Music Downloads

Looking at Downloads in the music industry emphasises on the idea of the audiences input into buying the music they like. It shows the distrution of how and why people download different types of music. The audiences in the music industry in which download the music are of importance to all music videos.

The music industry has lobbied the government to develop new-legislations to curb the illegal downloading. In turn, the government at the time of writing (2008), was threatening internet service providers (ISP's) with legislation as a sanction against the continuing avoidance by ISP of any dialogue with the music and film industries, which had complained about lack of cooperation. The governments strategy seen by many industrial commentators as unrealistic, involves a warning system whereby illegal downloaders are given notice that their activities are being monitored, and repeat offenders are then prosecuted. Previously, the French government introduced this system, with those found guilty having their internet access removed- but how workable this will be in practise over time is as yet unknown. The problem for the music and film industries, of course, is that ISPs are understandably reluctant to impose any limitations on their customers or to enter into any surveillance procedures, as they are not the victims of the illegal activity. The government's reason for trying to clamp down on this is economic. With the Blair and Brown governments 'talking up' the creative industries as a key part of the UK economy, it is a major problem for the state if those industries report huge losses in revenue as a direct result of the practises of ISPs, which are, in many case, operating globally. Like most of our debates in the online age, this is to do with where nation state ends and international communications and trade begins, and the fact is that any media regulation at the national level is increasingly hard to enforce.