How the Internet has Transformed the Economics and Value of Music
Introduction
Digital technology has transformed the way people all over the world consume music. The Digital Age has also impacted the way musicians, artists and producers benefit from making music. Prior to digitalization, music had to either be consumed live and in-person or through the purchase of a hard copy (disc, cassette tape, record, etc.). Now that music files can be shared digitally over the Internet or streamed over social media sites, the ability of producers to manage how their content is distributed has been diminished substantially. In other words, the technology of connectivity has impacted the monetization of intellectual property (IP) by making it easier for consumers to obtain IP without necessarily having to pay for it—and labels such as illegal downloading or piracy do not sufficiently act as deterrents. With the arrival of iTunes, Spotify, Pandora and other sites that seek to control the supply and demand of music IP over the Internet and ensure that consumers pay for music, some progress has been made in restoring order to the music industry. However, the exact nature of the economics and value of music is still very much up for debate as the music value gap is only likely to increase from here on out—so long as share sites like YouTube enable uploaders a platform for getting music content to other users for free, thus reducing the revenue stream for the original producers of that content. This paper will look at the networked information economy, non-market production, IP copyrighting, the hierarchy of exploitation and the music value gap to show how the Internet has transformed the economics and value of music in the 21st century.
Networked Information Economy
The networked information economy refers to the “series of changes in the technologies, economic organization, and social practices of production in this environment [that] has created new opportunities for how we make and exchange information, knowledge, and culture” (Benkler 2). As Benkler notes, these changes are deep, structural, and bound to be long-lasting. The impact of this new system necessarily affects the way in which producers of music go about their business: their goals, ambitions, approaches, and methods are now so vastly different from...
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