Week 6: Does the emergence of the digital download signal the end of the music industry?

In the music industry, every significant progression in technology is followed by a prophecy of doom for profitability. The cassette was considered a threat when it grew popular in the 1970s, as was the compact disc. Neither of these led to a decline in record sales, and so far digital downloads haven’t either. Steve Jobs has commented that Apple’s biggest rival is piracy itself, and it is true that the introduction of smaller, compressed MP3 files and faster internet connections have made file sharing easier, but is this theft? The music industry insists that it is, despite that nobody is making a profit from P2P file sharing. However, Jobs is still urging major record labels to abandon DRM and release DRM-free files for downloading. This suggests that it will always remain the case that people get what they pay for; downloads can be unpredictable and carry the risk of spyware, so people choose to buy albums in shops and online so they can be assured of quality.