Music And The Internet

Music and the Internet The Future of the Recorded Music in the Digital Age

Part I

The Social Ramifications

Part II

The Technical Ramifications

Part III

The Economic Ramifications

Part IV

The Political Ramifications

Submitted By: Mike Haverhals, Principal Haves Engineering Consulting and Design 56 S 2nd St.., Suite 306 San Jose, CA 95113 [email protected] Submitted To: Gary Clapper Technology & Society 2600 Camino Ramon San Ramon, CA 94583 Submittal Date: July 7, 2003

Music and the Internet Part I - The Social Ramifications

Abstract Music has always been an integral part of our culture. Unfortunately, those in control of its distribution have corrupted the means by which music has been available to the public over the years. Now, with the developments of the information age, we have the ability to freely distribute music across a public network without the restrictions of time or place. However, this approach is not without the risk of musical globalization that loses the cultural history associated with varying musical styles. And, there is also the possibility that providing a simplified distribution channel for any artist may result in the degradation of the overall quality of music that is accessible to the people. Still, with responsible use of this new system of music distribution, society will be able to enrich their lives both by being able to enjoy and learn from a wider range of musical styles as well as exercising their choice of what music they ultimately desire to listen to.

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Introduction The modern American composer Aaron Copland once stated that “So long as the human spirit thrives on the planet, music in some living form will accompany and sustain it and give it expressive meaning.” We have seen this to be true throughout history. Whether it be the classical music of past centuries, the rock and roll of this century, or the rapidly growing electronic music that may define the next century, music has remained both a gauge by which to measure society as well as a driving force within it. The impact of music can be readily noticed in the aesthetic value that can be obtained from the simple beauty of a song, the cathartic release that music can provide on an emotional level, and even on a financial level as the recording industry has become a large business. Along with being a valuable part of one’s culture and history, music also has the ability to influence the future. The reproduction and distribution of sound has been a driving force behind everything from the first telephone, to the digital age of file sharing across public networks. While these applications of communication technology were not solely developed so that a college student in Amsterdam can listen to a concert in San Francisco, the use of music will continue to not only effect our lives on an artistic level but will also continue to shape the ever-increasing amount of technology that is beginning to define our generation. Findings Centuries ago there were two basic forms of music. One was the common song passed along in the form of oral tradition amongst the common people. The second form was for the upper echelon of society where the rich would employ artists to create music for them. After all of these years, there has apparently been little shift from these origins. We still have the lower socioeconomic class of citizens that will perform on street corners or perhaps the local pub.

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And, we have the “stars” that perform sold out shows for those wealthy enough to afford tickets. There has been one significant change, however, in the form of broadcast technology. This paradigm shift has created “music for the masses” in that anyone can now have access to the music of the stars. Still, the programming for these broadcasts are defined by the station owners and record industry executives. The basics of the music industry for the past few decades has consisted of industry representatives finding performers and then giving them the appropriate channels through which to distribute their music. (Burpee, 1999) This system is closely controlled and the readily accessible music is predefined by what artists receive airplay and the number of albums that are manufactured for sale. So, while everyone in society now has access to music through the use of a simple radio, the common listener is still limited in their choices of what they are able to listen to. Those who can afford to purchase prerecorded music have more options when it comes to their desired music. However, there is still difficulty obtaining recordings that are not mass-produced by the recording industry. (Roberts, 2003) This becomes even more frightening when artists are no longer discovered, but rather created through the use of these media channels. Today, in the culmination of the information age in which we are finally beginning to grasp, we stand at the edge of paradigm shift in the relationship between society and music. Through the dissemination of music through public networks, we are beginning to realize a system of music distribution that is free from the control of recording company executives. Now, music from across the world has a means by which it can be freely distributed and enjoyed by people anywhere at anytime. (House, 2000) This will serve to release society from the “cookie-cutter,” popular music that has been aggressively promoted for years and allow people

