P2P

As most of you know, this wonderful invention of “per to per” enables users to transfer files from anywhere in the world to your computer. I use it primarily to download music and use ‘Soulseek’ as my client. Every time I download a song though, it makes me wonder, how can it be this easy to rip off the music industry?! I know most of you will have done it before and it is so much more convenient to download particular songs you like rather than buying a whole album; and you save money! Why doesn’t the music industry find or create some kind of law to stop this kind of stuff? I personally download a lot of dance music and often find Soulseek helpful to get songs that are unreleased or unattainable in New Zealand. I also like to experiment with making songs myself and have found that many accomplished DJs in New Zealand and around the world use Soulseek as well to share their songs with one another; now these guys are in the music industry and use this program to share fills for free with one another. I think this benefits their music in a way that DJs anywhere around the world can have access to the latest songs from their fellow DJs on the other side of the world.

So what do you think? Is P2P a good thing or a bad thing? Is it ripping off the music industry, or is helping artists further with their career? I am on the fence with this one, while I think it is extremely bad that artists are losing out on huge amounts of money, I think that it’s beneficial in the way that artists have easy access to each other’s newest songs.

On another note, re the debate in class about whether Myspace is helpful or not for artists, I think that Myspace has revolutionised promoting artists. I personally have been able to put out one or two songs I’ve done and display them to everyone on my friends list...many friends of mine who are in bands have been able to promote concerts and gain reputations through Myspace, I think it’s brilliant!