Digital Music Distribution


Digital Music Distribution


Developments leading to the explosion in popularity of the digital distribution of music began, fundamentally, with the development of digital technology. Throughout the twentieth century, developments in technology and music have influenced each other reciprocally. Digital technology has permeated music at all levels including its production, distribution, uses, and characteristics of its form and very nature. Since 1929, when Harry Nyquist published the mathematical foundation for the sampling theorem basic to all digital audio processing, digital music has evolved to become omnipresent (An Audio Timeline, 1999). This development has accelerated rapidly since the introduction of the Compact Disc in 1981 (An Audio Timeline, 1999). The acceleration has coincided, generally, with the developments of the personal computer, and the Internet. Specifically pertinent to our discussion are the developments of the recordable CD, MP3 technology, and file sharing software. According to David Kusek and Gerd Leonhard, the best selling CD in the United States is the recordable blank (2005, p. x). The development of Peer 2 Peer (P2P) file sharing software and its popularity galvanized a shift in the operation of the music industry (Park, 2007, p. 7; Kusek & Leonhard, 2005, p. 5). These innovations have lead to what has been termed the "digital music revolution", and to a context in which music is ubiquitous and accessible (Kusek & Leonhard, 2005, p. x).

According to Kusek and Leonhard, the introduction of the CD sparked the mass transformation from analog to digital, "a change that has precipitated the transformation of music as a product into music as an entertainment service" (2005, p. x). In 1991 a team of German engineers developed the music compression file, or MP3, and software for playing MP3s was subsequently introduced (An Audio Timeline, 1999). MP3 is short for a software algorithm, or codec, that compresses and decompresses audio files, facilitating their movement and use in applications. Files are converted within seconds according to an international standard developed in 1991, known as ISO-MPEG Audio Layer-3 (Kusek & Leonhard, 2005, p. 4). The recordable CD became a marketable reality in 1990, and Apple's Quick Time multimedia player format debuted in 1991 (An Audio Timeline, 1999). The compact disc was originally available with out any Digital Rights Mechanisms (DRMs), and people were able to make an infinite number of high quality copies (Kusek & Leonhard, 2005, p. 4). The combination of the introduction of CD drives in personal computers, software and Internet access enabled users to "rip" music onto their computers and share it with others via P2P file sharing programs like Napster (Kusek & Leonhard, 2005, p. 4).
Winamp, an MP3 playing software developed in 1997, gained popularity, and the introduction of Napster followed in 1999. Much to the chagrin of major record companies, free, unregulated file sharing subsequently exploded (Park, 2007, p. 6). Between 2000 and 2003 CD sales decreased by 26%, revenue was down by $2 billion and over 1200 music retailers closed in the United States (Kusek & Leonhard, 2005, p. 7). Universal, Sony BMG, Warner and EMI banded together into the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) to put Napster out of business. They were eventually successful after a series of lawsuits, and Napster filled for bankruptcy in 2002 (Kusek and Leonhard, 2005, p. 5). The RIAA continued by waging "war" against technologies that they believed enabled piracy (Kusek & Leonhard, 2005, p. 5). This lead to increased copyright protections supported by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) that had originally been established in 1998 (Ide, 2006).

Simon Frith has made the important distinction that "the music industry is not a manufacturing industry, it is a rights industry; it is organized around the management and exploitation of talent" (2000, p. 388). This observation is exceedingly important in the context of digital music distribution. As the distribution of music has become less concrete and physical, record companies have attempted to profit from these changes and have increased their desire for control through legislation in response to threats of piracy and circumvention of the traditional "rights regime" (Firth, 2000, p. 387). In 2000, Frith made the following poignant observation: "As the internet becomes a musical conduit for domestic consumers, so its economic and technical logic will shape the music business- the record may no longer be music’s preferred commodity form" (p. 391). In the years since this comment was made, the primary mode of music consumption has shifted almost entirely to digital form.

As a result of the massive popularity of free P2P systems, the music industry has had to catch up in order to remain commercially relevant. The iPod and iTunes, introduced by Apple in 2001, greatly facilitated the shift to digital music consumption (Ide, 2006). In 2003 Apple made a claim for the digital music market with the development of the iTunes Music Store (Ide, 2006). Kusek and Leonhard assert that the prominence of illegal file sharing systems was a direct result of the record companies failure to capitalize on emerging digital technology or to exploit it effectively at its inception (p. 6). New software, including Kazaa, Morpheus, Grokster, iMesh and Limewire, has emerged to fill the void left by Napster (Kusek and Leonhard, 2005, p. 5). Despite the fact that consumers are still able to download music for free, conglomerate powers in the music industry have made great strides towards the monopolization of Internet music (Park, 2007, p. 7).

Record companies have established agreements with digital music providers, creating a pay to download system (Park, 2007, p. 9). The music industry is thriving, while the CD industry is not. Music has begun to saturate all media, promotion is achieved through massive TV and web advertising campaigns, and fewer artists are promoted more rigorously (Park, 2007, p. 13). As Kusek and Leonhard have noted, "before to long… it will be abundantly clear that trying to sell overpriced plastic discs to people who have ubiquitous online access to the entire vault of music will be like trying to sell snow at the North Pole" (2005, p. 8).

Despite efforts made by the music industry to monopolize the internet, digital distribution has blurred the lines between global and local, artisanship and entrepreneurship, indie and major, small and big. In addition, the path from local to global for musicians is no longer straightforward and linear (Frith, 2005, p. 381). Conflict between powerful sectors of the music industry and those who attempt to bypass them remains significant.



REFERENCES:

An Audio Timeline (1999). Retrieved March 8, 2008, from http://www.aes.org/aeshc/docs/audio.history.timeline.html

Frith, Simon, (2000). Music Industry Research: Where Now? Where Next? Notes
from Britain. Popular Music, Vol. 19 (No.3), 387-393.
Griscom, Richard (2003). Distant Music: Delivering Audio over the Internet.
Notes, Vol. 59 (No. 3). pp. 521-541.

Ide, Chelsea (2006). iTunes nation: Timeline of Digital Music. Retrieved March 9,
2008, from http://www.getoutaz.com/story/1334

Kusek, David & Gerd Leonhard (2005). The Future of Music: Manifesto for the Digital Music Revolution (Susan Gedutis Lindsay, Ed.). Boston : Berklee
Press.

Park, David J. (2007). Conglomerate Rock: The Music Industry's Quest to Divide Music and Conquer Wallets. Lanham, MD : Lexington Books.

Posted by: Steve S.



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