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to widen their musical experience in order to understand more completely the human condition of not only their own culture, but other cultures as well. Implications and Indicators Unfortunately, this shift is not with out its downsides. There are obvious financial ramifications associated with the free distribution of music which will be discussed in the economic installment of this series. The role of the recording industry and their reluctance to abolish their current structure will also be discussed in the political installment of this series. And, the technology installment will discuss the means by which the music is physically distributed and the question of how everyone (and not just the fortunate few who own computers) can have access to this music. As for the social ramifications that this system of freely distributed music will have on our culture there is first the opportunity for any artist to distribute their music to the public regardless of the artist’s location or social class. This will greatly increase the diversity of music available to the public. (Garofalo, 1999) Whether it is viewed as good or bad, this diversity will undoubtedly accelerate the globalization of yet another aspect of lives. While it is important to understand and appreciate other cultures, it is also important that all of these cultures are able to hold on to their defining attributes. There is certainly nothing wrong with an artist in California using Irish bagpipes in a song. But there is a danger if over time people no longer recognize the fact that that it is an Irish bagpipe and that there is a history and a culture associated with it. Therefore, it should prove that music is being freely distributed when we begin to hear with some regularity the fusion of musical styles from differing cultures. Also, while there is the potential for the introduction of gifted artists who would otherwise go unnoticed; there is also the potential for an inundation of music with little to no

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value. (Beato, 2003) As with all arts, music is a craft in which it takes a concerted effort over time to become truly accomplished at what you are creating. This new form of free distribution will allow for anyone to distribute their music freely without regard for skill or experience. While it serves to reason that music with no apparent value will fall by the wayside, this will undoubtedly allow for a general degradation of musical quality along with a large number of “one-hit wonders” from musicians who are not able to create valuable music with consistency. Therefore, once music begins to be freely distributed, we should hopefully begin to recognize music genuinely for its aesthetic quality and likely begin to see the decline in numbers of readily identifiable “rock stars.” Summary The social ramifications of the free distribution of music are not without difficulties. The risk of losing the aesthetic quality of the music available combined with the potential of also losing the cultural history associated with varying styles of music is not to be overlooked. However, with a responsible audience that is capable of recognizing these dangers, the free distribution of music over public networks will provide our society with the means by which to improve our condition by increasing our understanding of varying musical styles and their associated cultures. And, society will be able to realize the freedom to choose what musical styles they wish to listen to and enjoy without the influence of the record industry.

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Sources Beato, G. Freeloader.com. February 2003. Available Online: http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/fridayreview/story/0,12102,904017,00.html Burpee, Geoff. The MP3 Revolution. October 1999. Available Online: http://www.time.com/time/asia/asiabuzz/9910/05/ Garofalo, Reebee. From Music Publishing to MP3: Music and Industry in the Twentieth Century. Fall 1999. Available Online: http://www.findarticles.com/cf_0/m2298/3_17/62052928/p1/article.jhtml?term= House of Representatives. Online Music: Will Small Music Labels and Entrepreneurs Prosper in the Internet Age? May 24, 2000. Available Online: http://www.house.gov/smbiz/hearings/106th/2000/000524/transcript.html Roberts, Ty. The Power of Music: File Sharing in 2021. 2003. Available Online: http://www.tnty.com/newsletter/futures/archive/v01-04media.html

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Music and the Internet Part II - The Technological Ramifications

Abstract Through the combination of the current digital recording techniques and the present network infrastructure, we sit at the brink of a paradigm shift in the distribution and storage of music. Unfortunately, this shift will likely cause a disparity in how various audio formats are distributed based primarily upon musical genre. Popular music genres will be more likely to be distributed over the Internet via lossy compression schemes; and niche genres will continue to utilize the high capacity available from physical means of storage in order to retain high-resolution recordings. Furthermore, technology will play a crucial role in the protection of content as it pertains to copyright issues through the use of watermarking and other various embedded controls in music distributed both physically and over our present network infrastructure.

