mpr


 * ( As my topic of interest for wiki assignment is Music Piracy, In this essay I reviewd a famous research paper [|"Who are the Pirates? The Politics of Piracy, Poverty, and Greed in a Globalized Music Market, Popular Music and Society”] written by Jack Bishop)**


 * A critical review of articles on Music piracy titled, "Who are the Pirates? The Politics of Piracy, Poverty, and Greed in a Globalized Music Market, Popular Music and Society”.**

“Music is spiritual. The music business is not”.

Van Morrison

The music industry is one of the briskly growing trade areas of the global market. The major reason behind this pace is that it hangs around innovative ideas and abstract knowledge of an artist. For this very reason intellectual property plays an integral role in certifying its achievements. Moreover, music has become increasingly associated to other forms of media, such as TV, movies and other type of videos, thus generating more and more revenues.

The last decade witnessed the influx of a more flexible global trading environment and a shift towards technological innovations. These advancements are accompanied by the ongoing fundamental changes in the grown-up market economies, particularly the rise of the knowledge economy. Simultaneously these trends points towards a more substantial role of creativity, ideas and knowledge resources in competing in today’s globalizing world.

As Jack Bishop mentioned in his article, the music business is potentially reaching its heights in some developing countries such as Mexico and Brazil, working as a router that links together different countries and its role in the publicity of national culture. But the global music market is still dominated by U.S, accounting for one third of the gross music sales. No doubt the music industry has certainly boiled down in the hands of a few big firms. Five media corporations BMG, Sony Music, EMI, and WEA are responsible for 75% of global music sales (RIAA).

By keeping these and other points in mind the author asked himself the question which becomes the theme of his article i.e. with the enormous diversity of cultures, economies, faiths, races, societies and ethics in the world, is it right to expect the nations of the world to accept the equivalent copyright principles and means of enforcement as they are in the US?

While the world media is trying to spotlight the issue of music piracy and copyright infringement resulting in titanic losses to them. This article comes out to address the real dilemma behind the increasing music piracy; the global poverty.

With the large number of population of the world that comes under the definition of poor. We come to the concept of black market. Theses gray markets can be found in very nook and corner of the globe but they are particularly prominent in the parts of Latin America. They are considered as the markets meant to fulfill the social needs of the poor society. The economic realities of these societies have forced them to make the best use of the illegal commerce. Perhaps such a situation can also be observed in States which claims to have the highest per capita income in the world.

Here I would like to mention these quotes acquired from IFPI’s annual report; “Brazil is guilty of more music piracy infractions than any other country in the world, although China is home to a US$600 million market for pirated music, the largest in the world”.

An important point discussed in the article is the illegal copying of the CD’s (as CD burners have become more conventional) has been portrayed as the only source of music piracy by IRAA. Where internet is merely becoming the largest source of music piracy, people particularly in United States are the majority of downloader’s. The release of i-pods and other gadgets have further increased music piracy. We all know that Napster was forced to shutdown due to copyright infringement. Now P2P networks are completely revolutionizing the way music is shared illegally.

Thus the article forced the reader to think why such an aggressive campaign is planned to offset a loss which is not as huge as the loss the music industry is suffering from its own domestic market and other areas of the global market especially China.

The carnivorous intensions of RIAA and IFPI have been a focal point of Bishop’s article. These music industry giants use the power of its dollars to amend the laws of the world in order to further increase their bankrolls. As they continue lobbying for more governmental assistance to increase their income, they turn a deaf ear to the economic realities of their consumer base. Instead, they plead to the governments worldwide to enact laws that preserve their pricing structures.

At the same time when author was pointing towards the economic realities of the music industry and the users, He addresses a very important issue of cultural imperialism and cultural impact of information flow. He states, “Brazil is after all, a country that defines and expresses itself through song as much as any other in the world”. It is by far true that cultural industries promote their merchandise before the eyes of the world through the power of media. It results in a greater demand for these products, and it is specially the case in terms of music and its importance to these Latin American countries. Such mass advertisements make a product larger than life. And if a consumer is unable to consume these products he no longer considers himself the part of the big picture. To fulfill these demands the poor consumer will go for the illegal ways of getting hands on the product.

Therefore one should recognize that there is also a social aspect attached to the music piracy other than the economic one. Laws are made by keeping the moral and ethical values of the people in context. However, piracy is seen as one of the major causes for the loss of revenues and its negative influence on the global economy. There is a need to consider the social issues of increasing global poverty along with the copyright and economic issues of the music industry.

By saying that, I agree with the Bishop’s point that all the facts that are being projected in the media by RIAA and IFPI does not provide the audience with the clear picture. Even the facts these organizations came out with in context of online music piracy and their affect on music industry, was proved to be wrong by the research studies conducted by Harvard Business School and the University of North Carolina.

But there is one side of the picture that the author might have over passed. We know that industry is dominated by five media giants. But the industry still constitutes of hundreds of small independent media firms. These firms are directly affected by the music piracy. Many of these firms are being forced to shutdown after bearing huge amount of losses. Those who are surviving have only been able to continue by establishing an alliance with the major brands. So the point here is that the middle and lower class is suffering on both sides; whether they are the consumers or the new artists trying to make their mark or the other small companies struggling to establish their roots in the music industry.

Overall it was an enthralling article that proves to be a crucial voice of the music loving people of Latin America. The article demands the music industry governing bodies to balance the conflicting demands of the creative forces of the music industry with those of the people of Latin America. It also looks at the affect of overflow of information and its affect on cultural sovereignty. For now, music piracy is here to stay in this global economy because the copyright acts and the media giants have failed to balance the rights of the producers with that of the users.

(**Note: This research paper was written as a part of my other course assignment but I considered it necessary to share this with my class mates in this course and to further expand the topic that I previouly discussed on music piracy for cct300)**

Works Cited

Bishop, Jack (2004). "Who are the Pirates? The Politics of Piracy, Poverty, and Greed in a Globalized Music Market", Popular Music and Society, Vol. 27, No. 1, 2004 [|http://taylorandfrancis.metapress.com/(iljdba45iqzg5tvshljuuibd)/app/home/content.asp?referrer=contribution&format=3&page=1&pagecount=6]

Latin Trade, Oct, 200. Brazil is guilty of more music piracy infractions than any other country in the world, although China is home to a US$600 million market for pirated music, the largest in the world, the International Federation of the Phonograph Industry said in an annual report. http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0BEK/is_10_12/ai_n7577223. March 2006

Jim Aisner. Harvard Business School. 29 March 2004 Online Posting

http://www.hbs.edu/about/news/032904_file_sharing.html. March 2006

Recording Industry Association of America. RIAA Research and Data. http://www.riaa.com/news/marketingdata/default.asp. March 2006

Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. CRTC Reference Center. http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/reference.htm. March 2006

Joel Moody. Courseware U of T. http://www.courseware.utoronto.ca/SCRIPT/CCT101S_Moody/scripts/serve_home. March 2006

IFPI. Representing the recording industry Worldwide.http://www.ifpi.org/. March 2006