Online Music Piracy Doesnt Hurt Sales - Assignment Example

School: Topic: EFFECT OF ONLINE MUSIC ON MUSIC ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND FUNDING OF MUSIC PROJECTS IN UK Lecturer: 1.0 Introduction 1.1 Background to the problem With the advent of technology backed globalisation, electronic commerce (e-commerce) can be said to have taken a centre stage in the global business environment (Zhu, 2004). As affluent and transcending as e-commerce is, it is also very dominant with the music industry, where the use of online music stores has become very popular since the beginning of the 21st century (O’Brien & Marakas, 2011). Even though online music business comes with a lot of advantage and benefits for those in the industry, Lui (2010) lamented that there are several other forms of challenges that industry players have to face and deal with. In recent times, one of these issues can be said to be online music piracy. The piracy of music generally refers to the act of copying and distributing copies of music for personal gain without the consent of legitimate copyright owners of the music (Kreitz & Niemela, 2010). Online music piracy can therefore be said to be the use of the internet or other online portals for music piracy activities (Chase, Mulvenon & Hachigian, 2006). Even though the effect of online music piracy can be appreciated to be vast and widespread, the research seeks to put a very specific spotlight on the entrepreneurial investment in the music industry. In effect, the research will look specifically at the impact or effect of online music piracy on the entrepreneurship and funding of music projects in the UK. As noted by Duckworth (2005), music as an industry is a well branded business which require a lot of financial investment to succeed. But as to whether the issue of online music piracy is a disincentive for entrepreneurs is a question that the research will explore. 1.2 Aim and objectives The aim of the study will be to find the direct effect of online music piracy on music entrepreneurship and funding of music projects in UK. To achieve this aim, the following specific objectives will be targeted. 1. To critique available music piracy laws in the UK to ascertain their effectiveness in fighting online music piracy. 2. To determine the economic ramifications of online music piracy in the UK 3. To analyse the impact of online music piracy on the choice of entrepreneurs and project funders to go into music. 1.3 Contextualisation of research There is a historical context to the effect of online music piracy on sales where The Institute for Prospective Technological Studies, which is part of the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, published a report suggesting that online music piracy does not hurt sales (Ernesto, 2013). Since this publication, there have been several other academic and professional discourses to debate the real economic impact of online music piracy on the music industry as a whole. The proposed study there comes with the significance of contributing to the ongoing public discourse. The study will add much economic contexts to the subject by looking at how the outcome of economic ramification of online music piracy in the UK impact on entrepreneurial activity and investment. The study also has a legal context as it would look at the fight against online music piracy from a more legal perspective to appreciate what can be done in a legal perspective to stop the practice if it is found to hurt music investment. 2.0 Background Literature 2.1 Music piracy as a copyright issue Theories on copyright will be one area that the study will delve in more detail. Writing on the subject, Hill (2007) explained copyright to be the legal right created by law to the creator of an original work. Such copyright gives holders or creators the exclusive right to distribute and make commercial gains from their works (Spinello, 2005). In the context of the music industry, copyright ownership is mostly given to the producers of the music as they are known to be the actual investors of music who put their capital into the act (Mawhood & Tysver, 2000). By giving copyright access to producers, they are seen as the owners of the music who employ other workers on the music including the artiste and recording studio. Due to the huge investments made into the making of music, there are copyright laws in the UK in other countries that seek to protect music against unlawful usage such as piracy (Hill, 2007). Piracy in the UK is considered a major copyright infringement given the fact that it denies music producers the right to have absolute sales right on their works (Rafael & Waldfogel, 2006). 2.2 Measuring economic ramification of online music piracy The debate on the economic ramification of online music piracy is varying in various studies. According to the Institute for Prospective Technological Studies, online piracy does not have any direct impact on sales since the use of unlawful downloading sites also act in favour of legal online music stores by popularising them (Ernesto, 2013). This view is however rejected by Stryszowski and Scorpecci (2009) who found that since prices are determined by the combination of forces of supply and demand, illegal online activities that make music accessible to the public reduces demand drastically. That is, instead of patrons of music focusing on the right sources to get music, they depend on the availability of free access to music on the internet and thus reduce real purchasing of music online (Zhu, 2004). Gopal and Sanders (2006) also looked at the issue of affordability and said that people download and use music illegally because they cannot purchase legal music. With this said, the economic effect of piracy is said not to be loss of sale but revenue generation. That is, even if there were no illegal sites, people would still not buy the music because they could not afford. 