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Introduction With the advent of digital technologies, the music industry has undergone a paradigm shift away from what was an entirely analog medium. The most common form of prerecorded music readily available to the public exists on Compact Disc. This format has replaced its predecessors the analog cassette tape and, with the exception of selected releases to the audiophile and/or DJ communities, the LP. No longer do artists record onto master tapes in the studio, rather they record onto hard drives so that they can perform their production via digital audio workstations. This conversion to the digital domain has and continues to lead to numerous opportunities for the storage, production, and dispersion of music by means that are far more efficient and of far greater quality than ever imagined. Recording technologies, production techniques, and the utilization of our present networking infrastructure has thrust our present culture towards a new revolution in the means by which we can enjoy the aesthetic qualities of music. Findings With the development of the compact disc medium, the recording industry adopted a format that was far superior to the current prerecorded formats in use at the time with respect to added value options and overall durability. One button direct track access was now the norm and the opportunity to program user-defined track playback sequences became a possibility. Furthermore, since the music was encoded in digital (binary) form and could be read from the CD optically, there was no physical contact point that would degrade the medium over time. The analog sound is transformed into the digital domain by taking the analog waveform (the sound wave) and defining the level of the waveform numerically over a given period of time. The level portion of this process is referred to as “resolution” and for a standard Red-book compliant audio

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CD the resolution is set at 16 bits. The period of time over which this resolution is recorded is referred to as the “sampling rate” and for a standard Red-book compliant audio CD the sampling rate is set at 44.1 KiloHertz (44,100 samples per second). This 16 bit, 44.1 KHz standard was devised in order to minimize the file size of songs in order to maximize the minutes of recorded music that could be stored on a CD – without compromising the quality of the audible sound reproduced from the digital file. (Pohlmann, 241) Over time, with the increase in storage size of optical discs, higher quality prerecorded data has presented itself in the market place. The DVDAudio standard increases the resolution to 24 bits and allows for sampling rates anywhere between 96 KHz and 192 KHz. Another new encoding technology, Super Audio CD, uses an altogether different technique called Direct Stream Digital encoding that record at 1 bit of resolution but at a sampling rate of 2.8224 MHz. (Murray-Robinson) These improvements offer a far higher quality of sound from a digitally stored format. However, there is also a push from outside the music industry to lower the file sizes of digitally stored music with very little to no degradation in sound quality. This is done through the use of complex algorithms that perform lossy compression of the original recording. Since data is lost in lossy compression, the algorithm must compensate by modifying properties of the recording through psychoacoustic modeling in order to make it sound like the original recording even though this new compressed file does not contain the same information. (Chang) The most common example of this technique is the MP3 format. The goal of these compression techniques is not only to maximize storage capabilities (imagine 100 songs per CD instead of only 10), but also to decrease the amount of time it takes to transmit the data over a network (imagine a song being downloaded in 1 minute instead of 10 minutes). By achieving shorter

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transmission times, the transmission of music via the Internet becomes a viable medium by which to provide prerecorded music. Implications and Indicators The use of the Internet as a medium by which to provide prerecorded music is the next paradigm shift in the music industry. Now, instead of the need for massive production facilities that manufacture millions of CDs per day, music can be provided to the end user without the manufacturing costs associated with producing the physical CD. Still, by storing compressed music files digitally and on a network, there is the potential for unrestricted distribution. This unregulated file sharing has become a major point of contention within the recording industry as copyright protected material is being freely distributed through the use of peer-to-peer networks. Originally, file-sharing networks such as Napster were enabled through the use of physical servers that enabled connections between various computers on the network. These computers could then copy existing music files off of other computers in order to obtain a vast library of musical content for free. As will be discussed in a later installment, the copyright infringement issues proved to be Napster’s demise and thus the U.S. government shut their servers down. Still, through newer networking techniques, peer-to-peer network architectures have been established without the use of a centralized server. This has led the recording industry to continue to fight their copyright battle legally in the courts and also caused them to combat file sharing through the use of technology. New CDs being produced are encrypted so that the end user is unable to “rip” and compress the musical content. (Copy the digital data off of the CD directly to their PC and compress it into an easily distributable format such as MP3.) These encryption techniques often lead to silence or various noises being inserted in to the music file if the end user attempts such actions. Furthermore, music distributed over the Internet by the

