How Has the Internet Changed the Music and Movie Industries Essay Example

20th century introduced actual record companies beginning to sell physical music media which dominated sales over sheet music by the end of World War I .

Since then, only the types of music and storage mediums have changed (vinyl, cassette, and then compact-disk, though other not-so-popular formats came and went as well).Record companies made large profits, as giving the least amount of money possible to the recording artists themselves was a common practice (so much in fact that Michael Jackson earning around $2 per album sold was considered a large amount of money ). As profitable as vinyl records and cassettes were to sell, record companies nearly forced the compact-disk format onto the public as it was the cheapest of all three to manufacture . Sony (a major record company then and now) had a large hand in developing the compact-disk format in 1979, and released Abba’s “The Visitors” album by 1982.Three years later and the format already boasted million-selling albums. The general public enjoyed the ability to skip tracks easily, the higher audio quality (though debatable by many vinyl enthusiasts) and the overall compact design when compared to their 12” vinyl counterparts.

The new format was win-win for both record companies who were able to produce compact-disks cheaper than vinyl records and cassettes, and consumers who wanted a non-degrading medium to enjoy their music on. Movies followed the trends of music, making large profits for studios willing to distribute motion pictures.Unlike music, however, movies took a while longer to get into the “home buyer” market that the record industry enjoyed for years. Technology didn’t progress quickly enough for movies to be enjoyed privately as

music had been able to do. Their profits relied solely on movie ticket sales and in rare instances, merchandising. Luckily for the movie industry this lost market came to an end in the late 1970’s when the relatively new home video player, the VCR (video cassette recorder) became the standard, and virtually only method for watching movies when the consumer desired in their home.

While home video players were introduced in the early 1970’s, it took several years and price reductions, not to mention the end of Sony’s rival format, the Betamax, to solidify a widespread home video format consumers adapted to . Sony, a company notorious for creating proprietary media formats in hopes of their format being successful (and subsequently forcing other companies to pay them licensing fees) created the Betamax (“Beta” for short) video format in an attempt to beat VHS (the format of tape used in VCRs, an abbreviation for Video Home System) in the home video market.Sony had the right idea: Betamax had a better picture quality than VHS, smaller tapes, and stronger durability. Ultimately however, it is Sony’s arrogance that solidified Betamax’s future of being synonymous with failure and unsupported technology in comedy and pop culture.

Sony decided not to license out the technology of Betamax players, meaning only Sony could produce the players themselves in an attempt for more revenue. JVC (the inventor of VHS) on the contrary, decided to license the technology to any company that wanted to manufacture the players.The result is predictable: JVC permitting “competing” companies to manufacture VCRs resulted in more choices and lower prices for consumers, making VHS the leading format for home movie viewing.

Both the music and movie industries now had strong, proven, and popular media formats they could sell to consumers.

The music and movie industry stayed fairly steady for a long period thereafter. Music was as popular as ever, with multi-platinum selling CDs not being uncommon.Movie companies enjoyed increased revenue by releasing their films on the VHS format after their theatrical release ran its course, and music companies were able to release (and rerelease) albums in the more profitable compact-disk format. One newer type of technology was growing rapidly, however. This technology was computers and the internet. Though the internet and computers especially had been around for decades by the mid 1990’s, it wasn’t until desktop computers reached a healthy medium of usefulness and attractive pricing that they became more common in the home.

Previously only used for databases, mainframes, and entertaining hardcore technophiles, an onslaught of different technologies coming together at once finally made the personal computer a commodity. Computers started to ship with CD-ROM drives in the mid 1990’s, turning the computer from a boring, mostly text-based operation, into a fully interactive platform helpful for education or entertainment. Since a CD-ROM drive was simply using a compact-disk drive for data, the popularity of the compact-disk helped push the computer industry forward.What would normally take over 500 floppy disks (the personal computer’s previously most popular format) could now fit on a single CD- ROM. The introduction of Microsoft’s Windows 95 also made the home PC easier and more entertainment-friendly, especially when compared to the previous 3. 1 version.

