COPYRIGHT + LEGAL
Copyright and ownership is a massive issue when it comes to content online. In this technological day and age just about anyone can (and they do!) search, copy, download, share and manipulate content found on the internet. This ever growing trend poses a massive threat to all types of industries in particular the music industry where pirating of music has become a rampant activity.
This then becomes a further issue because monitoring and enforcing ownership and copyright laws is nearly impossibly with so many millions of internet users infringing upon these laws everyday. So happens when the music industry is suffering due to the cultural fad that is illegally pirating music?
The answer: A man by the name of Daniel Ek who designed the music platform Spotify is what happens!
The music sharing platform Spotify’s sole design purpose has been to target the vast audience who would have otherwise pirated their music. It has been designed in such a way that the target (pirating)audiences can still access music for free with much more ease and convenience then piracy, whilst artists still receive royalties from the paying Spotify members and paid advertisements on the platform. Essentially, Spotify is more like renting music. The consumer doesn’t ever actually get to own the music but they can access it freely, whilst Spotify rightfully pays all artists for access to their content.
With this being said, Spotiy is not exempt from copyright infringement. Whilst all individual content on Spotify is correctly licensed and paid for, there are cases in which playlists composed by users can breach copyright of albums privately owned, due to the selection and arrangement of the playlists songs. This has seen Spotify taken to court and made to block infringing playlists from users, causing particular issues when it comes to users who are paying for access to the site and to create these playlists.
All in all Spotify has been a key tool in changing the piracy culture on the internet today and offers new ways for audiences to access music legally for free whilst still providing money to the artists making the content. I say, everybody wins!
mtv that’s why!
~LOR~
Bertoni, S 2012, Spotify’s Daniel Ek: The Most Important Man In Music, viewed 20 March 2014, <http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenbertoni/2012/01/04/spotifys-daniel-ek-the-most-important-man-in-music/>.
Dredge, S 2014, Spotify and Ministry of Sound settle music playlists copyright lawsuit, viewed 19 March 2014,<http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/feb/27/spotify-ministry-of-sound-lawsuit-settlement>.
Lynskey, D 2013, Is Daniel Ek, Spotify founder, going to save the music industry … or destroy it?, viewed 20 March 2014,<http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/nov/10/daniel-ek-spotify-streaming-music>.
Lysonski, S & Durvasula, S 2008, ‘Digital piracy of MP3s: consumer and ethical predispositions’, Journal of Consumer Marketing, vol. 25, no. 4, p. 167 – 178, viewed 20 March 2014, Emerald Insight, item: 0736-3761. <http://www.emeraldinsight.com.ezproxy.uow.edu.au/journals.htm?articleid=1723318>.
Happy tree friend & Youtube colab – Piracy School 🙂
LaurenKate 