Some facts to consider concerning file sharing.

[herodotus]

I am finding this to be quite interesting. And it certainly seems to have created quite a stir in the music industry.


http://www.unc.edu/~cigar/papers/FileSh ... ch2004.pdf




But then of course, my screen name is the name of a long dead greek historian, so that tells you what I find interesting...

[Z3R0T0N1N]

good stuff, H.
thanx.
this is the kind of thing that it is good to print out a copy, photocopy it, and leave them around your college or whatever. People need to hear this stuff.

[lawapa]

While the verbiage used to justify filesharing is hard to quantify "It would take a Ph.D. in linear math to understand" I think the concessus that file sharing drives CD sales is valid. My consumption has dropped simply because the number of CD's I would buy has dropped. Most of the files shared are of the most popular music driven by MTV rotation. Meaning nothing I would buy. Since I have no Ph.D. in linear math the assumption set forth in this thesis could be false for all I care. But I have always thought the most restrictive systems have the smallest base/percentage of the market. What this might equate to is piracy drives the market in more ways than we can imagine. Since most software requires frequent updates this means to stay current one must buy eventually. And as was pointed out downloaded music is often of inferior quality to the purchased CD. As we move toward CD's that cannot be ripped to a computer I think the equation will be refined. Because this variable can and will show if the file is not shared it's sales suffer? This might shut the RIAA guys up and then again it might not. But those boys in the biz can be predatory lot I hear. The assumption was from the start that filesharing cut sales. But the correlation to radio play is novel. This then assumes that sharing is driving the purchase of CD sales. And that a small percentage is lost to even the smallest group from those who would not but anyway. What was termed insignificant.

[nuffink]

Despite our best efforts, the scum continue to thrive.

[lawapa]

Not really: I've never downloaded a single copyrighted file in my life without the authors permission. Not one. And even after this article I still will maintain that same level of integrity. With or without your approval. But as you imply it's better to labor in relative obscurity. +) Piracy was a problem before I bought my first computer. It will continue with or without your direct permission. And as I've noticed we all pay for that with paranoid delusions. Most restrictions are the direct result of piracy. So we all deal with the results weather we'd like to admit it or not. But scientists can model the weather as well as markets. In fact market models are closer to the real thing than global weather models. If this thesis is in fact a serious model the intent is to correlate sales data with download frequency. Since I've never participated in this activity the results are interesting to me only on a superficial level. And yet I think it's funny even hilarious that if this is a serious study and if the model is correct then those advocating absolute content control are cutting there own throats. Any first year marketing major will tell you that exposure is king. High profile is desirable and without it sales suffer or are nonexistent. And the name of the game with all products is just that. To be seen and heard because without it you are dead in the water. Before the Internet high profile cost money. Big money. And yet desirable content can sweep the Internet overnight. And what better way could you promote what you offer than injecting it into an existing system? I'm not in sales or marketing. But if truth is in the pudding this model might be used in that way. Just as in the past radio play was key to sales in music marketers will take there products to where the youth are? I'm getting that zing now. It's like a light just went on. The big boys in the biz all look to market models to give them that edge. Focus, get that to where the kids are. And where are they? Listening to the radio? Watching MTV? oPPS What if this paper is the start?

[VitaminD]

keep those integrals away from me

I only skimmed that analysis... but from what I gathered it was a good read (outside of the integrals )

[Cyprus]

I download music. Is it stealing? Of course. I don't think anybody can really morally justify downloading someone's music without their permission. If they say you shouldn't do it, than you shouldn't do it.

But at the same time even though I'm a very moral person for whatever reason that morality doesn't expand to the area of downloading music. I do it in the privacy of my own home, no one ever knows about it, and I still purchase CDs, so it FEELS like I'm doing nothing wrong. Especially since as a musician I believe music should be free, music is a beautiful thing and should be shared freely to the whole world. But that's my opinion and I don't expect anyone else to agree with that.

But despite my hypocrisy in saying it's wrong and still continuing to download, I've always thought that file-sharing in the end is probably the most revolutionary and benefitial thing to ever happen in music. I don't agree with the record labels that it's purely negative, I view it as free advertisement. I also view it as a way to cut out the record labels, the same scum that force you to sign contracts so they can own YOUR music.

But right now in it's infancy it's essentially a mess. Nobody really knows quite how to handle it. But I think in the end it will be the greatest blessing independent artists like ourselves could ever have. It's just going to take a few years.

