The profits from file-sharing programs which allow users to swap music files will be shared with artists once litigation settles down, according to an executive involved in digital download services.Seems a bit farfetched.
How could this be? The researchers believe that most downloading is done over peer-to-peer networks by teens and college kids, groups that are "money-poor but time-rich," meaning they wouldn't have bought the songs they downloaded. In that sense, the music industry can't claim those downloads as lost record sales. In fact, illegal downloading may help the industry slightly with another major segment, which Oberholzer and Strumpf call "samplers"—an older crowd who downloads a song or two and then, if they like what they hear, go out and buy the music.I fall into the category of sampler, in the terms outlined by the authors. But that said, I also buy less music than I used to. That's because file sharing allows me to be a more educated music consumer. It's possible that educating consumers really does work against the industry.
A few years ago, a dear friend of mine worked for Uplister, a notable dot-com failure. Notable, that is, because of the fabulous idea at its core. It allowed people to create music playlists for one another, and provided a means for individual list creators (DJs, if you will) to gain their own followings. You could search for like-minded music lovers by means of mutually cherished songs. Amazon.com is among the companies now utilizing this idea to create customer-driven cross marketing.
Great idea. Lucas Gonze, a deep thinker in the music P2P scene, has now created Webjay, a noncommercial application that does something similar. Rock on.
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