Internet has evolved into a big market for the distribution and downloading of illegal music which causes a serious threat to the future of music industry. Today a consumer has number of choices in front of him to get the desired music and with technological advancements rising the way they are, soon there will be lot more options.
Many people might argue that if there are too many choices on hand then how could it be bad to music lovers. People who are responsible say “ yes there is more music but the quality is something that one needs to look at, every other individual forming a band at the backyard of his house thinks of making an album and many do”.
Music distribution through file sharing programs on the Internet is having a serious effect on the music industry. Its is due to this piracy that the sales in some of the record stores has decreased by 20% on an annual basis over the past few years. According to reports, more than 2.6 billion downloads of genuine copyrighted files are carried on every month through such peer-to-peer services and file sharing programs. One of the biggest file-sharing programs on the Internet has about 278 million subscribers who are more or less part of the online music piracy.
People who are involved with the music industry are concerned about the future of the music industry. Music piracy chalks away a lot of revenue that should have gone to the genuine dealers but is now in the hands of the pirates of music. Also, people who download such music are not able to get the music in its original quality. Not only this act of piracy is a threat in United States but in the world. Music piracy is a threat not only to the music industry in United States but to the future of world music.
