Again with this music stuff...

One thing that we really haven't discussed in class is the fact that CDs are not used as much as they used to be. Technology is constantly changing. We once went from tapes to CDs and now we are changing from CDs to mp3s. The record companies need to understand that people 5 years ago weren't going to buy tapes like they used and that people today aren't going to buy CDs like they used to. How often do you see CD players today? It is more common that I see iPods or some form of mp3 player. The record companies need to move where their market is moving. Everything can be done on the Computer nowadays, and iTunes shouldn't be the only store to buy mp3s. Since the world is moving to mp3s, maybe the record companies should come up with their own website where you can buy their artists mp3. Maybe they should bind together and make a huge mp3 store online.

Everyone who has ever downloaded music knows that a lot of illegally downloaded songs are poor quality. A lot of people don't like poor quality, but they settle for it because they don't want to go to the store to buy the full album. Maybe consumers download illegally because when they go on iTunes to buy music: they either don't have the song yet, or iTunes has a different version than what they are looking for. Granted over the past year or so iTunes has grown tremendously, but personally I don't like shopping from iTunes because when I started buying mp3s they didn't have a lot of the songs that I was looking for. A main difference between getting free music and buying music online is that with downloading p2p you can find almost any song that you could possibly be looking for. Shopping the stores is not so simple.

As stated in class, when Napster was created the record companies should have tried to find a way to sell mp3s online. Honestly, a lot of people weren't computer literate 3 or 4 years ago. A lot of people I know still didn't know how to download music a year ago. If there had been a store where my friends could buy music they would have. But since then they have learned how to download music and it is now a vicious thing that will continue on for years to come.

Another reason why people download is because when they hear a song they want to be the first to have it. The way album releases are setup now that is practically impossible. So what I would do if I were a record exec is change up the system. Right now artists put out a single or 2 and wait for people to hear about it. The artists then do appearances promoting the release of their new album and hope that they can get the most sales the week the album releases. I suggest that the companies change their system. They should put out the CD before the artist does all the promoting so that when people hear the song, they go out and buy a CD instead of downloading it when they hear it. That way the consumers get the music they want when the want it, and the record companies keep their buyers. It's so simple.