Music in the Digital age

Record companies came late to the whole new world of digital music. They ignored the cassette revolution of the 1980's and early 90's. Its only when they saw the potential for a great lost to their bank accounts that they choose to actually try to control the music sharing industry. By ignoring what was going on in the 80' and 90's they left the door wide open and in some ways even helped foster the whole music sharing subculture. They never put noticeable restrictions on cassettes or other recording medium. If there ever was a warning on the packaging, it was so small that microscopes would be needed. Everyone that had a tape deck and a record player was making mixed tapes for their friends. So why would it stop when the digital age appeared?

There was an already established acceptance of "file" sharing that predated the digital age. The only thing that the digital age fostered was that the music could be traded over long distances and to many more people that it was ever thought possible. This rapid expansion scared the record companies and their bottom line. If they truly wanted to control their rights then shouldn't they have stopped the sale of used records and then CD's? As far as I am aware they never have.

Now I should write about the negatives of file sharing, but I have a hard time with this as I know too much about what the record companies do and how they control the artist that actually create the music they want to control. If I felt that the record companies where acting on the true behalf of the artist, then yes I would find the whole file sharing to be a worth while fight on their part. I would have no problem with their request and their legal actions. Unfortunately all I can really see is large corporations seeing the loss of their revenue and that they failed to predict what might happen in the digital age.

So who actually owns the rights to the music? So many unsigned artists are posting their music for free downloads and requesting fans to share it around that in the minds of many people the rights get blurred. Once that happens the consumer thinks less and less of who actually owns the rights to the music that file sharing becomes and accepted habit. Does this translate into other areas of the digital world? Yes it has, so many people seem to feel that "grabbing" things from the internet is an acceptable way to do things any more. At this point in time there would have to be a major movement to change this misconception and until this happens then I don't see things changing any time soon.