Also at this time, America Online introduced their incredibly then-popular flat-rate monthly internet fee of $19. 99 per

month. Accessing the internet was no longer an expensive or boring endeavor.With the influx of the personal computer in people’s homes and the staggering rise of those connecting to the internet, the means to obtain movies and music were inevitably facing change. This would take some time however, as the typical internet connection in the mid 1990’s couldn’t distribute even a single floppy disk in under ten minutes.

As expected, technology changed and faster dial-up modems and fiber-optic means of connecting to the internet were introduced.Capable of transferring data anywhere from twice to over a hundred-times faster than the fastest phone-based connection, broadband internet connections quickly became popular due to their increased speed, attractive price, and the freeing up of a telephone line while using the internet. Broadband internet (DSL, cable, FiOS, etc. ) also had the unique ability to share the connection with every device in the home through the use of a router. Wireless routers even allowed laptops and other hand-held devices to connect to ultra-fast internet connections without the use of cables.Even with ultra-fast internet connections, accessing movies and music quickly would not have been feasible if not for the use of compression.

Simply put, compression is the computational method of reducing a file’s size while maintaining its original level of quality. An example of this type of compression is MP3 . An extremely popular term used now, MP3 is simply a form of compression, taking the original audio file and converting it to MP3 for easy distribution and storage. For example, a single 4 minute audio track taken from a compact-disk and placed on a computer is over 40 megabytes in

size (around 30 floppy disks).

The same song at an indistinguishable sound quality in comparison is less than 5 megabytes in size. This makes the sharing of music over the internet nearly 10 times quicker than before the creation of the MP3 audio compression format. With no easy way to share these files, and as it is said that necessity is the mother of invention, Napster was born in 1999. Created by a college student named Shawn Fanning, Napster was the first popular method for people to share their music collections across the internet .

Napster sparked a media-sharing revolution despite being eventually shut down by court order.Music labels argued it was piracy, nearly akin to shoplifting a CD in a store. Many fans of music disagreed stating it was the only way to become exposed to new kinds of music; severely hindered by repetitive radio stations, many whom were illegally paid by music companies to play particular songs . Nevertheless, Napster’s downfall did virtually nothing to stop music file sharing. Other programs soon followed, with record companies and the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) following closely behind. It was futile however; every time they successfully managed to shut one sharing protocol down, another cropped up.

Rather than embracing this new technology and attempting to capitalize on it, the record industry attempted to shut it down in vain. In fact, one attempt to curtail the online sharing of music proved disastrous. In 2005, Sony, a staunch opponent to online file sharing, used a copy protection method on their music CDs that disabled the ability to play the compact-disks on computers . This resulted in only hurting

those who purchased the copy-protected CDs: they couldn’t properly play a music CD they had legally purchased, and those who illegally downloaded the CD on the internet could play it as they pleased.

It was as if those who purchased the CDs were reprimanded and those who downloaded it had no playback difficulties. This is in addition to the fact that it was later determined that when a Sony copy-protected CD was placed in a computer, it secretly installed an anti-piracy program in the user’s computer. Determined illegal as the user did not give permission to install the program, Sony was forced to discontinue the practice as civil and criminal lawsuits followed. Even worse, Sony’s anti-piracy program was even found to create a “hole” in the person’s computer, making them vulnerable to viruses and attacks.Eventually, record companies realized their anti-downloading efforts were time consuming, costly, and ineffective.

