Second: Formats VS Time

Music Changed When computers (and people) said 'faster, smaller, cheaper'
put into a simple timeline it goes like this - Vinyl, Tape, CD, Mini Disk, MP3.
the MP3 sprouted when the IPod generation happened.
and MP3 is basically a CD, squashed. it has a smaller bit rate and it takes up less room on your computer meaning you can have more songs on there, however this makes file sharing very very easy. So now all you have to do is log onto a peer to peer file sharing site and you can download the discography for any artist for free.
and of course the general public went mad, because at the same time all of this happened the words credit and crunched were being thrown around like tomato's in Barcelona.
Its a bad idea, and its also against the law. The law is there because you are basically stealing someone Else's property, and that property is covered by 2 different kinds of copyright. its a bad idea because the general public is now responsible for the stagnant music industry we have now. with less money to play with the record companies and radio stations and TV programs and Press are less willing to take a chance on anyone new, so instead of maybe 50 artists making the cut only 10 or so are making it to the top of the ladder.
Britain still has one of the richest music industries in the world, but its not the most exiting and this is down to the letters M and P and the number 3.
MP3 has its upsides though and it isn't always illegal. many programs, such as ITunes or Windows Media Player are able to turn Wav (the format used for CD) into MP3 in minutes, they do this so you can put the song onto your MP3 player or IPod, meaning you can carry round with you hundreds, if not thousands of songs, it also means that because the files are smaller you can store more of them on your computer.
the question is, does the downside weigh out the upside?
well, there isnt really an answer to this. as a avid lover of exiting new music i will now say that it is wrong and that peer to peer shouldnt be done. you may be sat there thinking 'yeah, but musicians dont really do anything', they do. in a later blog i will be discussing what goes into an album. and while your waiting think about this, if you came home on pay day to find less, or even no money in your pay packet you'd be pretty mad right? because you expect to be paid for the work you have done.
same thing.
however, there is a rebellion happening and now record companies are become less and less useful. in my opinion the only reason they are still here is because they have the money and power to promote a record properly and make sure that alot of people know about them which is something that your mate in his bedroom doesnt have, that is why all you hear about is copies of the same artist, because some major record label wants you to.
Its the dawn of DIY Music 2.0 and this time we have easy to get to, easy to use technology on our hands that makes the entire traditional music industry process run and hide in the corner.

Nat.