File-sharing-fight, ignore or compete [An article from: Telematics and Informatics]

This digital document is a journal article from Telematics and Informatics, published by Elsevier in 2005. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Description:
Music downloads from the Internet have been bothering the music industry since 1997. To protect their main source of income the music industry has employed different strategies: lawsuits against downloading services and users of these services; technical solutions to prevent CD-ripping; information campaigns; and lobbying for stricter copyright laws. Many of these efforts resulted in the opposite of what was intended; it caused bad publicity and alienated at least a part of the public. When Apple launched their downloading service, this soon resulted in a market share of 70% of legal downloads. Apple CEO Steve Jobs declared that they would not sue or ignore file-sharing services but compete with them. The central question addressed in this paper is whether legal downloading services can compete with file-sharing services. It will be argued-on the basis of case studies and an analysis of the features of paid services and P2P-networks-that legal services have some advantages over illegal ones and differ on many aspects. They will probably serve different markets; file-sharing services will serve bootleggers, aficionados, and the (previously) single-buying youth market. Legal services will serve a more mature market.