Digital Music Is Destroying the Industry, One Download at a Time

        Everyone has downloaded music illegally. It just seems like too much of a hassle spending money on something when you can simply get for free and have it be just a click away. Nowadays people are downloading music illegally, and having no shame in taking things what they want without having to pay.

        All the whole industry is paying for it.

        Digital Music has practically eliminated the cassette and other forms of old media. Buying CDs simply takes too long now, and downloading things in the comfort of our own homes is just easier and the number one option for music. As a result, artists make the majority of their money on tour rather than launch CDs because the risk of losing money is higher than ever.

        30 billion songs were illegally downloaded between 2004-2009, which means it's probably exponentially higher now than then. Of course as a result of this, it has led to loss of profits in the music industry, and since Napster in 1999, sales have gone down 47%, nearly an entire half of the money made, gone, just like that.

        That's not even the worst of it. Free music has cost the industry $12.5 Billion in losses, including a loss of 71,000 jobs. This is a major problem, and the music industry knows it. Now, labels feel the pressure of continuing with established artists instead of going out and finding new talent, which can gather larger audiences faster, bringing in more money as quickly and effectively as they can.

        Of course, like all crises, things were put into the law's hands. In 1999 the RIAA sued Napster, which at the type was the main source of illegally downloaded files and music. There was so much money put into an 8 year period, that it caused Napster to go bankrupt. After it was all said and done,
it changed file sharing laws forever.

        No matter how you look at it, digital downloads have had an overall negative effect on the music industry. But will it diminish it forever? Perhaps not. But the concept of the digitization to the music has been both a blessed curse, and an all too apparent curse.