The Digitalization of Music: To Stream, To Spend, or To Steal?

Project Description

A music-streaming format delivers audio files or radio waves on a continuous basis, often through a subscription or verified user account. Streaming can be hosted traditionally, on a computer or Internet-enabled device, or via Bluetooth or other connectivity technology. Today, audio streaming accounts for almost one-third of the music industry; this forces record labels, organizations, and legislators, amongst others, to question the role played by music pirates in an industry so dominated by technological means of transmission. Critics suggest that there may be a link between streaming and piracy, such that the former enables the latter and that the two can coexist in a world dominated by music-streaming services. This link might exist within, and be more prevalent within, certain demographics, such as male millennials, but there is no evidence that all music streamers and paid subscribers.