The Emergence of Digital Era and Its Impact on Music Industry

The emergence of the digital era has significantly transformed the music industry. For instance, online music sampling platforms make it easier to distribute and share content between peers and with their fans. Inspiration from music has led to issues if piracy, content copying, copyright theft, and free access. Also, channels such as YouTube are specially designed to disseminate content to the public. However, there is a dire need to leverage the presence and functioning of the digital platforms through reforming the conventional copyright policies that have become obsolete. Presented herein is a typical annotation of the scholarly articles that are selected for reference whilst addressing the underlying copyright issues in the contemporary digital media environment.

Gillespie, T., 2007. The technological Fix. Wired shut: Copyright and the shape of digital culture. Cambridge: MIT press.

Gillespie (2007) produced the article at Cambridge where it was later reviewed by Sheridan B. as a high technology journal. He is a PhD holder and an assistant professor at Cornell University, and is based at the Communications Department. Gillespie is an author to several publications that touch on digital rights management. The article highlights key issues surrounding music copyright, DRM, motion pictures, and music production from a legal perspective. As such, the main audience is law students who are aiming to be advocates of intellectual property protection. The article’s main aim is to analyze how technology can be used to protect music producers and artists against piracy (Gillespie 2007). Music copyright is a good topic of discussion as it focuses on current trends that are observed due to technological advancement.

More than ever, people can access the internet more effectively and cheaply, which calls for studies on how intellectual property protection can be achieved digitally. Hence, there is need to recognize DRM as more than just technology. Gillespie (2007) gives the full context required to successfully evaluate DRM facets and concepts. He provides an avenue to comprehend copyright law, political, and social theory. As such, he based most of his arguments around effective management, a dynamic digital culture, and legal policies. The article prepares the reader to understand how to implement DRM systems. It is successful in placing DRM at a broader context which can be used by the legal system, students, music producers, and other scholars. The language used is simple to comprehend, which makes it applicable to all types of institutions. It gives further recommendations on how technology can be used in effective intellectual property protection.

Vaidhyanathan, S. (2012). Open Source as Culture-Culture as Open Source. In (Ed.) Mandiberg, M. The Social Media Reader. New York: New York University Press.

Siva Vaidhyanathan is a professor who has specialized in media studies. He is based at the University of Virginia where he lectures on topics that cover social media and digital perspectives. Most of the articles and books he has authored are based on the digital culture and how it has shaped human understanding and existence. In Open Source as Culture-Culture as Open Source, the author tries to comprehend how organizations have devised ways to succeed in research and development. He provides a link between ‘Open Source’ and copyright issues in the digital era. To be specific, the study focuses on how brilliance and efficient communication can be used when devising strong intellectual property laws.

Just like Gillespie (2007), Vaidhyanathan (2012) highlights how the digital era has changed copyright mechanisms. For example, the success of Open Source models is based on the fact that copyright involves a large avenue of stakeholders. Further, this model illustrates the creative habits of the individuals in striving to produce, supply, and disseminate content safely. The article is applicable in the current atmosphere due to the technological wave that has presented more copyrights issues such as music piracy and cyber-crimes. It targets a large audience ranging from organizations, scholars, and policy decision makers.

Schroff, S. and Street, J., 2018. The politics of the Digital Single Market: culture vs. competition vs. copyright. Information, Communication & Society, 21(10), pp.1305-1321.

Schroff and Street (2018) are authors of several information and communication articles and books. Their main focus lies in the technological evolution and communication trends. In The politics of the Digital Single Market: cultures vs. competition vs. copyright, the authors try to analyse the challenges that have emerged due to digital technology. This is based on copyright issues and its management. As such, they base their arguments around collective management organizations. The CMOs have been pinpointed as the main cause of challenges facing music authors and producers. To be specific, they’ve highlighted how technological revolution and the internet are not confined to specific places or borders. For those who distribute music through the internet, it becomes a challenge when they cannot protect their product against theft and piracy. Also, they deal with several agencies that increase the cost of production. Hence, it becomes difficult to develop legal services.

The article applies a descriptive type of research and a case study of European Union digital market. As such, it’s applicable as a good source of information for a leaner aiming at understanding copyright issues and digital markets. It is a well-articulated journal and generates ideas, theories, and concepts in a comprehensive manner. It identifies gaps for further studies in the digital technology based on the findings. For example, as a learner, there is need to focus on how policy making decisions can enhance reliable copyrights and effective competitive principles in the digital markets.

Ku, R.S.R., 2017. The creative destruction of copyright: Napster and the new economics of digital technology. In Copyright Law (pp. 207-268). Abingdon-on-Thames: Routledge.

The author of this article, a legal associate from Seton Hall University School of Law (Ku, 2017), presents a critical perception of the controversial interaction between the copyright law and the digital music sampling needs. Based on a review of the Chicago Illinois State’s copyright policy, he clearly highlights the misalignment between the two core roles of copyright clauses; to protect the novelty right of the artistes and to promote the dissemination of content to reach out to their fans. Technically, the digital era musicians are capable of marketing and spreading their content globally through digital music sampling platforms (Ku, 2017). Further, Ku (2017) maintains that there is a dire need to consider reforming the law to address the obsolete restrictive copyright policy within the digital era whereby the purpose of music is to entirely inspire and mentor fans and other musicians in an attempt to increase market popularity.

In this scholarly work of literature, Ku (2017) successfully brings to light the underlying issues in the digital sampling sector, which are triggered by the consequential misaligned interaction between the factors of a digital distribution market and access restricting copyright policies. It is purposely selected for this paper as it informs the root of the problem affecting digital markets and provides a feasibly reasonable remedy. Further, the study was based on a real problem that is affecting current organizations in the digital world. It brings to light what needs to be done in terms of copyright protection through use of technology. It is suitable for a literature-based research as it leaves gaps for further studies on digital technologies. The article can reach a wide audience due to its easy-to-read language and comprehension.

Reference List

Gillespie, T., 2007. The technological Fix. Wired shut: Copyright and the shape of digital culture. Cambridge: MIT press.

Ku, R.S.R., 2017. The creative destruction of copyright: Napster and the new economics of digital technology. In Copyright Law (pp. 207-268). Abingdon-on-Thames: Routledge.

Schroff, S. and Street, J., 2018. The politics of the Digital Single Market: culture vs. competition vs. copyright. Information, Communication & Society, 21(10), pp.1305-1321.

Vaidhyanathan, S. (2012). Open Source as Culture-Culture as Open Source. In (Ed.) Mandiberg, M. The Social Media Reader. New York: New York University Press.