In April 2008, Blender magazine named the shutting down of Napster as the #1 biggest record-company screw-up of all time . During the height of the record industry’s claims that piracy was destroying the music business, rap musician Eminem’s The Marshall Mathers LP went on to sell 21 million copies . It became clear that music still sells, and it was time to embrace the internet rather than fight it.In April of 2003, Apple opened up their iTunes store, reaching out to the largest MP3 player install base: the iPod .

iTunes created a way for users to legally download music and pay for it, all in the convenience of their home for use on a portable audio player. While some music companies were reluctant to sign on, iTunes

now boasts over 6,000,000 songs, and $4,000,000,000 in sales. Other companies followed suit with websites such as eMusic, Rhapsody, and even Napster’s return due to the popularity of paying for music on the internet.The profits were even greater for companies than they were with selling CDs as they no longer had to print or manufacture physical disks, and paying for space in a music store was no longer as necessary as it once was.

Though songs downloaded on iTunes do have a form of copy-protection embedded in them (something Apple CEO Steve Jobs dislikes but is forced upon by the record companies), it’s much more lenient and doesn’t assume the customer is a thief as Sony once did.In fact, Amazon recently started a music purchasing website, and much to the praise of music fans it contains no copy protection and no software is needed to make the purchase; just a web browser. Though the selection of music is somewhat more limited by companies not participating in non-protected audio, it’s a welcome start in purchased music becoming as open as possible for users. Large-margin profits and methods of distribution are not the only way the internet has changed the music industry.

Bands, comedians and other entertainers that rely on audio sales achieve much greater exposure thanks to the internet.Comedian Dane Cook cites the popular social networking website MySpace and the ability for him to spread his comedy act around the internet as the reasons for his immense success (his album was the first comedy album to hit the top 5 Billboard charts in the past 28 years) . Without the exposure from television and radio that

popular musicians rely on, artists not signed with a major label can distribute their music without the need of major record labels (perhaps this is what the labels were afraid of all along? ). The movie industry has had a similar effect because of the internet, but not in the same way.

The reason being is fairly simple: speed. While a compressed (MP3) music file can take only seconds to download on a high-speed internet connection, an entire movie is much larger and in turn not feasible for instant viewing or the filling up of a large portion of valuable hard drive space. Due to the generally low prices of DVD movies (especially when compared to the $20+ cost of VHS tapes that offered virtually no advantages from a taped-from-TV copy) and the ease of DVD rentals due to sites such as Netflix and Blockbuster Online, the pirating of movies isn’t nearly as severe as it is with music.While it does exist, the major problem movie studio’s face in regards to piracy is of movies still currently in theaters (that is, a bootleg copy) . Before the popularity of the internet, bootleg movies were generally confined to the streets of downtown neighborhoods.

The internet allows these bootlegs to reach places around the world fairly quickly, hurting the chances of those viewing the bootleg to then purchase a ticket. Numerous methods to thwart bootlegging have recently gone into effect; namely a method where a secret collage of dots is shown non-obtrusively during the movie to detail the film’s origins .This assists the movie studio in knowing if a particular location is responsible for more than one source

of a bootleg. Screeners (copies given to the press for review) are also more carefully distributed. Howard Stern mentioned on his radio show that he was given permission to have a screener copy of a film only if a security guard were to stay in his home while he viewed it.

Though large file sizes and not-fast-enough connections to the internet seem to be hindering the movie industry’s full-fledged internet based future the way the music industry is eading, it’s not to say it isn’t getting closer. Netflix recently began allowing customers to view their rentals right on their website rather than wait for a delivery . Though the picture quality of the movie pales in comparison to a DVD copy (and isn’t very enjoyable to anyone without means of viewing their computer on a TV), it shows the internet is becoming a strong medium in which the movie industry is turning towards. iTunes now even offers full-length movies and TV shows to be watched on their video iPod line of players.

Again, humbled by long download times, large file sizes, and lower image quality, it’s not exactly taking over DVD sales in the way MP3s have taken from their physical formats. But it’s a start; and when broadband internet becomes stable and fast enough to support quick downloading, DVD-quality movies; we’ll be able to re-buy all our favorite movies over again in yet another format, just like we did with our music collections. This time, however, the format will no longer be tangible. Works Cited Rosen, Jody. "Researchers Play Tune Recorded Before Edison .

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