Should Music Be Free?

Khoa Ho

Mrs. Leider

Non-fiction Writing, Period 8

Monday, November 8, 2014

SHOULD MUSIC BE FREE?

While it’s not easy to see, the music industry has had a hard time making money for the past few years. In fact, according to Forrester Research, the sales of recorded music have decreased in half over the first decade of the 21st century (Goldman). Album sales have been down 14% in 2014; the same downward trajectory goes with single sales at 13% (Knopper). Why does a business and culture, so massive in size and influence, produce so little in these last few years?

The answer is clear: Free online music. Since Napster –the first online music streaming service-- was founded in 1999, the act of listening to free music on the Internet was established. Since then, hundreds of new music streaming services have come out, providing customers the access to unlimited playtime without paying a penny. On the other side, music revenues (on the other hand)from the US dropped from $14.6 billion to $6.3 billion by 2009 (Goldman).

However, owning music for free makes sense. Nobody in this economy would go out to Target to buy a $15 album for 1 hour of songs from Miley Cyrus when they could just download and listen from “Spotify,” despite the fact that at Target, they could also get their groceries bagged by that dude Alex. But consider the fact that the sales of music has never been lower, and artists deserve every penny you pay for their work, I believe that music should not be free.

Artists have every right to earn what they give out to the world. Recently, the showbiz world is rocked when Taylor Swift decided to say, “Never ever ever getting back together” with Spotify. While fans are currently weeping and waiting for her new song bashing her relationship with the music streaming service, it is not an uncommon practice. In fact, lots of other famous artists, including AC/DC or Led Zeppelin (Raymond) has done the same, and the main argument is clear: They want their music to...