Popularity of music is on the rise, but students in Bowling Green, Ohio, are choosing to download it illegally instead of purchasing it.
“I don’t download music through iTunes. I don’t see why anyone would. I use YouTube, or get music from other friends for free,” said Lance Dauch, an education major, from Wapakoneta, Ohio.
Music is now available through programs such as iTunes and also available free on sites such as YouTube, Spotify and Pandora. According to an article in the Rolling Stone, the fractions of cents that artists collect from streaming sites make it next to impossible to track how much they make.
According to the Rolling Stone, top artists receive approximately $1 for every 1,000 plays on YouTube and on Internet radio, artists get 25 percent of the company’s annual revenue, which comes out to be around $0.001 per stream of song.
Many music fans felt that sites such as YouTube and Pandora are actually helping musicians.
“It’s much easier for artists to gain fans these days with all of the online music sites,” said Jordan Deck, a medical technology major, from Toledo, Ohio. “Before, it was all word of mouth, and sometimes great bands were never even discovered.”
According to the Rolling Stone, compact-discs were once the main way of selling music, but have been faded out because of online downloads.
Several students on campus are happy with the direction music is going.
“CD’s just can’t compete with online downloads,” said Ariana Panagiota, a fashion major, from Pittsburgh. “It’s so much easier to carry around an iPod with thousands of songs instead of carrying around a CD with only 15 songs on it.”
Music is continuously evolving, and only time can tell what is in store for music fans in the future. Some students believe that illegal downloading is only a phase.
“I think eventually the government will step in and create a system to go after illegal downloading more than they do now,” said Josh Kelley, a sport management major, from Lima, Ohio. “The illegal downloading has got to come to an end. Musicians are getting cheated out of millions of dollars. It isn’t fair to anyone involved with the creation of music.”
