Why the Internet is Good for Music

<p>The purpose of this thesis is to challenge the common notion that the internet has had a detrimental impact on the music industry, and on musicians’ ability to generate a viable income while still producing good music. Note, that the following arguments do not automatically extend to the effect that the web has had on books, patents, films, journalism or any other medium. The reason for this is because these different disciplines have individual characteristics that make them respond differently to the same socio-economic pressures. However, on the same token, it does not necessarily follow that the conclusions reached here are inapplicable to other activities: perhaps what is true for music in the following pages is also true for e.g. photography. Furthermore, I am not advocating for a free-for-all internet where behemoths like Google, Amazon and Facebook get to do whatever they wish. Although I am intrigued by such matters, the constraints of both time and space allow me only the possibility to focus on the subject that I am most familiar and passionate about. Furthermore, because I am painting a broad picture which encompasses many intellectual disciplines, many of which I am not an expert in, this work is to be considered more on the consistency of the overall argument rather than the minutia of its individual parts.</p>