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recording industry itself now includes embedded watermarking and even expiration/validation schemes included in its coding. (Secure Digtital) Precautions like these from the music industry are certain to continue in as long as peer-to-peer networks continue to operate. The encryption of prerecorded physical media and the addition of copyright use information into Internet-based media will continue to develop. Likewise, attempts to crack and bypass these schemes will also present themselves. The major technological advancements aside from those protecting copyright issues will be seen in the transmission of the music files themselves. The two major factors that relate to transmission are the network speeds and the compression algorithms. As the algorithms used continue to develop and manage to better recreate the sound of the original recording while still keeping file sizes small, more end users will begin to utilize this Internet-based medium. Developers such as Coding Technologies are continuing to develop improved algorithms for MP3 coding. And, various other developers are also devising their own proprietary algorithms such as Microsoft and their WMA file format. Unfortunately, this movement towards what is currently a lower quality sound will also lead to a balkanization amongst genres and formats. While popular genres (such as rock and rap) will continue to sacrifice sound quality in order to utilize the ease of use that Internet-based music provides, “higher-end” genres (such as classical and jazz) will likely only use DVD-Audio and SACD technologies in order to provide the highest quality sonic renderings of the original music. (SACD) This then leads to the question of how to utilize the Internet to distribute high quality audio. The only means by which these offerings will become available is through increasing the available bandwidth across the network in order to provide adequate capacity for the transfer of larger files. Unfortunately, this does not appear to be a feasible option at either the present time or in the near future. The current

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bandwidth available to average consumers is around 384 kbps downstream from a DSL connection and increasing to T1 speeds of around 1.5 Mbps is not likely due to the cost. The only point at which high resolution audio could be distributed to end users via the Internet would be when fiber optic connectivity is provided to the home. And, since this will not likely happen until the even larger video files begin to be widely distributed via the Internet, we will likely see distribution methods become genre specific before there is a large increase in network capacity.

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Sources Chang, Ellen. Data Compression. Available Online: http://www.stanford.edu/~udara/SOCO/lossy/mp3/psychoacoustics.htm Murray-Robinson, Adam. The Future of the Audio CD. January 2001. Available Online: http://www.murray-robertson.co.uk/SACD_DVD-A.html Pohlmann, Ken. The Principles of Digital Audio. 4th ed. McGraw-Hill, New York. 2000. Secure Digital Music Initiative Website. Available Online: http://www.sdmi.org/FAQ.htm SACD Catalog: 05.03. Super Audio CD Project, New York. May 2003. Whatis.com: Peer-to-Peer Networking. Available Online: http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid7_gci212769,00.html

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Music and the Internet Part III - The Economic Ramifications

Abstract The current system of music distribution and the accompanying pricing scheme currently employed by the recording industry is causing its own demise. Through the use of readily available technologies, artists and listeners are moving in the direction of doing away with the necessity of the record label as we know it. In order for the recording industry to remain a viable and necessary component of music in the next century, it must be able to both revise its approach to retail pricing and embrace the opportunities that provides for all involved parties. Once this is realized the artists, label, and consumers will all be able to reap the benefits of an efficient, costeffective, and multi-faceted system of music distribution.