[Cabinfever]

may or may not be true, but it is some of the most turgid, verbose, and inaccessible writing i've come across in a long while.

i always find it amusing that supposed 'academics' feel compelled to write in the most stilted manner possible.

i think that in a hundred years or so people will look back on todays academic prose and have a good laugh at its prententious style.

i don't recommend leaving copies of this on campus. no one will ever read it.

give it to a good journo to turn into a snappy page or two

[Z3R0T0N1N]

i found it an easy read. most people i knnow would have no problem. none of us has a phd or anything. I don't think that in matters such as analysis of figures, or other such acedemic subjects, that it would be at all appropriate to use anything besides clear and consise language. When dealing with facts and figures for the purpose of study, it it very counter productive to use non-technical or coloquial language; otherwise one risks having the findings of such research become less clear, and up for misinterpretation.
I suppose it would depend on the campus, but out of the four that I have attended, language such as that used in this report is quite common.
g.

[fateamenabletochange]

The RIAA 's goin down as it becomes, even more obvious that the A and R men for the BIG 5 or 6, really don't know shit from chewed dates.....Meanwhile,there's a roaring trade in cellphone accessories,DVD's,games and PC upgrades.The Recording Industry is perceived as greedy.

[herror_one]

The games industry is doing more than fine now. Why? Because a gamer (and their number is increasing exponentially)will buy something that he really likes. It is something about the box the game came packaged in, or about the poster that is also included, or, well, I don't know exactly what it is, but gamers want to buy the games they like most. Of course, they will play cracks, also, but they wouldn't have bought them anyway.
And, even if you don't buy a game, you may find it after a year or so included as a cover mounting version (free) in a game magazine. And covermounting brings money, also, to the gaming industry, and is a great way to make people feel the advantages of posessing legal copies of a game (patches, updates, online multiplayer). And there are OEM versions of the games, that come in the same package with hardware stuff. And the price of a game falls pretty fast after it is launched, making it atractive in a short time. Clearly, the gaming industry is alive (although not very inspired when it comes to the games themselves).
Also, kids (and not only them) kinda feel like they belong to something that has to do with their game. It is a feeling of envolvement that generates specific group behaviours. As it was in the '80 with punk, or DM fans or the rasta/reggae crowd. I feel like today the music doesn't create this kind of envolvement from the public anymore. Believe me (I work in game journalism - but not in english) kids aren't talking about music and groups or about a specific guitarist or drummer, as they did until the '90s. They are talking about the latest upgrade to their armor (or their latest upgrade to the CPU), and where to get a new quest in WoW, or how to team with another guy to make the best use of the tank in UT2004. This is a sign - I think the "official" music is becoming, slowly, but surely, non-profitable. If there wouldn't have been for MTV and alike, the crisis in the music industry would have burst a long ago, at the begining of the digital era.
I kinda feel like in a few years from now, if they don't change deeply something in the way they do business, the tycoons of the music industry will go bankrupt, having the good old fashioned laws of copyright assuringly resting under their pillows.

[meridian]

I kinda feel like in a few years from now, if they don't change deeply something in the way they do business, the tycoons of the music industry will go bankrupt...

If it weren't for the availability and growth in the DVD market I would tend to agree. I see the "album" market turning to more involved DVD productions and abandoning CD audio completely in a few years. DVDs are harder to copy and fileshare (though far from impossible), whereas CDs are quite easy to share. Unfortunately, this may also have a side effect of creating DVD "bloat" where DVD releases are big and bulky (e.g., full of crap, rather than just half full!) to discourage the hard core file sharing folk.

[Cabinfever]

When dealing with facts and figures for the purpose of study, it it very counter productive to use non-technical or coloquial language

with respect, i disagree. this is the sort of bollocks that academics say to insulate their world. but its common to most professional trades. specialist terminology is part of the power structure.

i translated technical documents and academic literature into 'plain speak' english for several years. its incredible how, when you strip away the turgid bullshit, how very little substance often remains.

a little ot though where were we ? ah, kicking the riaa again...

[herodotus]

When dealing with facts and figures for the purpose of study, it it very counter productive to use non-technical or coloquial language

with respect, i disagree. this is the sort of bollocks that academics say to insulate their world. but its common to most professional trades. specialist terminology is part of the power structure.

Some blame Hegel for this.

I blame the fact that no one reads anything but news magazines anymore.

In fact, I think journalism is killing the english language.


But then,I am a dead greek historian, after all.

[gullfo]

also, consider that we're not just talking downloads, but "free" downloads. the music industry doesn't have a problem with "paid" downloads (meaning they just want control of whatever media is involved). Interesting that there are no stats published on the relationship between say itune downloads versus loss of CD sales (given people who get the one song worth keeping from itunes probably doesn't bother buying the CD...)

so unless you have all the numbers "free" vs "paid" clearly organized, it would be hard to say why the music industry is suffering a 10-20% drop in CD sales. and whether or not they're making that up on online sales...