Today marked the historic introduction Apple’s newest brainchild, the iPad. This tablet device is able to use both AT&T’s 3G network as well as wireless Internet to provide books, news, television, music, celebrity gossip, et cetera to the consumer. In an article written two days ago, journalists Brad Stone and Stephanie Clifford of the New York Times reported the concerns of print media nationwide. What are their fears? That the tablet will make downloading and streaming illegal content from the Internet even easier than it already is.
Illegal downloading occurs using a variety of methods, most falling under the category of peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing, Napster, for example. In a P2P relationship, there is no distinguishable client or server, just “peers” that are able to share content between multiple computers. To oversimplify, bits of information—most often music—are identified on another computer by a torrent tracker and reassembled on the receiving end of the exchange. P2P file sharing has been a particularly hot topic in the last decade, as the Recording Industry Association of America has been targeting college students (and academic institutions) for committing music piracy. But do they have anything to fear?
In an article titled “Share, Steal, or Buy: A Social Cognitive Perspective of Music Downloading,” Psychologists of Michigan State University, Robert LaRose and Kim Junghyun contend that “downloading appears to be as much a social phenomenon as an economic one.” Their research with college students confirms that downloaders are motivated by the social act of trading and sharing music with other music enthusiasts, making the topic of illegal music downloading one of adolescent cultural perspective (LaRose and Kim). If you care to read the entire quantitative study, see end for link.
The way I have interpreted it, it seems that the trend of illegal music downloading is also an issue of cultural lag, a topic that we have talked about in class. Though they may not explicitly define it this way in the article, they have found that “downloading intentions had no direct relationship to either compact disc purchases or to subscription to online pay music services.” Instead, by comparing their behavior to that of other people—especially those similar in age—researchers have found that they mimic this behavior (of downloading) largely because they believe it to be socially acceptable.
Perhaps the reason the music industry is so adamantly opposed to the idea of file-sharing (for FREE?!) is because of the cultural lag, and the discontinuity of values between generations. We have the technology now to access infinite amounts of content, but many are not ready to accept this change in the way information is being transferred—hence the efforts to put “locks” on media (encryption). And, many music industry personnel are of the generation before my own, that had no other choice but to buy records at full price. But even adolescents struggle with the ethics of illegally downloading. Should it be allowed? Does it actually harm the musician? Why are people resisting? Apple claims that it will encourage users to pay for the material they access online, but there is no way to guarantee this, making media publishers weary of the new iPad. The fact of the matter is that the way we acquire information is changing—becoming more free, and easier—and the print media industries will need to adapt rather than resist. For a long time, concert ticket and t-shirt sales have brought in incredible revenue—more so even than CD sales—and the industry should focus their efforts in marketing this type of media, that cannot be downloaded over the Internet.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/26/technology/26apple.html?pagewanted=2
http://search.ebscohost.com.nuncio.cofc.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=25963255&site=ehost-live
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