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Introduction As the distribution of music over the Internet continues to grow, there are endless means by which the involved parties have attempted to make this medium of music delivery economically feasible. Aside from the “free” file-sharing networks that are still having trouble validating themselves as a legal means of circulation, many attempts have been made by the recording industry to turn Internet music into a viable business model. However, this is a difficult task since the recording industry has had a difficult time letting go of their traditional means of music distribution due the high margins it allowed for the industry. The music industry must be able to find a sufficient means by which to conduct its business with respect to both artists and consumers if it wants to remain a key element in the production of music in years to come. Findings Over the years, the recording industry has exercised a tight reign on the distribution of music to the consumer. Without a recording label’s marketing channels, artists were left to sell recordings of their work out of the back of the cars after live shows. However, by signing with a recording label artists were given the opportunity to record a professional album in a studio and have that album mass-produced in order to stock the shelves of retailers across the continent. (Klein 2003) In turn, the artist’s music would now be accessible to everyone from a middle class family in Vermont to a teenager in San Francisco. This was a necessary allegiance between artist and label due to the prohibitive costs of recording and producing an album. Since the recording industry knew that artists could not afford to equip their own studios, operate their own production lines, or establish their own sales channels, record executives began to over exercise their power within the music industry. Furthermore, the recording industry also recognized that

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the end-user of their product could not obtain their recordings from anywhere other than a retailer that was on the end of one of the recording industry’s sales channels. This caused for a bit of corporate greed to set in as record labels increased the retail price of prerecorded material without increasing the share passed back to the artist themselves in order in boost margins in the $12 billion-per-year prerecorded music market. While there are obviously overhead costs associated with all music production, it is difficult for consumers to grasp why they are paying $17 for an album that costs $7 to produce and $0.25 to manufacture. (Neal 2003) Over the past several years, the need for the recording label has become less prevalent. With the advent of the computer, more artist have access to editing and production tools once only found in expensive recording studios. Along with the increase in computer usage, the advancements in production efficiency of electronic equipment across the board has also lead to a decrease in the price of specialized recording equipment. These two factors combined allow for artists to now record, edit, and produce their prerecorded music. Furthermore, since there has also been an increase in computer usage amongst listeners, the Internet has become a leading tool for the distribution of music direct from artist to listener without the involvement of the recording industry. Via the Internet, artists are able to freely distribute their music around the world directly to listeners in the comfort of their own homes. Not only could this be done with ease, it could also be done without the high margins inserted into the present retail pricing format by the record label. In this situation, it would seem that the elimination of the middleman (the recording industry) could serve to benefit both artist and listener. Implications and Indicators In order for the recording industry to remain viable, they must recognize the necessity to reduce their margins on prerecorded media. This does not mean that the labels must give away

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the farm, but it does mean they are going to have to something back to both the artist and the listener. The artists themselves appreciate the record label’s assistance on the studio and marketing aspect of the business. Likewise, the consumer appreciates being able to easily obtain the latest albums in hi-fidelity with ease. So, the recording industry does serve a very important role in the future of music. However, it must be able to compromise with those involved in order to stay relevant. Because of this, the retail price of prerecorded media should continue to drop on the consumer end in order for the recording industry to keep sales from decreasing anymore in light of “free” music piracy that continues to thrive partly due to the notion that the recording industry is overcharging for their product. The existence of the Internet as a more than capable means by which to distribute music to listeners will result in a reduction of the retail price of prerecorded music in order to stop the declining retail sales of prerecorded music. (RIAA 2002) Along with combating the present forms of music piracy through revising the current retail pricing structure, the recording industry must learn to accept the Internet as a viable medium for music distribution and adapt their current business models to include Internet distribution as an important aspect of their industry. Once this is accomplished, the industry will begin to realize that revenue lost in the retail stores can be recouped via Internet distribution. Too much energy has been spent trying to curb the distribution of music over the Internet over the past few years when the recording industry should have been using that energy to develop a system by which music could be easily procured online at a reasonable cost to the consumer. Finally, after many years of indecisive restructuring and lack of direction, there are some promising developments of late concerning the distribution of music over the Internet including the well-publicized launch of Apple’s iTunes Music Store website that allows users to download any song they choose for under $1. (Apple 2003) The success of this site and pending sites like

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it over the next year will be very foretelling of how badly the recording industry’s negligence in embracing the Internet as a feasible medium for music distribution has hurt the industry. However, more sites like iTunes will continue to be developed and hopefully the major recording labels will be able to consolidate their collections into one vast database from which consumers are able to download music from. Once the industry can achieve something along these lines, it will be able to reduce production and manufacturing costs that will provide additional profits from streamlined distribution operations. And, since there is a lower retail cost to the consumer, sales numbers should also increase.

