the evolution of the music industry

The music industry is without a doubt the biggest contributor to most nations' revenues. With a market that is worth billions, music is seen by many as a form of art and expression. Its multi-dimensional side has the ability to connect people in many different ways and from across all spheres of life whether social, spititual or political. itt encompasses the world and the aspirations of its people reflecting politics, the economy and new technology.



The invention of MP3 players for instance has given music lovers the endless opportunity to download music and therefore giving them access to the works of their favourite musicians. Websites such as MySpace and YouTube allow for more access to artists who now can promote and advertise themselves without the help of record houses. Search engines such as Limeware and Napster, which is a search engine that allows users to find and download MP3 audio files, are yet some of the inventions of new media technologies within the music business and uses cutting-edge technology to ensure the completion of each MP3 download. with such prospects in the fore then downloading becomes the answer to the prayers of many people and can be said to be very economical compared to having to purchase the whole album in the sense as a consumer one is offered the choice to download only the songs they want which is not the case with cd purchases. Moreover music downloading offers independent artists the chance to promte themselves thereby permeating their desired markets. A fan can upload a song that they got to know about through the internet onto a radio station's website and in this way give that particular artist the chance to be heard. In this sense then, record label houses are becoming less and less important in the permeation of the industry especially to artists who wish not to go through the commercialising route most famous artists have taken.



However wonderful this may be, these search engines still find themselves at crossraods with the law. The Recording Industry Association of America which is mandated with protecting intellectual property rights of artists has filed a number of lawsuits against various music search sites such as Project Playlist, claiming their copyrights are infringed by the site's index of links.