How Has Peer-to-Peer File Sharing Changed the Music Industry

The music industry has been constantly changing and evolving since it all started. MP3’s replaced CD’s, which replaced cassette tapes, which replaced vinyl records. How has the constant evolving of musical medium changed the music industry?

Peer to peer file sharing has led to MP3 files getting more and more popular. The widespread digitization of physical media may be doing more harm than good. Users are now able to purchase a single song for 99 cents through companies like iTunes. Cassette tapes used to cost around ten dollars and CD’s can cost up to twenty. Users are now able to download their favorite track immediately, rather than having to go to the store and purchase an entire CD for one song. 

Some would say that not having to go all the way to the music store and purchase an entire CD for the one song that you like is worth not having the physical copy of a CD. Others would say that peer-to-peer file sharing is destroying the music industry. The music industry has lost millions of dollars due to internet piracy in the last year alone. Many record labels have reported a major decline in sales over the past five years and experts believe that it is directly related to online file sharing. 

With the recent increase of peer-to-peer file sharing and internet pirates taking music for free, CD’s may soon find themselves in the same boat as vinyl records. They may become more collectible in coming years because some believe that a CD holds a better sound quality than a MP3 file. Hopefully the music industry is able to survive the coming cyber evolution and resume their stand as the leaders of our generation.