1. MEDIA BY DAVID TEMBO

2. OBJECTIVES  Description on the current state of the media  Explain in detail Reasons:  File sharing  Piracy  Digital media devices  Purchasing CDs to storing music on digital devices  Use statics

3. STATE OF THE MEDIA The music industry is in a state of decline with revenues from music products suffering. Music products such as CDs are selling less and illegitimate downloads and other methods of acquiring music illegally are on the increase are rapidly increasing. with the rise of platforms such as YouTube has come the decline in people signing with music companies as they are able to market themselves independently. Record labels are signing less people due to the uncertainty of their investments because they are unsure if they will get their investment back with profit. This has left the music industry constricted to certain product types, which sell the most in order to maximise their profit making potential, thus reducing their product portfolio. This is also seen in the decline of outlets such as traditional records stores which were very popular decades when people felt pride in purchasing actual records have reduced significantly which has affected the records company’s ability to distribute their products.

4. CURRENT STATE OF THE MEDIA There various reason for the declining music industry which I’ll be discussing below. The music industry began experiencing this trend many years ago with the introduction of hardware that allowed people make copies such as floppy discs or VCR tapes, but this change has been witnessed within the last 10-12 years as when the internet was introduced. When the internet was introduced, It gave people the option to explore, communicate and carry out other activities, some of which are illegal. The internet had the capability for files to be to shared on there by any individuals thus allowing other people to illegally obtain copies of the products. This affected a wide range of digital products including the music industry which began experiencing a decline because people where illegally downloading music and sharing it on a mass scale. This on-going activity means that music records are not able to make the money they were initially able to because potential customers are less inclined to spend money on the same products that can easily be obtained at the click of the button in their own home and without much or any consequences.

5. DIGITAL MEDIA Additionally, the introduction of products that can store information without the requirement of a hardware device such as CDs has made people who would have bought in store products to lose interest in having the physical products simply because digital versions are easier to store and require less maintenance. Record labels have lost confidence in mass producing and distributing products in physical forms because they are not making enough sales and in some cases are making losses. Digital media devices have played major role in the decline of the music industry because have a huge demand and they way in which they function conflicts with product distribution in the form of selling physical records.

6. Other websites purposely built to distribute products much like pirate bay also sprung up and are on the increase which always correlates with the rising demand. Websites such as these allow any individual to upload a digital product such as a song on the internet site for other people to obtain for free. This has inflated the problem, especially in an unstable economy where people are cautious with money because people are more compelled to take the opportunity to acquire something they want with no charge. Sites like this have made the problem so severe such that over 2/3s of music is obtained is unlicensed The chart shows the differences between music that is licenced and that of which is unlicensed. 76% of music is illegally obtained in the UK, which is the same loss to the music industry. The music industry makes billions every year but suffers a loss of 76%, which shows how rife this activity is.

7. There are many concerns surrounding this trend and the fate of the music industry. One of the primary concerns is that music industry lose millions in profits from CD’s /album due to the increasing amount in people illegally obtaining music from the internet or other illegal means. This has made the record companies lose their confidence, which has resulted in less deals with potential artists but has also made the industry highly competitive, especially amongst musicians. This statistic shows the down trend from 1999-2009. It shows that employment of artists by records labels has declined by 17% which can also mean that their potential production has suffered as a result.

8. Below are a few statics about the declining music industry. -77% estimated fall in debut album sales 2003-2010 -31% decline in the value of the recorded music industry 2004-10 -12% fall in the revenues of the top 50 tours in 2010 -17% fall in the number of musicians employed in the US from 1999-2009

9. FILE SHARING A new generation of people do not see the purpose in purchasing music legally seen as it is widely available on the internet to download. What often happens is that people will purchase music and proceed to share it online thus allowing thousands of people to obtain the file, which can potentially lead into the millions depending on the product in question. Companies are unable to gain any form of control over these illegal activities because new sites and new data is constantly updated and they may breach certain rights in doing so. This type of activities affects the entire music industries as loses often go into the millions. People are able to use software such as YouTube downloader to convert music videos to mp3 format and transfer them onto music devises such as Ipods.