2.3 Challenges to fight against online music piracy Several players in the music industry have called for stringent interventions that can be used to check and stop online music piracy. The problem however continues due to a number of challenging issues. First, Harwit and Clark (2006) mentioned the issue of non-deterring nature of punishment of people engaged in piracy acts. That is, because most people earn more than what they loss as punishment for piracy, they are not deterred to resist. Again, differences in national laws are a major issue (Lessig, 2004). For example when Pirate Bay was banned in the U.S for illegal distribution of online music, it could find its way to set up another website hosted under Swedish law since music mapping, which is considered illegal in most parts of the world is not illegal there (UNC Digital Commons, 2015). 3.0 Methodology 3.1 Research Design The study will be an exploratory case study, conducted as a qualitative research, aimed at understanding the effect of a prevailing concept on a selected group of people. As Fisher (2010) noted, a case study involves the identification of a problem or issue within a research setting, which is critically analysed through data collection procedures. For the proposed study, the issue or problem to be looked at is online music piracy. This issue will be viewed from the UK music industry setting due to proximity of the researcher to this area. Using an exploratory case study will offer the researcher the benefit of delving very deep into the issues of the study by having an in-depth interaction with respondents as to how they are affected by the issue under study (O’Leary, 2006). 3.2 Participants One of the critical components of a case study has been noted to be the participants used in the research (Ridley, 2012). This is because the more suitable the participants are, the better the outcome of the study in achieving expected results by the researcher (Sapsford & Jupp, 2006). For the proposed study, participants will include a group of music producers from a music company in an identified music company in London. It is expected that 10 music producers who have invested in the music industry and in producing music artistes over the year will be engaged to know or understand the impact of online music piracy on their activities and investment pull into the industry. Their selection will be through random sampling technique. 3.3 Data Collection The major approach to data collection will be through the use of semi-structured interviews. To ensure uniformity with the data to be collected from the different respondents, the researcher shall prepare an interview guide to be used as the data collection instrument (Smith, 2011). This interview guide will contain a set of questions to be presented to each interviewee. The interview is expected to take place as a face-to-face question and answer session where the researcher will engage each respondent individually. The face-to-face method of data collection will enhance the depth of data collection as the researcher will have a personal feel of interaction with respondents (Yin, 2009). This way, it will not only be oral responses that will be gathered but non-verbal impressions and reactions such as facial expression, gestures, and emotions as well (Riley et al., 2010). 3.4 Ethical Consideration Arrangement will be made to secure an introductory letter from the awarding university to the music company to be used in the study. What is more, the researcher shall prepare a consent form to be given to each of the 10 respondents. The consent form shall spell out procedure to be used by the researcher in ensuring anonymity of their identities as well as the confidentiality of data collected from them. For example the researcher shall not use the real identities of respondents in the study. In analysing findings also, only extracts of responses will be used from the interview questions. Again, participation will be voluntary as no respondent will be forced to be part of the study. 3.5 Planned Time Frame Work Plan (Gantt chart) Activity list Gantt timeframe Task list 1-11-15 10-11-15 18-11-15 30-11-15 6-12-15 18-12-15 27-12-15 4-1-16 12-1-16 20-1-16 1-2-16 8-2-16 18-2-16 25-2-16 4-3-16 11-3-16 18-3-16 22-3-16 24-3-16 27-3-16 1-4-16 Critical Path A E B U C P Duration Depending A Identification of research problem 1 week N/A B Discussing research problem with supervisor 1 week A, C C Desk research about problem 1 week A, B, D D Developing objectives and research questions 1 week A, C, E E LITERATURE REVIEW 6 weeks A, B, G, K, O, Z, AD F Setting themes based on research objectives 3 weeks A, B, D F G Preparing literature log 2 weeks B, E G H First literature search 1 week B, D, E, F H I Scanning of sources to reduce search finds 1 week B, G, K, M I J Writing literature review 2 weeks A J K Methodology 3 weeks A, B, C, F, Y, AB K L Seeking official permission from music company 2 weeks A, D L M Developing random sample 1 week A, D, R, T M N Developing interview guideline 1 week A, B, R, T N O Collecting data 2 weeks B, C, H, Y O P Sorting of data 1 week B, D, G, X P Q Data analysis 6 weeks A, B, E, N, H, R, Z, AA R Setting themes for analysis 3 weeks B, G, K, M R W Interpreting data findings 2 weeks A, B, G, K, O, Z, AD W X Writing of thesis 3 weeks A, B, D X Y Writing of introduction and prelims chapter 2 weeks B, E Y Z Writing of literature review chapter 1 week B, D, E, F Z AA Writing of methodology chapter 2 weeks B, G, K, M AA AB Writing of data analysis chapter 2 weeks F, G, Y AB AC Writing of conclusion chapter 2 weeks F AC AD Presentation 6 weeks B, C, F AE Presentation of draft 1 3 weeks C, D AE AF Correction of first draft 2 weeks F, H, R, T AF AG Presentation of draft 2 2 weeks AB, AD, AE, F AG AH Correction of draft 2 2 weeks AB, AG, K, M AH AI Final thesis presentation 2 weeks F,G,Y AI AJ Defence of thesis 2 week F,T AJ   References Chase, M., Mulvenon,J. & Hachigian,N. 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