Are portable music devices good or bad for the music industry?

[Rusty]

By portable music devices I'm talking about iPods are Mp3/4 players. They have become a huge success and are extremely popular all over the world at the present moment. Apple in particular, have made a fortune from their music devices and without them, Apple most likely wouldn't have survived as a company as their laptop computers just weren't enough for them.

So obviously the music industry makes money off the iPods, however people tend to download songs illegally for their music devices. This means that they don't pay for all their songs and albums. Whereas before the world of iPod's, CD burners, computers and all that other stuff, the only way to listen to music was via radio or by buying CD's and Cassettes (remember those!).

So I'm assuming that the music devices sell very good, but CD sales have dropped greatly. I'm a firm believer that eventually, people will stop paying for music full stop. Maybe not right now, but within the next 10 years I do think things will change.

So do you think iPods and Mp3 players are good for the music industry? Are they bad for the artists? Or do they have advantages as well as disadvantages?

 

[Blade]

Like all major successes in the world of technology, it's got it's good points and bad points...


On the plus side, with kids seeing how "cool" these players are, means they'll want one, meaning they'll get into music earlier in their lives. Despite children's music tastes being somewhat *ahem* questionable, this it quite a good thing....

And it helps spread music through word of mouth quicker. Friends going up to other friends going "check out this band, I just "discovered them"

People in the music industry thing having MP3 players and such encourages downloading.... Ummm, a bit misguided.
Sure, it's easier to download tracks and put them on a player rather than ripping a CD, then putting the songs from the CD on to the player. But until the day we see an MP3 player which says "WARNING: ONly compatible with downloaded music tracks", I don't see what the big deal is.

 

[klunderbunker]

I think they've been great. Apple for example has saved itself with the ipod. I've had 3 now with the cheapest being $150. Everywhere you look people have them. Sure there's always goign to be people that download music, but that has some benefits as well. If I download a bunch of random songs and I hear some by a specific band, maybe I'd want to go buy one of their cds, or go to a concert of there's. There's a many benefits to it but of course it has a large amount of taking money away from the industry as well. I'd say the good outweighs the bad though. With as many sales of MP3 players are made, how could it not be good?

 

[Pimpin]

Yes I-Pods & MP3 players are definitely a plus for the music industry. Like what Blade said it gets kids into music earlier & it spreads the mouth alot quicker. Sure their is gonna be people who download stuff but people do buy cd's sometimes to put it on their I-Pod's/MP3's. I know the I-Pod has helped me out a lot as it's way more portable than a cd player.

 

[Tim]

They are definately good for the music industry. A lot of people may download illegally, but a lot of people also pay for their downloads. And no matter how you download, you might stumble on a band and start checking out their music. WHich leads to CD sales, and concert sales. And portable music players have evolved, with games and apps on them, internet access etc. And with this, sometimes people also get turned onto new movies/TV shows, and buy these on DVD too.

But of course, there are some bad things about them as well. They're taking away from CD sales. People are happy too download music and put that music onto a CD instead of just buying music, as essentially you end up with the same thing. And then there's the issue of downloading illegally, but really the music industry gets enough money with CD sales, legal music downloads, concert tickets etc. So generally, portable music players are good for the music industry.

 

[E7]

At the end of the day, when someone buys something off itunes, the artist is still getting paid. Its not like Apple takes all the money and says "screw you, random artist".

Is it good or bad? I'd say It's more postive. In a way, it does negatively affect CD sales, but at the same time, the artist gets paid for having thier songs downloading on Itunes. They get a fair shot to make money and be successful, its just that the industry is changing with the demands of the customers and that's always a good thing. The music industry isn't going no where, and there will always be artists selling songs, whether its Itunes or CD's. At the end of the day, its about making money for them, and with them, the industry continues to thrive and music continues to be made

People do download from illegal sources, but it seems like the government is getting harsher on the people who do that and im assuming it has gone down. Mind you, there will always be people who will try and get things for free, its human nature and you won't be able to stop it compeltely, but if its minimal, then that's the best we can hope for IMO when it comes to illegally downloading music

 

[Mr. TM]

Actually, I am under the impression that because of iPods, artists recieve more money than they did a few year before them. With the use of iTunes Store, people are paying for music a lot more than they wre buying albums a few years ago. In Canada, music sales were one of the highest years in music.

People now have iPods, but we used to have walkmans, wher we would take blank tapes, record music from a friends CD or the radio, and never have to pay for music either. Those who do not buy music still do not now as they did not do then.

 

[Blue Chipper]

I think they're both advantages and disadvantages on the music buisness by portable music devices.

Well, the negative is that probably, if you purchase an ipod or mp3 player, you're going to illegally download music without paying money for them. So, instead of buying a CD, you can just download the songs you want, for free. It's fair to say that most illegally download their music. That hurts the music industry and artist because sales on CDs and such are going to decrease.

The positive is that some legally download their music by paying for them via itunes. I'm sure that the sales they recieve are given to music in some fashion. Also, as others have said, you may download (illegaly) a song and you may discover that you like that band, so you buy their CD, which leads to money being brought to artists and the music industry.

I, however, believe that ultimately the positive outweighs the negative, and if it didn't, I think the music industry would already take some kind of action to terminate the problems that potable music devices create.