Thursday, April 11, 2013

Debate


Hi my name is Cary Socci, and I am arguing against the notion that Spotify is unethical in its treatment of artists, and that Spotify, as my partner stated actually helps artists build up some revenue from songs played, helps them get their name out there on the music scene, and actually combats music piracy or the illegal download of music, which artists do not make a dollar from.  Some have estimated that the music industry has lost about 10- 12.5 billion dollars due to piracy in the past decade.  With the illegal downloading of music people can easily download an artist’s music and play their songs over and over again, and the artist will never see a penny from this.  According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) it is estimated that 95% of all downloaded songs are downloaded illegally.[1]  This is a major problem.  Obviously legal attempts to solve this issue have failed.  However there is one thing that is showing results in combating this.  These are music download sites such as Spotify.  As my partner stated Spotify has 20 million users including over 5 million paying customers, (a million of these paying customers in the U.S. I might add) and Spotify has paid over 500 million dollars in royalties.[2]  Now judging from the amount of people who still download music illegally and the money that the music industry still loses from music piracy, this is a small step, but it is a step nonetheless.  And being that Spotify has only been around for 4 years, and they have managed to attract so many users and put so much money in the pockets of artists and those in the music industry, I think it’s safe to say that the future is promising.  Think about what Spotify can do in 10 years or 20.  Think about what will happen when other sites like this pop up.  We may see a turnaround in music downloading. Also, Spotify depends heavily on social networking, so people are encouraged to tell their friends about artists or bands they like, and this in turn gets the name of artists out there and lets people know about their music.  You can also share playlists with people, and go to websites where you can type in the name of an artist and a playlist with similar music will come up.  There are endless ways to discover music and for the music of starving artists to be discovered.  And best of all when these artists are discovered and their music is played, they will receive some revenue.[3]
Side notes:
In a press conference in New York on Thursday, December 6, Lars Ulrich, Metallica drummer, came onstage to announce that the band's entire catalog would now be available on Spotify.  Ulrich publicly ended his feud with his old enemy and Spotify board member Sean Parker who a dozen years ago ran Napster, which Ulrich and the band Metallica blasted and legally combated for running a free music download site which artists did not make a penny for.[4]

According to founder Daniel Ek, ‘Spotify’ which has been criticized by some artists for paying tiny royalties, “has paid out half of its money to artists in the last nine months, as Spotify picks up momentum.”[5]   
This is the new generation of music.  Whether we like it or not, things are changing.  According to the research firm Strategy Analytics, “Although music streaming makes up a tiny part of industry revenue, it will grow by 40 per cent this year as physical sales drop 12 percent.”[6]
In 2006 college students were estimated to be downloading at least 1.3 billion illegal songs a year.  ‘College students’ are notable both for their large absolute numbers and for their high frequency of downloading.”[7]  As a college student it would be impossible for  me to pay lots of money for music or go out and purchase CD’s.  Sites like Spotify allow me to find music extremely easily and legally, and I am no longer forced to download music illegally.  I know longer have to worry about being in trouble with the law or getting viruses on my PC, or just the moral issue of downloading music illegally. 
Questions for the opposing team:
Wouldn’t you say that sites like Spotify with its rapid growth over the past four years will help in the fight against music piracy, and possibly eventually lead to a huge decrease in the illegal downloading of music which artists do not make a penny for, and which are stealing from artists and causing the music industry to lose millions of dollars each year? 
Closing statement:
I believe that our world is changing, and music is a big part of that world.  The days of going out to the store and buying a CD are over.  This is the age of downloading music from our laptops, quickly and easily wherever we may be.  But what is to stop us from downloading music illegally?  Sites like Spotify where we can download music quickly and easily.. and legally.  We can be sure that the artists we are listening to will receive some revenue for our listening, we do not have to worry about getting viruses on our laptops from downloading music illegally, and we do not have to worry about getting sued or getting in trouble with the law.  As we have seen over the past few years more people are joining Spotify, and in turn more songs are being downloaded and artists are being paid for their music.  Also, artists are getting their name out there with sites like Spotify which is always the most important thing for starving artists.  The future is very promising.
As a music lover I am very happy about this new change.  Now I can download the music that I love, and listen to my favorite artists guilt-free and of little cost to me.  This is the best thing for music in a long time.


[7] http://ehis.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=7e8b2ce0-27ff-4875-b48f-5e05578a746e%40sessionmgr115&vid=4&hid=6

* I definitely felt that me and Rob gave a solid argument about Spotify.  I think that basically everyone downloads music and would like to have a quick and easy way to download music at little or no cost. However I feel like the reason why we won was because most of the people were already on our side to begin with, as we have seen happen with many of these debates.
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1 comment:

  1. Ronald Helfrich Jnr.April 13, 2013 at 5:27 AM

    Still need to get rid of cog blog template.

    Deduction for no reflections on you and your partners debate performance.

    Presentation: very good. Voice perhaps could have been a bit louder. Structure: very good. Content: very good. Well prepared. Nice use of data. Teamwork: very good. Comments: excellent job. Show up on time next time.

    ReplyDelete

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