Music for the Masses

There's a new obsession sweeping the country, reaching into homes and dorm rooms across the country via modems everywhere. According to Searchterms.com, a Web site that tracks the most common Internet search words, it is second in popularity only to pornography. As addictive as heroin and just as illegal, it can cost you hours upon hours of valuable study time.

Welcome to the MP3 revolution.

For the technologically ignorant, MP3-short for Motion Picture Experts Group 1 Audio Layer 3-is the audio-coding software which allows fans to compress digital music files from compact discs into a size more manageable for personal storage and Internet transmission. While a typical digitally recorded song takes up about 40 megabytes of space, its MP3 counterpart only needs about 3.5 MB.

As a result, MP3s are an easy way for the typical Internet user to gain free access to their favorite music. Scores of Internet sites offer their visitors the opportunity to download free MP3 players, and thousands more make a wide range of current recordings available.

Practically unknown about a year ago, MP3 use has mushroomed in the last few months. An estimated 20 million Americans currently have an MP3 player on their PC, and the numbers are increasing rapidly. The largest site of its kind, www.MP3.com, claims over 200,000 visits and more than 75,000 downloads each day.

The growing popularity of MP3s has not gone unnoticed by the music industry. Major recording labels like Sony and Capitol are crying foul, claiming that rampant disregard for copyright laws by hundreds of Web sites which illegally post pirated tracks threatens to grossly undercut profits. Because MP3 technology is so advanced, it is fairly simple for anyone with the proper equipment to condense and make available whole CDs for free distribution. And with the advent of portable MP3 players now offered for about $200 by seven different companies, industry doomsayers are predicting the total financial ruin of music companies worldwide.

Reports of the death of modern recording labels, however, are greatly exaggerated. For one thing, MP3 tracks aren't exactly the easiest things to find-ask any student who has spent hours surfing the net to find a particular song. Sites which offer free downloads can appear and disappear in a matter of hours and many illegal recordings don't always have quality sound. And there is something about having the actual album that a folder of MP3 files will never be able to duplicate.

But despite current obstacles to procuring MP3s, the industry believes that improvements in technology will make the threat of rampant piracy a reality. In retaliation, they have concocted a series of lawsuits against anyone and everyone who could by some remote chance be held responsible for the trend. Targets include specific sites, MP3 manufacturers and even the engineers who originally created MP3 technology.

The most recent (and possibly most absurd) move against MP3s was taken last month by Sightsound.com, who threatened MP3.com with a lawsuit asserting that Sightsound held patents which control "among other things, the sale of audio or video recordings in download fashion over the Internet." Such a grandiose claim is comparable to Random House stating that they have the exclusive rights to the process of printing up and distributing written material.

The bottom line is that recording labels, managers, producers and radio stations are fearful of losing their traditional hold over the musicians themselves. It used to be that in order to sell their music, bands had to sign with a recording label with the right contacts to get their songs out to DJs and industry heads for local and national promotion. Labels who caught up-and-comers could sign them to contracts which bound them to turn over a huge percentage of their profits and subsequently regulate all aspects of album production, touring, etc.

MP3s and the Internet can empower bands to take back control over their music. Countless bigname groups are eager to take advantage of the opportunity; for example the Beastie Boys took it upon themselves to make available live tracks and non-copyrighted music to promote their latest album, Hello Nasty. Garbage and Alanis Morrisette have been known to release special rare cuts exclusively in MP3 format. They Might Be Giants has even made entire albums available online. Smaller, independent bands have also embraced MP3s as a means for building a fan base and getting their music recognized. The London-Based Nightnurse had over 27,000 people download their latest single from their official Web site. If each download corresponded to an album sale, the song would be in the top 20 worldwide--an impressive showing for a group that is virtually unheard of outside Great Britain.

In light of the potential benefits which exist for the musicians themselves, it is unwise for the music industry to continue their frontal assault on MP3s. Attempts to vanquish MP3 production and distribution completely are fated to fail, for the system is already wildly popular and widely in use. Attacks on individual sites are similarly futile; not only is it often difficult to track down a site's creator, but it is nearly impossible to prosecute because laws out-lawing the practice are currently nonexistent.

The industry will also have to risk incurring the wrath of musicians themselves. No longer completely dependent on music companies, bands will be likely to break out on their own if they feel they are being too restricted. Chuck D of Public Enemy recently split with Def Jam Records because he felt the label was unresponsive to the group's needs. The band has had continued success since the breakup with the label, keeping up fan interest by posting tracks on their Web site and selling regular and MP3 albums through Atomicpop.com. "Digital distribution levels the playing field," Chuck D told Rolling Stone.

If record labels want to survive, they are going to have to work with MP3s and the Internet, not against them. One feasible solution is to create encrypted MP3 tracks which can be tracked and are less easy to digitize illegally. Cerberus, a company which currently uses a watermarked version of the standard MP3, suffers little to no piracy and can easily identify tracks which have been ripped off.

Regardless of whether or not the big labels choose to accept an alternative to prosecution, MP3s have shown every indication of outlasting their current status as a hot trend. In the end, it will be the bands and the fans who will win--and all that record companies can do is hope to hang on for the ride. Alixandra E. Smith '02 lives in Weld Hall.