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Writing Compare/Contrast

Read an essay about the music industry and how artists record their music. Then answer the following questions.

The Changing Music Industry

A sound revolution began with Thomas Edison’s first phonograph in the late 19th century, and it is a revolution that continues to this day. Through the years consumers have been able to buy cylinders, records, tapes, and CDs; more recently, the Internet has made music even more available. This increased availability of music to consumers combined with an artist’s ability to record on a personal computer has created a new kind of sound revolution. In the past musical artists had little hope of succeeding without the help of the music industry, but now these artists can work to create their own success. Musical artists trying to choose between working with recording companies or on their own will find both similarities and differences in recording, promoting, and distributing their work to the public.

There are several ways that recording companies and artists themselves can create successful music careers. Both recording companies and individual artists can make high-quality recordings available to consumers, usually in the form of tapes and CDs. In addition, recording companies provide promotion of these works; likewise, an individual artist wants to promote his or her own work as much as possible. Just as a recording company will advertise an artist’s recordings to as large an audience as possible and sometimes provide promotional tours, an artist will also try to do the same when working on his or her own. In addition, a recording company will sell the music it records for a profit and give a percentage of that money to the artist in payments known as royalties; similarly, an

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artist will try to sell his or her own work for profit. Thus, there are several things that both recording companies and individual artists will do in order to try to establish their work in the industry.

While both the recording companies and the individual artists have some of the same basic goals in mind, there are several differences in the way these things are accomplished. Recording companies maintain state-of-the art sound studios to ensure that the recordings they make will be of high quality. Individual artists also try to make excellent recordings, but they often do not have comparable studios. Instead, they now have the capability of making low-cost recordings of high quality on their personal computers. Although both recording companies and individual artists will try to promote their work as much as possible, they will not do this in the same way. Large companies have the financial recourses to launch large advertise and sell their products at a profit and give the artist only part of that profit as royalties. In contrast, the individual artist can determine the amount of profit she or he will earn from the recordings through direct sales to consumers.

The music industry has been able to provide its products to consumers for many years. Nonetheless, computers and the Internet seem to have provided a kind of crossroad for this industry because they offer artists more choices as to how to record and promote their work to make money. As a result, consumers also now have more choices and can buy music in their own preferred way.

II. Read an essay about how consumers can legally obtain music through the Internet. Then answer the questions.

Obtaining Music from the Internet

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Through the years consumers have been able to buy cylinders, records, tapes, and CDs in order to listen to music. More recently, the Internet has made music more available than ever through downloading or participating in “peer-to-peer” sharing of music files. This change in the availability of music has caused conflicting opinions about legality of obtaining music over the Internet due to issues with copyright restrictions. However, now there are several services that provide legal means of obtaining music on the Internet. Although all of these companies provide consumers access to music, customers will find that not all of these Web sites operate in the same way.

All of the Web sites that provide music to consumers charge money for their services, but they don’t all charge in the same way. For example, one company may charge a standard $0.99 per song, while another company may charge a variety of prices, often ranging from $0.79 to $1.14. A company may advertise on its Web site that a customer can buy songs at one low price. However, once consumers start to pay for services, they may find that most songs are not available at the lower price, and a more complicated price structure exists. Another company’ Web site may charge a monthly subscription fee and then another fee for each song once the customer starts requesting specific music.

When using online music services, a consumer may find restrictions regarding transferring files to computers or making CDs; however, these limitations may be quite different from service to service. That is, one service may have few or no restrictions regarding how the digital files can be used, yet a different service may have several restrictions. For example, when a customer uses one particular service, she or he may be allowed to make many CDs with the downloaded files; in contrast, another service may allow its customers to make only a small number of CDs containing the downloaded music file. In addition, one service may allow the consumer to play the music file on one computer only,

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but another service may allow the customer to transfer the file to several computers.

In addition, some online music services may provide better service and quality than others. One service may be very reliable and provide exactly what the consumer asks for every time. In contrast, another service may not be reliable in this regard. For example, a custom may order a particular song preformed by a particular artist or group, yet she or he may receive a completely different song when the order is filled. Furthermore, one company may provide high-quality music files with excellent sound while another company may deliver files of poor quality. Some customers will find that they receive files that crackle or have lower-quality sound overall.

Consumers have been able to buy and listen to their favorite music in many ways through the years. The Internet has provided some new and different ways for consumers to obtain music, but it has also caused some controversy regarding how this can be done legally. While several online services do provide legal means of getting music files, consumers should shop carefully and understand exactly how these services work before using them.

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