Winston’s model can be used to illustrate why network technologies present problems to the record industry. The Napster example presents just one application of p2p technology, but it can also be used to illustrate the growth of p2p generally. Peer to peer is a decentralised medium which makes it hard to regulate and police. There is great supervening social necessity and demand for it. Music is normally free on p2p networks and its also often quicker to download a song than to go to the shops and buy it. When these factors are combined this new medium of musical consumption is hard to resist. Music is marketed heavily, we are encouraged to consume it and to think of it as a commodity, and so it is perhaps no wonder that when offered a mode by which we can consume as much music as we want, for free that many will take up the option. It has been argued (Condry: 2004) that all consumers are doing by downloading from the net, is fulfilling the needs and dominant ideological wishes instilled in them by the record companies, and that if the record companies marketed music differently; with less focus on the commodity aspect of music then consumers would stop pirating through p2p.
Open source code exhibited in web conferencing such as Gnutella also mean frequent spin offs, making it difficult for interested parties to exert control over the networks. Therefore Suppression of the Radical potential of new p2p software and protection of intellectual property rights is difficult. The industry cannot realistically control the software as new versions spring up regularly and can be used to transfer legitimate un-copyrighted works as well. Current enforcement instead relies on the panoptic abilities of current peer to peer systems, observing what people are downloading and taking legal action against individuals who are made examples of. Internet distribution presents complicated dilemmas for the cultural industries. The desire to exert suppression of the radical potential of peer to peer is not hard to understand as the music industry already control parallel distribution technologies in the form of C.D’s and setting up alternative modes of distribution which can compete with free p2p networks new technologies may prove less profitable. Interested in SEO? See the pay per click google certified professional Yesiwillbuy a google certified company offer google ppc, yahoo ppc, msn ppc etc.. The radical potential of p2p and the net generally also means artists can publish to potentially huge audiences without needing the monetary and ideological approval of a record label. This threatens traditional power relations, and the need for the record industry at all. Networked technology has important implications for the democratision of information and cultural flows” (Lebkowsky: 2004: 1) something which the record industry will undoubtedly be worried about and want to suppress.
The industry is at this time taking steps to combat news modes of consumption, which bypass traditional distribution methods and revenue streams that the music industry has put in place. These manifest through legitimate services such Napster and iTunes. This is an obvious attempt by the record industry to reassert control of distribution, by offering centralised services by which they can glean revenue. As well as offering legitimate means of obtaining mp3 the industry is currently adopting a two pronged attack on online piracy. This involves stopping people copying music through digital rights management (Condry: 2004, Biddle et al: 2002) as well as launching punitive challenges through the law courts. The effectiveness of both of the methods of suppression of radical potential are however contested by theorists.
There is strong evidence that the shock tactics used in punitive lawsuits aren’t working, despite the rhetoric of the popular press. (Condry: 2004) The effectiveness of reprisals by the RIAA to curb peer to peer filesharing is challenged by quantitative data such as that from the pew internet project (an independently funded non profit organisation, which tracks online file sharing). Most recent statistics suggest that shock tactics are not working, and that enforcement is not proving effective.“ The Pew Internet Project, extrapolating data from phone surveys in April 2004, estimated that the [RIAA] lawsuits convinced around 6 million former downloaders to stop, but also estimated that 5 million new users started up in same period” (Rainie et al., 2004). “Companies that track the volume of traffic and number of downloads report a slight dip after the summer 2003 publicity surrounding the lawsuits, but numbers quickly returned to pre-lawsuit levels, and still represent about 20 times the volume of legal downloads (Banerjee, 2004)” quoted in (Condry:2004:350)
For SEO Seo Experts KrishaWeb Technologies, India based firm is providing services like web designing, whois domain, web development, search engine optimization and internet marketing at affordable rate.Lawsuits are mainly just propaganda tools, used by the RIAA to instill fear and doubt in music file sharers and make them think hard before downloading. video conferencing The purpose of these punitive measures is to reinforce dominant ideologies about music consumption, rather than recoup lost revenue. The industry is also attempting to stop individuals being able to copy music in the first place by investigating and introducing copy protection methods on C.d.’s and in legal downloads. Collectively known as digital rights management these methods are “aimed at managing consumers’ access and uses of entertainment products.” (Condry: 367) The effectiveness of these methods are contested (Biddle et al: 2002, Condry: 2004), normally working for short periods of time before they are subverted by interested parties. It is clear that the industry has a difficult task in stopping piracy and will need to adopt if it is to stay profitable in an online marketplace. At the moment it relies heavily on selling tangible digital commodities and it is easy to see the potential dangers of Mp3 and online distribution methods for the music industry if it doesn’t gain control of this marketplace. There are clearly many technological and social factors which affect new technologies, and when these are factored into Winstons model it would seem to suggest there is much Supervening social necessity for new distribution methods such as p2p, whilst suppression of radical potential is difficult. This makes it likely that online delivery is here to stay and may transform musical consumption. Whether p2p will mean the death of the industry or whether the big 5 will take over cyberspace, is unclear, (microphone quote-those who moved to the microphone survived those that didn’t were forgotten). Related site: website design ahmedabad.
Adorno enlightenment as mass deception, for Web designing india Brainpulse is a website designing company in India, offering cheap web designing services for corporate with quality web designing India, UK, Canada, Australia and USA
Williams in Longhurst: 95: 82, Associates sites: IT Networking Solutions
Get real-time, hands-on advice, consulting and support for your business’ IT networking system.
www.RIAA.com Oberholzer & Strumpf: 2004 Condry: 2004 Lebkowsky: 2004: 1