Does the emergence of the digital download signal the end for the music industry?

Digital technology (Internet downloads such as iTunes and Limewire) has revolutionised the way that we consume music. Illegal downloads and P2P sharing is theft and apparently killing the sales of CDs and ultimately the music industry (although the real reason isn’t clear). It has highlighted the negative effects and ignored the positive. Radiohead’s tracks were leaked onto Napster, which resulted in a top 20 USA hit and in 2000 number one in the Billboard 200 Album chart. Alderman discusses how the music industry ‘was banking on its control of songs that have now become seductive little packets of freely traded digits’. I believe that the music industry won’t end but will continue to develop. As Condry states ‘even if the RIAA manages to reduce p2p file-sharing in the US to Japan’s miniscule level, Japan shows us that preventing online sharing does not stop unauthorized copying’. Digital technology will always exist.

Image from: http://ste5ens.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/1207236156_itunes_logo.jpg