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Sources Apple iTunes Music Store. 2003. Available Online: http://www.apple.com/music/store/ Klein, Allison. How Record Labels Work. 2003. Available Online: http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/record-label.htm Mellor, David. “Computer Recording.” 2003. Available Online: http://www.recording-engineer.net/computerstudio.html Neal. “How Much Does it Cost to Produce an Album.” January, 2003. Available Online: http://ask.slashdot.org/askslashdot/03/01/24/018213.shtml?tid=141 RIAA. “The Recording Industry Association of America’s 2002 Yearend Statistics.” 2002. Available Online: http://www.riaa.com/news/marketingdata/pdf/year_end_2002.pdf

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Music and the Internet Part IV - The Political Ramifications

Abstract Through the use of legislation over the past century, copyright holders have been protected against infringement without denying fair use to the consumer. However, with the dawn of the digital age we have seen copyright infringement and piracy run rampant through the utilization of computing and network technology. In no other arena does this problem present itself as blatantly as the unlicensed distribution of music over the Internet. In order for this to stop without the negative effects of widespread litigation, the policy makers must gently guide the recording industry to shed its greed and ensure that consumers understand the illegality of copyright infringement. If the ruling parties are able to facilitate an open dialog between the industry and the consumer on how to provide music over the Internet in a legal and cost-effective manner without mandating the manner in which this is achieved, they will enable the distribution of music over the Internet to evolve to its fullest potential.

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Introduction With the opportunity to utilize the existing Internet infrastructure for the distribution of music, there also exists the opportunity for the exploitation of this medium for music delivery. As is apparent in file-sharing scenarios, there is the potential for misuse with regard to legal distribution. Furthermore, there is also the possibility that irresponsible use of the legal system could also result in the means of music distribution to be manipulated. Therefore, there is a need for some sort of authority over how the means by which music is distributed via the Internet is achieved in order to ensure both the responsible and most effective utilization of this technology. Findings With the current distribution channels for copyrighted pieces of work, patent rights were reasonably easy to keep hold of and enforce. Quite simply, the only way the end-user could play the media was to own a physical copy of the media itself. With the advent of recordable media such as magnetic tapes, which came to prominence in the late-1970s and early-1980s, these rights began to redefine themselves slightly as the end-user now had the ability to create copies of the original work. The ramifications of this disturbed the recording industry and they attempted to block the distribution of recording devices for fear of rampant piracy that would devastate the entertainment industry. In the landmark case Universal vs. Sony, Universal Studios argued against the sale of video tape recorders that allowed private citizens to freely tape television broadcasts for their own personal use. The United States Supreme Court found that the recording of copyrighted material for personal use was protected under Section 107 of the Copyright Act. (Sony 1984) This section defines what is commonly referred to as the “fair use”

