File Sharing

I don't generally buy into the argument that the internet and in particular piracy is killing the industries. To be honest, I think if anything allowing people to download music or movies is helping them. The example of how sales are down is more than ever people are more critical about what they buy because they have the option to "test" it out before they support the artist. So what that means is less money is going to the big names in the industries because they are making poor products and the more artists putting out a product that is worth something are getting the revenue.

What I think will be big for artists is now it is possible to release material on the internet that before they could only get released through record labels or film companies. There have been a couple of major label bands (Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails) that released their albums online without the record companies distribution. I know Radiohead offered a online download of their record "In Rainbows" on their website to fans who could donate money if they wanted where they could pick what they thought the album was worth. I could see this becoming a trend where artist will upload their album in low quality mp3s for fans to preview like they would on amazon samples to try it out and if they think it is worth it, they might actually pay for it. Who knows... the internet could benefit both artists and fans in getting the best product and cutting out the record labels greedy pricing.