A new wave of popular sites have spread across the internet. Pinterest is one, but another is a “make your own radio station” site called “Pandora”. By signing up for a free account, you can type in your favorite combination of songs and create different “stations”. I have one for Celtic music, one for Disney songs, and one for Reliant K.
However, my question is this: Why is P2P (peer to peer) considered illegal, while Pandora is not? Both allow you to listen to your favorite music at absolutely no charge, thereby costing the artists by not compensating them whenever their material is listened to.
I think the difference is the ownership of the music—you cannot download the music from Pandora. Instead, there is an option to purchase the song on iTunes for the regular 99 cents. With P2P sharing, you get the song free of charge.
Also, as mentioned in my post last week, studies in Europe show that streaming services like Pandora seems to be decreasing the amount of internet piracy and illegal downloading. “54% of those surveyed said that streaming music made them stop illegally downloading songs”, the article on Radio Industry News Blog reads. It still doesn’t change the fact that people are technically enjoying the music free of charge, but if making listening to one’s favorite music for free legal cuts down on the taking/sharing of music for free, then I guess everyone will profit in the end.
You make an interesting point in this post. I think that the big gist of this argument is that the music companies don't want to lose profits from P2P file sharing.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, listening to Pandora is not much different than listening to a radio station, and since that isn't illegal, it makes sense that Pandora isn't illegal either. I'd guess that music companies are okay with that because Pandora might pay royalties every time a song is played (pure speculation there; I haven't researched that point).
Very well written post and a very interesting topic to consider.
I wrote my article on Pinterest! But anyways, I think that you're probably right in the reasoning of why pandora is not illegal. It is interesting though because people can access the music almost wherever if they have a smartphone or ipod with internet access
ReplyDeleteThat is interesting that sites like Pandora have caused piracy to decrease for many people. That makes a lot of sense. Many people would rather do something for free than steal it, if they both end in the same result. I agree with Laura though. I do believe that Pandora either pays or has a contract with the artists whose music they play. Some bands who are starting off may put their music on their for free just for the advertising/marketing value.
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