Digital Music Case Study Media Essay

Digital Music Case Study Media Essay The industry condition that led to the revolution in audio distribution was the transformation of music from conventional songs and albums to new digitally recorded formats. The MP3 format not only provided the means to store more songs in a given media by reducing the size of each song but it also enabled digital music players to play these songs with relatively high levels of clarity. The new format also enabled the songs to be downloaded and played on personal computers. Another aspect of the revolution in digital music was the ability of the software to convert existing CDs to the new MP3 format. On a broader scale, the industry condition witnessed the advent of media sharing applications which enabled the users to freely share as well as distribute songs in MP3 format with users who possessed the same file sharing application. Napster was the most popular among such media file sharing applications (Protecting Innovation: The Digitial Music Distribution Revolution ). The stakeholder who would be benefitted the most from this digital revolution would be the consumers of the music, especially those who have a personal computer as well as an access to the internet. With the increased feasibility of sharing media files in the new MP3 format had increased the possibility of users with respect to the acquisition of freely available media files (Protecting Innovation: The Digitial Music Distribution Revolution ). Question 2: Why did the music stores created by the record labels fail to attract many subscribers? What, if anything, should the record labels have done differently? Answer: The music stores created by the record labels fail to attract many subscribers due to their utilization of proprietary file formats. These file formats meant that the songs would have limited playability in terms of the music playing devices. It also drastically limited the digital rights management schemes and this was further subjected to limited offering of media selection. However the unrestricted peer to peer services such as Napster, Gnutella and Kaazaa provided a large selection of free media in the new format which did not incur costs that were commonly incident on media obtained from authorized stores. It is this feature of the unrestricted media sharing applications which led to the music stores created by record labels being rendered as ineffective (Protecting Innovation: The Digitial Music Distribution Revolution ). The record labels should have at least considered the option of changing the format of their offered media to MP3 format in keeping with the current environmental trends and consumer preferences. This would have enabled the record labels to manage the competition by free sharing apps to some extent by providing the popular media format to the consumers (Protecting Innovation: The Digitial Music Distribution Revolution ). Question 3: What will determine how long the success of the iPod and iTunes endures? Should Apple allow its iPods to play non-iTunes songs? Should Apple allow iTunes songs to play on non-iPod MP3 players? Answer: The factors which would determine the longevity of the success of the iPod and iTunes pertain fundamentally to the appeal of the product / service offerings of Apple. One of the main factors is the coolness of the products which has been successful in appealing to the younger faction of the target segment. Adequate emphasis also needs to be maintained on the smart strategies adopted by Apple which has been instrumental in developing strong relationships with the record labels. These record labels had accurately identified the cool factor of Apples products and were able to foresee viable prospects if an association were to be established with it. Other factors which would contribute to the determination of the longevity of the success of the iPod and iTunes would relate to the use of widely adopted and popular media formats, competitive pricing of the media products (purchase as well as downloads) and the possibility of licensing agreements with the record labels by means of which a comprehensive solution could be provided wherein a one-stop music shopping portal would be offered to the consumers (Protecting Innovation: The Digitial Music Distribution Revolution ). Apple currently permits the playing of non-iTunes songs on its iPod. The restriction in this regard is experienced when the users burn music to blank CDs. In this case the non iTunes songs would not be written on the storage media due to restrictions imposed by Apple with respect to non-iTunes songs. Apple should permit iTunes songs to be played on non iTunes compatible MP3 devices. Currently the imposition of this decision would not hold much relevance as Apple has already achieved 73% of the MP3 players market share due to the relaxation in the restrictions which were imposed on the playability of the media formats (Protecting Innovation: The Digitial Music Distribution Revolution ). Question 4: Why would musicians sign away their copyright privileges to their songs through Creative Commons? Answer: Musicians sign away their copyright privileges to their songs through Creative Commons due to the varying degrees of openness which would have an impact on the extent of sharing of media undertaken by the consumers. This degree of openness has been deemed as highly successful for the file sharing applications and the same could be utilized by the musicians for promoting that their music was ready and available for downloading. A significant aspect of this approach is that musicians have been enabled to promote their music for downloading without bearing any risk of infringement lawsuits that would otherwise have been imposed by record labels in such situations (Protecting Innovation: The Digitial Music Distribution Revolution ). Question 5: How is podcasting likely to impact the appropriability of recorded music, radio broadcasting, or other types of audio transmissions? Answer: Podcasts are likely to impact the appropriability of recorded music, broadcasting and other types of audio transmission in terms of the creation rights of such media. Users can freely create and develop the podcasts and share the same with users on the internet. The boundaries of recording have been removed with the possibility of sharing free MP3 media on the net without the presence of restrictions and barriers. The musicians who utilize this method do not approach music labels for obtaining the legal rights to their compositions. Users of such applications have no labels but they are able to generate the require popularity levels in the public. This would directly result in the incurrence of heavy loss to the record labels and would in fact pose a threat to the already existing music productions which have been developed by them. The trend in this regard has already commenced though in its infancy stages, and has gained popularity especially with music bands. An apt example of thi s the initiatives of the famous rock band, Motorhead which had released its new album with download permission being provided to the users. Some of the features of their offering were: The songs were provided in the currently popular MP3 format and this was beneficial for appealing to the consumers preferences. Moreover the standard pricing for albums ($.99 a song) was not imposed on the songs. The band had provisioned that the consumers would be permitted to pay whatever amount that they felt to be nominal in their opinion. The band had not used any record label for distributing this release, but still they managed to get the required reach as desired for their songs. The above features exhibit the manner in which podcasting has affected and will continue to influence the appropriability of recorded music, broadcasting and other types of audio transmission (Protecting Innovation: The Digitial Music Distribution Revolution ).