Downloading the latest music, film and programme is something that is done by the masses. Originating in an illegal format those within the industry were quick to realise that they were losing money as a result of this and they would be wise to jump on this bandwagon and hopefully stabilise any future profit loses. Throughout the years the manner in which people listen to music has dramatically changed, gone are the days of a Walkman or a portable CD player, we are now living in a world when the MP3 and particularly the ipod is King. This therefore means that they way people discover and buy music has had to be approached in a different manner. Music sharing, as it is commonly referred, has become a phenomenon that has swept the globe and as a consequence of this there have been vast changes occurring within the music industry and has resulted in a general transformation of how music is sold. However, how much of this transformation has affected those using illegal downloading sites? An article from the Telegraph highlighted that despite the increase in legal sites around 39% of people that are downloading music are still doing so illegally.
The debate surrounding the illegal downloading of music has lead to many within the music industry speaking out against it, most notably the singer Lily Allen who developed a blog entitled “It’s Not Alright” to speak out publicly against the downloading of music and also acted as a forum for others, Gary Barlow and Mark Ronson to name a couple, who shared her views. However Lily Allen has subsequently taken down her blog as she felt the ‘abuse’ she was receiving as a result of her disgust towards illegal downloading was too much to take. As a result of celebrity endorsements, such as Lily Allen’s, the issue of illegal downloading has made itself a hot topic and has thus resulted in even greater media exposure for the industry that it is trying to oppose. Sites like Limewire are commonly used, acknowledged and suggested by the music buying public however how well publicised are the opposing legal sites? Have they used their PR to the best of its ability? According to PRweek a massive 85%, of a survey 2,000 people, could only name iTunes and Amazon as legal sites for downloading music despite there now being over 20.
Before investigating this topic any further I too questioned how many legal sites I could name and I was only able to come up with iTunes. I will freely admit I am not prone to downloading music legally or illegally but I have certainly heard of more of the illegal sites and question why those who do have legal sites and complain about those using illegal sites aren’t taking a more proactive approach and advertising their brand. Surely it would only be of benefit to them and the music industry?Communication between the distributors of legal downloads and consumers need to increase. However, how can this be done to show that there are benefits from paying and getting the music legally to using a well known site that you have trusted and the music happens to be free? The role of PR certainly needs to be increased within this music bracket as I am certain that PR plays a pivotal role in the rest of the music industry. As Jill Johnstone states in PRweek, “The music industry is shooting itself in the foot by not promoting legal online music services.”
The message is out there that illegal downloading is bad, it would however seem that people are perhaps unaware of the alternatives and these must be made more apparent.
We are remember that Napster fiasco during 1999-2001. File sharing (not restricted to only music these days) has become so common place that the entertainment industry really has to shape up.
ReplyDeleteI also couldn't come up with any legal sites other than iTunes. Artists who put up their music for free download could definitely use it to boost their concert sales and extend their reach. But at the same time, would the increase in concert sales level out or surpass the profit made on selling albums?
Most people I know can't recall the last time they went into a music shop and purchased a CD.
iTunes and.... I came up with zilch. And not suprisingly enough, I didn't even know there were other legal download sites! Go figure.
ReplyDeleteOn the illegal download front I came up with a fair few and sadly I don't download illegally. I barely download.
In terms of PR and marketing I think the legal download sites are actually doing it on purpose. Kind of like a sour loser in that they just fold their arms and sulk in a corner until somebody (usually their mother aka the governemnt) steps in to mollycoddle it.
They should stop whining and just get on with promoting their websites. If they did more people would actually know about them and be more willing to buy from them.
For me iTunes is a bit of a monopoly, whatever price they state- I pay. If we were made aware of the competition, then legal music downloads would no doubt increase.
They have to do something apart from whine about the naughty illegal sites taking all their business.
I enjoyed reading your post, legal music downloads are currently a hot-topic for debate. Despite Artists like Lilly Allen and Mark Ronson arguing that illegal downloads are destroying the industry a few others have embraced this new digital world, and come out on top...
ReplyDeleteRadiohead ‘leaked’ their latest album In Rainbows on their website and encouraged fans that downloaded it to pay a donation they deemed appropriate. This ‘honesty box’ approach seemed to work as over one million people paid something. Two months later when the ‘deluxe vinyl edition’ was released it went on to be the biggest selling album of 2008.
Similarly in, Prince gave away copies of his newest album in a Sunday newspaper. This smart PR move was designed to act as an ‘appetiser’ for his upcoming 21-night concert at the O2 arena. Again this strategy worked as every night sold out and netted Prince a cool £13 million in ticket sales alone.
I guess the above examples are exceptions to the rules, but they could maybe provide some food for thought for an industry that is suffering...