These changes caused hard copies like CDs and cassettes to diminish. The Internet has created multiple platforms of how music can be heard. “What’s new is this amazingly effective distribution system for stolen property called the Internet- and no one’s gonna shut down the Internet” said, Steve Jobs in a Rolling stone interview on December 3, 2003, (Internet 451). Digital music piracy is the act of illegally downloading music for free it has risen to harm the music industry. According to scholarly writers Mark and Yongsheng, “Though the MP3 file, short for MPEG-1 Audio Layer-3, was originally developed in 1987, Napster represented the first mainstream and user-friendly program to transfer and download these files.” Napster is a program that allows users to connect with one another and swap copyrighted files. According to GÜNDÜZ, Uğur another scholarly writer,“However, the giants of the world music market took Napster to court on the grounds that Napster violated copyright laws by distributing mp3 over the internet. As a result of losing court cases Napster became a subscription paying system and was forced to sign a copyright agreement with music companies.” It was only a matter of time before someone took legal action against Napster. For consumers mp3 formats gives access to a great variety of music, most of it for free. For artist mp3 format means they can distribute their work without a …show more content…
“Until the 1990s, a musician had little choice but to sign with one of the record companies, and the record companies took advantage of their oligopolist position to exact a high price from the artist”(453). This is no longer the case because artist can now release their own music and reach fans through social networks, becoming independent of a major label. Myspace was the first major service to providing the platform for artist, next was Facebook and now there is Twitter and Instagram. These platforms establish a direct link between artist and their fans, giving them the ability to sell music, tour tickets and merchandise. An example of this is Mac miller he became a hot sensation through social media, he did this by releasing a new song for every 100,000 follower he received he now has over 1.4 million. According to Zack Greenburg writer for Forbes Magazine, “In November, the Pittsburgh-born rhymester released his debut album Blue Slide Park through indie label Rostrum Records; it sold 144,000 copies in its opening week and became the first indie album to top the charts since 1995. The success earned him a spot in the music section of FORBES’ first-ever 30 Under 30 list.” Taking this route also has it’s downfalls because some social media like Facebook charge you to promote yourself. Richard Henderson writer for Billboard article says,“artists invest a lot of time into