Industry Analysis Case Study

Music Industry: Battling Online Piracy

OR

Abstract:
The advent of Napster in 1999 took the music industry to a new battlefield – the Internet. In just two years of its operations, Napster exemplified the power of the Internet and the craze for music. On-line music piracy posed a more serious threat than was conceived. The industry, represented by the Recording Industry Association of America and International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, took concerted steps to tackle the illegal downloading of music. Though they succeeded in Napster's fall, they could not contain other Napster-like services, which became popular after Napster.

Pedagogical Objectives:

• To discuss the series of steps taken by the industry to stop the 'Napsterisation' of music
• To discuss the advent of legal on-line music sites and their success as paid service providers.

Keywords : Recording Industry Association of America, RIAA, Napster, Grokster and Kazaa, Music piracy, File sharing, Peer-to-peer, Copyright infringement, Government and Business Environment Case Study, International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, IFPI, Verizon, Amnesty programme, Digital rights management, iTunes, CD sales, Bertelsmann