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clause that allows citizens to legally create copies of copyrighted material if is for their own use and not being distributed for commercial gain. (Copyright Law 2003) This ruling opened the door for recording technologies to develop further until the present state where it is legal for consumers to purchase drives that will replicate CDs and DVDs. Now, instead of low quality analog copies that degrade with each replication, consumers have the ability to create perfect digital copies of copyrighted material. In turn, further legislation arose in the form of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act that was passed by the United States Congress in 1998. This act encompassed the fair use of digital media from audio to video to software and stipulated that any attempts to circumvent copyright technology embedded in the media would constitute a crime. Unfortunately, the box was already open and hackers had already found a means by which to crack every manner of digital copyright protection from “ripping” songs off of a standard CD to “deCSSing” the Content Scrambling System (CSS) used to encrypt DVDs. (Kesden 2000) Once the content had been copied onto a computer hard drive under the auspices of the fair use act, it was only a matter of time before networked communities began allowing other users access to their own media files. These events are what brought us to the point we are currently at with regard to the distribution of music via the Internet. While the medium for music distribution has shown great potential, it has also displayed an equal potential for misuse due to the simplicity with which music can be shared without regard to copyrights or legal ownership. Implications and Indicators The initial course taken by the legal copyright holders has once again been that of legal action. In May of 2003, a United States District Court ordered the Internet Service Provider

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Verizon to turn over the names of customers suspected of copyright infringement via filesharing. This was a result of litigation initiated by the RIAA under the provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. (Healey 2003) While this case may very well end up in the United States Supreme Court, it is serving as notice that there are legal grounds backing the argument that this form of music distribution is illegal. Soon after this ruling, the RIAA also announced it will be bringing lawsuits against individuals found to be granting network access to their digitally stored music collections; and will be seeking restitution along the lines of $150,000 per song. In an early case, the RIAA filed suit against four college students running an on-campus file-sharing service at Princeton University for approximately $98 million. (Suppa 2003) While the case was settled out of court for around $15,000 per offender, this move by the RIAA to strike without prejudice has sent an early warning message to consumers. Hopefully, this will remain simply a message and the RIAA will not continue to attempt to subsidize slumping sales through the litigation of its very own customers. To do this would prove fatal to an industry that has already been found guilty of price-fixing in an attempt to separate consumers from their money. (Compact Disc 2003) While the recording industry does have legal ground to stand on regarding the support from both the legislature and the courts with regards to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, it needs to pursue a balance that serves to mend the breakdown between the industry and its customers. A means by which to fully maximize the potential of utilizing the Internet for music distribution must be reached not by the strong-handed tactics of political manipulation, but rather through a collective effort between the industry and consumer that is facilitated by the oversight of a governing body to ensure that neither side is being exploited. This governing role should

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not be one that mandates how the music should be distributed and then punishes for nonadherence. Rather, it should only concern itself in ensuring that the good of all parties involved is being realized through the new system of distribution. As for the system itself, it should recognize the driving forces behind the actions that have brought us to these crossroads. The greed of the industry has brought upon thievery by the consumer. It is obvious that both actions are wrong and will not serve to bring any progress to the potential that lies before us. When both sides can come to see this, then we will begin to realize the growth of legal distribution of music over the Internet in a fashion that can financially sustain itself. Once the outrageous lawsuits from the RIAA desist and consumers recognize the copyright infringement of their unlicensed music distribution, we will begin to see a constructive path being built towards an effective means of music distribution over the Internet.

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Sources Boucher, R. “Congressman Rick Boucher Urges Reaffirmation of Fair Use Rights.” Available Online: http://www.house.gov/boucher/docs/fairuse.htm Compact Disc Minimum Advertised Price Antitrust Litigation Settlement. June, 2003. Available Online: http://www.musiccdsettlement.com/english/default.htm Copyright Law of the United States of America and Related Laws Contained in Title 17 of the United States Code. 2003 ed. Available Online: http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#107 Healey, J. “Verizon Ordered to ID Song Swappers.” Chicago Tribune. April, 2003. Available Online: http://www.chicagotribune.com/technology/chi030424verizon,0,4441517.story?coll=chi-technology-hed Kesden, G. “Content Scrambling System.” Carnegie Mellon University. 2000. Available Online: http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/DeCSS/Kesden/ Suppa, C. “File-Swapping Students Fined.” PCWorld.com. May, 2003. Available Online: http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,110566,00.asp Sony Corp. v. Universal City Studios, Inc., 464 U.S. 417. Supreme Court Trial. 1984.

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