subscription download card for 18 to 25 year olds. This got me thinking again about the whole issue of piracy in the digital sphere.

In the music industry there are two opposite camps when it comes to the matter of unpaid access to music. On the one hand sit the bigger labels, publishers and the royalty collection organizations that represent them who seem to have a penchant for monetizing every last usage of music, adopting a "fear of loss" attitude in reaction to the advent of digital. On the other, many independent labels and self-published artist-writers, seeing the writing on the wall when it comes to the reality of ongoing rampant file sharing and the borderless digital world, have more comfortably moved beyond that mode of thinking. In fact, for their very survival they see it as absolutely necessary to embrace what is happening and turn it to their advantage.

Allowing music to be accessed by consumers without impediments, often even for free, has become a mantra of sorts for many independents as their traditional world of distribution, promotion and marketing has been turned upside down by digital technology. They see the Internet and mobile more as an avenue for increasing exposure and creating demand than as a primary direct revenue source and are inclined to rely on things like touring, off-stage CD sales, sales of other merchandise, sync placements, endorsements, sponsorships and anything else that cannot be digitally duplicated to generate money.

Chris Anderson of Wired provided this perspective at the Midem music conference in Cannes, France: "Piracy is the wrong word for what we are seeing online and we should not stigmatize it. Artists want to be heard and 99.9% of them are not well served by the current system, which serves the minority of successful artists. The enemy for most artists is not piracy but obscurity. Anything that gets them exposure is a good thing, even if it does not convert into dollars and profit." [Midem News, January 22, 2007]

Collectives, in concert with some bigger publishers and labels and partly as a response to unauthorized commercial websites disseminating music tracks for free or next to nothing, have been trying for years to come up with digital rights management tools that can ensure that no one receives and uses any music for free.

Thus it is that you have two polar-opposite philosophies that have made for some fractious interchanges between the camps and, depending on which side of the fence you sit on, counter-productive initiatives.

Some stakeholders, myself included, think that publishers, labels and collectives should be employing carrots instead of sticks, incentives rather than restrictions, to get people on board with the idea of paying for music, utilizing initiatives that treat the consumer as a valued client instead of the enemy. Good on you, France.

No Labels Are Investing Anymore on Bands

Looking for labels

Take a handful of artists away from the mix (not literally of course) and you'll find there just isn't the investment being put in to the record. If you're signed to a record company they aren't spending what they used to, they can't afford to. They probably won't be able to afford a top rate producer but just allocate a recording budget that will do little more than suffice.

Independent promotion, nah we'll save money and do it in-house. They stick it out at minimum costs to see if there's a bite and take it from there. It stinks of no confidence, who ever knew for certain any one record would be guaranteed to sell? Anything could bomb but a spend shows a commitment and a belief that you want to make it happen, or at least it did. If you let everyone know you had a great record then you still need a public eager to purchase.

Download Mp3 Website

Music downloads offer people like me the comfort of never having to waste time in retail stores looking for my favorite track from high-school days or wondering when the latest album of Nickelback would hit the shelves. Instead, all the hassles are removed with everything easily searchable, previewable and downloadable from the comfort of my computer chair (and this is very, very, comfortable). music downloads are becoming more and more popular due to the rise of the MP3 player. The digital revolution made buying music downloads a must for many people.

Where to download MP3 music

If you are looking for free music then the internet is the right place for you. You will find a lot of websites where you can download MP3 music. Many of these sites offer free MP3 downloads or charge only a minimum amount of money, but the download is allowed usually only one-time.
The reason why MP3 is getting so popular is that that MP3 music usually is cheaper than any CD's or DVD's and some sites even offer it completely for free.

But the distribution of MP3 files over the internet may also have some downsides. The MP3's you can download on many sites are protected by copyright, so the distribution and download of these MP3 files is illegal. Although there have been filed several lawsuits over this particular issue, but this practice still continues to flourish.

Luckily there are also some sites that offer only legal MP3 music for download, so you can be assured that all of your downloads from these sites are absolutely legal. No copyright or law will be broken, so you and your MP3 downloads remain secure.

The following list is only a short excerpt of the available sites that offer legal MP3 Music downloads, so a little research will bring you up with more sites.

You Can Download MP3 Music at MP3Musiq.com

MP3Musiq is the music downloading service that everyone is talking about.
They are proud to be the #1 downloading mp3 service that allows you to easily download Millions of FREE MUSIC MP3s, CDs, Games, Movies and much more!
With MP3Musiq you are not just limited to top music downloads you can download all kinds of DVDs video games and full version software programs.
Membership mean access to millions of music files, movie files, software programs, pictures, games, movies and TV shows...all without a single download fee.

