As we learned in class, Napster is based on sharing digital music files with others through the internet. As a result, people no longer need to buy a $17 CD to get a song, but can rather easily download it for free. The record labels were outraged because fewer CD sales will result in less revenue. If we think about how a supply and demand chart is affected by Napster, we can see why the industry was outraged. The demand for CDs will fall, causing the equilibrium to also fall with it. This results in less profit for the record labels and artists. This supports the fact that Napster was taking money from the music industry without giving any back. Or did they?
The beauty of Napster is that people can find many artists and songs they normally would not get a chance to listen to. As a result, the fan base of many artists actually increased. Artists could then go on tour, and get more profit as they can fill bigger venues and possibly price their tickets higher. Furthermore, they can sell merchandise, which will increase their profit, along with making all the fans who wear their shirts a walking advertisement for them. If we look at Napster's effect in this light, we can see how it might not be as terrible for the industry as the record labels tried to make it seem.
As we look at the industry today, it is apparent that it ended up following this path, even despite Napster's death. The half of cent artists get per stream on Spotify is not what pays for their massive houses and Lamborghinis. Rather, it is their ticket sales, merchandise, and endorsements that they put upon their large fan bases. Some of the biggest artists at the moment come from SoundCloud, a site where artists bank their success on the possibility that people will listen to their songs for free and share them with one another, allowing the artist to accumulate fame rather than album sales. Napster was able to completely reshape the music industry, in what I believe is a better form. Music is cheaper, more accessible, and smaller artists have greater opportunity. Of course, this change was made by a few teenagers in a ratty office and not the industry itself. This brings us to wonder if this is a direction the industry wanted to go in. Harmful or not, Napster changed how people listen to music, along with altering how the music industry worked.
This is such a really interesting take on the impact of Napster. I agree with you that Napster's flexibility to share and transfer music between users facilitated the chance for lesser-known artists to get their music distributed for free. But after the record labels got involved, the model changed. It was the iTunes Store, a project by Apple to bring music to customers on a per song basis where artists would get paid. They sought to sign deals right away with labels to ensure the legal distribution of their music, and it ultimately proved to be the right model for the next twelve years until streaming became popular.
ReplyDeleteSource: https://www.theverge.com/2013/4/26/4265172/itunes-store-at-10-how-apple-built-a-digital-media-juggernaut
I also had not heard of Napster before watching the "Downloaded" documentary in class, and I am now extremely shocked that I did not prior know what Napster was. We often consider the generational difference between us and our parents of how they listened to music, via cassettes, CDs, or records, however we do not consider what caused this generational gap to the current Spotify, iTunes, and SoundCloud. Napster was the first full-scale computer based music sharing program that acted as a bridge from physical music devices to digital music devices.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your unique perspective on the effects of Napster. Throughout the documentary and classroom discussions, we continued to highlight the negative effects of Napster on the record labels, as it supposedly took away revenue from the record label companies and artists. However, I have to agree with you on the idea that Napster helped to increase popularity for many artists, especially those who are less known. Consumers who were unable to purchase expensive CDs or records before were now able to stream their favorite artists' music through Napster, helping that artist gain support online.
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