Believe it or not, the one development in recent times that has
had the most impact on the music world isn’t Janet
Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction. It’s file-sharing.
Over the last several years, file-sharing has pervaded the UCLA
community, along with the rest of the world. The combination of
frugal college students and fast Internet connections has bred a
file-swapping culture throughout the student body, where albums can
be downloaded before they even hit stores.
“Oh yeah, people do it like crazy,” said Estella
Tse, a second-year sociology student. “The lawsuits have been
doing their share of scaring and threatening people, but I
don’t think it’s stopping them from
downloading.”
The lawsuits being referred to are those initiated by the
Recording Industry Association of America, which has sued almost
3,000 individuals since September in an effort to discourage
illegal file-sharing.
But MTV News recently reported that, according to market
research firm Big Champagne, up to 9.5 million internet users were
simultaneously using file-sharing networks in April, up from 7.4
million in September of last year.
The chief response of students has simply been to download more
carefully. Second-year electrical engineering student Jeff Mark is
among those who has not stopped downloading despite the rash of
lawsuits.
“Whenever I hear a song I like, I usually try to find and
download it,” he said. “I don’t share my files
unless it seems safe. If the network is private I’ll share my
files, but if it’s public I won’t.”
Nevertheless, some students have been scared into avoiding
file-sharing completely.
“There’s more fear out there,” said Billy Sim,
a second-year neuroscience student. “Stories of the lawsuits
and schools cracking down tend to get people worried a bit. I know
people who say they just stay away from downloading because
it’s not worth the risk,” he said.
Over a dozen other students approached for this article refused
to comment on their file-sharing practices because of trepidation
over the recent lawsuits.
To many students, the Recording Industry Association of
America’s actions have been frustrating and difficult to
empathize with. The music industry’s seeming unwillingness to
utilize the new technology has been particularly exasperating.
“To a certain extent, they’re justified in their
legal actions,” said Eric Daco, a second-year English
student. “However, they need to reassess the state of the
music industry, and instead of antagonizing the consumers, they
might want to get in touch with the expectations that we have. But
the music industry is more preoccupied with their inefficient witch
hunt than they are into looking to revive the industry by actually
using the Internet.”
This past year has seen the only real success so far for legal
downloading: Apple’s iTunes launched in April of last year,
and has sold an astounding 85 million downloads since then at a
rate of 99 cents per download. Students seem to agree that
it’s a step in the right direction.
“I think a company like Apple is on the right track,
offering a legitimate pay-per-song program online, which is
actually very reasonable and affordable,” Daco added.
“They’re an effective alternative, especially since
99 cents a song isn’t too outrageous. They’re also a
lot of help for obscure songs you can’t find through illegal
channels. I know people who have paid for songs because they were
just songs you couldn’t find otherwise,” Sim said.
For several years now, file-sharing has become the scapegoat of
the music industry for dwindling sales. But studies have varied
wildly and failed to come to a consensus about the exact effect
file-sharing has on the music industry. As numbers indicate the
increase of both legal and illegal file-sharing, what is becoming
more certain is that a younger generation of fans will be consuming
music on a song-by-song basis.