You Can Download MP3 Music at Amazon.com

Amazon.com is not only an online bookstore, but also a place for free music as well.
The collection of free music they have in their archive will surprise you. Have a look at their MP3 music downloads section. You will find MP3 music downloads in various genres like, hard rock, rhythm and blues, soul, hip hop, urban, metal, electronic, rock & pop, alternative, and many more.
If you are looking for dance tunes then this is also the right place for you. Also you will find jazz, reggae, country ditties, Latin, blues, and so on. To top it this site also features various collections from artists like Eminem, Usher, Christina Aguilera, Destiny's Child, etc. If you want to stay updated Amazon.com with online news and so on, Amazon.com is your place to visit each and every day.

You Can Download MP3 Music at MP3.com

MP3.com is not only a great place to gather lots of MP3 Music files for many enthusiasts and music fans, but it is also one of the most popular and interactive communities you will find online.
Their product-range includes not only MP3 Music but also photo galleries, videos, album reviews, and free streaming. This community is one of the most popular you will find online.

You Can Download MP3 Music at eMusic.com

After you sign up for an account with eMusic.com, you get access to one of the most extensive collection of MP3 music for sale or purchase. As you have to pay if you want to download MP3 music from this trusted site, you can be assured that this takes place without breaking any law.
If you act fast you can get a little bonus at their site. At the moment they are running a promotion that allows you to download 25 MP3 music files for free, so you do not have to pay for them.

You Can Download MP3 Music at GarageBand.com

Garageband.com is another wonderful place if you want to download MP3 music. If you are a friend of indie music then this site is for you. Different independent artists and musicians will help you to broaden your musical tastes. You will definitely not find such an extensive collection offered anywhere in the physical world.

You Can Download MP3 Music at YourMP3.net

YourMP3.net is another great site if you look for MP3 music downloads. There you will find songs right off the charts, including songs like Numb/Encore by Linkin Park Feat. Jay Z,
Don't You Want Me (brand new club hit) by DJ Hero.D, Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Green Day, My Boo by Usher and Alicia Keys and many more. You will also find song lyrics, full albums, and free software and screen savers. They also provide you with an online request form so you can ask for music you are looking for.

You Can Download MP3 Music at Lycos.com

There are many sites that offer MP3 music downloads and Lycos.com is one of them.
They also offer extensive background information for all featured artist, including bios, discographies, photos, videos and lyrics. Their collection of MP3s and songs of many well known artists is really huge. So you only need to type in their name at the search box at the top of the page and if available you receive a list of links to that artist's MP3 music downloads.

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Save Indie Band by Downloading Legal MP3

Piracy is always an enemy to many people in the world. Because of the piracy, there would be too many losses that anyone should deal with. Some musicians have already felt how bitter it might be to deal with the piracy. Their songs have been sold in the entire world without their permits. They might not know that somehow their songs have been sold in some countries. This is truly ridiculous and amazing. Those singers didn’t know that they could sell the records that much because the fact is, the numbers of royalties that they have received wasn’t show that much of cash. It means, the piracy did take so much from them and it’s terrible. Well, if it happened to the senior singers, they might have no many problems with it. 

It would be extremely terrible when it happen to the newbie. It would even more terrible if it was happening to some indie bands. Those indie bands have decided to use the online media to promote their indie album in the hope that they wouldn’t have to spend too much cash for the publicities. However, after some times, they might not know that their songs have been sold because the fact that they didn’t receive so much from the recording company. The recording company also didn’t receive anything and the only side that took advantages would be the pirates. So, it would be our responsibilities, all of us without exceptions to take care of this condition. It all starts from us. We should prohibit ourselves from downloading some illegal materials from the internet. 

If we could start it from ourselves, it would help us to save indie band. It would be excellent if we could save indie band by downloading legal MP3. The legal MP3 would give some earnings for the artists. It means, their creativities would be paid. It would be the best way to show our appreciations to those indie bands. We got to make sure that we would prefer the legal mp3 than the other kinds of it. Illegal one might be cheaper, or it might be free but somehow, it would be the same as supporting the piracy and on the other side, we are killing the indie band. We should realize that indie band doesn’t have much power to compete. They didn’t have much power to make some massive promotion actions. So, act against piracy would be helpful. 

Download MP3s from Last Child at Popmaya

To solve problems such as failed download, slow search research and limited search results are what most mp3 music download programs aim. The downloads may not only about that on file sharing system but also on a legal mp3 music limited download program.

One of many online products you can discover on the internet is music downloads. It must be convenient if we can get the products from a music download sites that do not violate copyright law as well as cover most every musical genre. It is possible to find legal downloads from websites where world-wide artists list their masterpieces to download for free. For example you can download MP3s from Last Child at Popmaya. There you can join a group of people including artists, fans and musicians who have high interest on music, sell their music, discuss, rate and share their music. There is the place where you can promote yourself if you wish to be an artist by uploading your profile and creation.

In short some music downloads that are free have weaknesses and problems. They can be a sharing music media websites that contain pop ups, spyware, adware, viruses while they do not give you technical support, privacy protection and guarantee with money back if you have complain with the program.