Week 4 - file sharing

How and why could any band ‘make it’ through social networking/content sharing sites?

The internet is unique in its communicative characteristics, it allows free uploading of information and makes it available almost anywhere in the world. Some social networking sites allow bands to upload their music and tell other members about upcoming events. The biggest site that allows this is myspace.com, who have millions of bands added to their social network. This is free for the producer and the consumer of music, and is quick and easy to access. Myspace music rose to fame with Lily Allen as she used the site to promote her now internationally famous music. Many people now strive to find new and interesting music on the site which allows anyone and any band to join. On a personal level, my friends have a band on myspace and they attribute part of their success to myspace. They reach people in other countries and other towns and, as a local band, they couldn’t have done that before. They have also been in touch with venues and promoters through social networking sites and have gotten a few gigs from it. Before the internet, the only way to listen to new bands was on the radio or in different clubs, now success is only a click away.

How do filesharing, online downloading and the ‘networking’ of new material change the way music is consumed?

It is easy to see how much the internet has influenced our consumption through browsing through the diminishing CD aisles in shops like HMV. CD singles are restricted to top 10 and there are visibly less CD’s overall. This could be due to the ease of buying online, alphageek.com describes the benefits downloads as “Cheaper than CDs; instantaneous home delivery; most online stores have much larger selections than brick-and-mortar stores.” Purchasing downloads is instant, cheap and easy, and although the songs are often compacted to be lower quality, the effortlessness of it means that people will consume it this way anyway. It also allows consumers to find bands and artists that they wouldn’t have known before through forums or social networks. The problem with file sharing is that it enables people to share music online for free, illegally. This harms the music industry, threatening thousands of jobs