Brockman 7/7/2019 9:39 AM
2019] RECORD LABELS: UNINTENDED AGENCY 3
A. The Internet and Online Music
In the decades leading up to the 21st century, most people learned of new mu-
sic by listening to the radio, watching MTV, or talking with friends. If a person
wanted an album, she headed to her local record store to pick up that record, cas-
sette, or CD. Maybe she had only heard the hit single on the radio, but she likely
still bought the full album. She would do that every time there was a new band she
wanted to check out or when a band she liked released a new album. The Internet
changed that. Smartphones changed it even more. Gone are the days when teenagers
(and lucky adults) spent hours in record stores looking at physical copies of albums,
admiring cover art, and purchasing new music.
In 1999, Napster brought file sharing to the masses.
3
Napster made it ex-
tremely easy for users to upload, share, and subsequently find music—all for free.
4
Instead of paying $10 to $20 for an album in a record store, users could download
the same album in a few minutes for free and from the comfort of their homes.
5
While Napster did not survive the Record Labels,
6
it did forever change the land-
scape of how we acquire and listen to recorded music. Physical record sales never
recovered
7
and online services now dominate the industry.
8
Services such as Spotify,
Pandora, iTunes, GooglePlay, YouTube, Amazon’s Prime Music and Music Unlim-
ited, and many others provide various ways to consume music from free streaming
to paid downloads. Additionally, the unit that is purchased has changed; music fans
now purchase or stream music by track rather than by album.
9
While this change in technology has brought more music to many more listen-
ers, it has had a detrimental effect on the companies responsible for getting music
3
Richard Nieva, Ashes to Ashes, Peer to Peer: An Oral History of Napster, FORTUNE (Sept. 5,
2013), http://fortune.com/2013/09/05/ashes-to-ashes-peer-to-peer-an-oral-history-of-napster/.
4
Jessica Hu et al., Copyright vs. Napster: The File Sharing Revolution, 2 U.C. IRVINE L.F.J.
53, 55 (2004).
5
Corey Rayburn, After Napster, 6 VA. J.L. & TECH. 16, 18–19 (2001).
6
In 2001, a court ordered Napster to shut down or start charging for music. Napster opted
to charge for music and was purchased by Rhapsody in 2013. Lamont, supra note 1. Currently, it
is not a major player in the streaming music market. See Steve Olenski, The Battle for Supremacy
in the Music Streaming Space and What It Means for Marketers, F
ORBES (Dec. 13, 2017), https://
www.forbes.com/sites/steveolenski/2017/12/13/the-battle-for-supremacy-in-the-music-streaming-
space-and-what-it-means-for-marketers/#7ead195d574e
.
7
Total industry revenues in 2017 were less than 70% of what they were in 1999.
An Explosion in Global Music Consumption Supported by Multiple Platforms, IFPI, http://www.ifpi.
org/facts-and-stats.php (last visited Apr. 5, 2019).
8
In 2017, physical sales of record music accounted for 30% of global music industry
revenue, while streaming and digital revenue accounted for 54%. Id.
9
2014 Nielsen Music U.S. Report, NIELSEN, https://www.nielsen.com/content/dam/
corporate/us/en/public%20factsheets/Soundscan/nielsen-2014-year-end-music-report-us.pdf
(last visited Apr. 5, 2019).