Debates around the development of digital technologies with respect to the music industry

At my previous study I was asked to describe some of the debates surrounding the development of digital technologies with respect to the music industry while introducing at least three of the articles we had discussed during the art sociology classes about pop music. I think the outcome of this request is interesting to post on my blog because it connects new media with pop music in which I'm both interested. Because it's not a very long article I decided to copy-paste it instead of only giving a link. It was written in Dutch in 2006 but I translated it intro English:

In this article I will attend three matters that have played a role or a still ambulatory in the music industry. These are the rights of the major record companies, the rights of the users and the internationalizing of the music industry.

The rights of the major media companies (the suppliers)
In the article 'Infrastructure for the Celestial Jukebox' that is written by Burkart and McCourt in 2004 is stated that trough the rise of the MP3 and the internet people are listening more and more to illegal music. The four big record companies (Warner, Sony BMG, Universal and EMI) saw their incomes decline and decided to act against it. This resulted in the development of the 'Celestial Jukebox' that protects and traces files in order to prevent them being used illegal. Strauss refers to this as 'the digital fort Knox'.
A lot of users are against this because it only stimulates the further isolation and individualization of users. A second argument is that smaller companies don't get a chance anymore because they don't own enough money to purchase the needed equipment. Besides that the bigger companies own such a big part of the internet that they can manage to establish an obligatory toll collection. Until 1991 this was forbidden to do for commercial purposes, but trough the introduction of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 this became legal.
There are a lot of people who think that MP3's should be free. They consider the day that Napster lost their trial for the disperse of free music as the day that the music died.
Hesmondhalgh states in his article 'Digitalisation, Copyright and the Music Industries' in 2006 that the statements of the four big companies are exaggerated. There is a slight decline in record sales, but it's insignificant. Moreover they will never succeed to make everybody use their systems. There will always be people that will get round their rules. The internet is an important medium for the sale of music, but they have to stay focused on the sale of real CD's. Hesmondhalgh predicts that CD collections will proceed to exist and will form a blend of bought and burned copies.

The rights of the users
To be able to protect and trace files the 'Celestial Jukebox' needs information from his users. These are gathered trough registrationforms and end-user license agreements as is mentioned in the article of Burkart and McCourt. Because this information is very detailed it must be handled very carefully. The companies could get sued for the discretion of privacy, incorrect use of intellectual propery, freedom of speech and the freedom to choose your own programs to work with.
The companies don't only use their gathered information for protection, but also to investigate the preferences and profile of users so they can adjust to the demand of to the users. Companies try this way to bind users to come back and use their service. The problem is that a lot of users are against those services. They think they are shallow, forcing and artificial. Above all the preferences of the users never connect because the behavior of users changes all the time.
Because of the Intellectual Property Act users should get more participation and influence on the debate on this matters, but trough the introduction of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act in 1998 listening to illegal MP3's became actionable while the users were against this because they always did so.

Internationalism
This phenomenon is described in the article 'De toekomst van de verbeeldingsmachine' that is written by Rutten in 2000. He writes that there are a number or international operation conglomerates established that are in major part under American supervision. Conglomerates are joined companies wich contain companies of all the sectors of the culture industry. They do this to raise their income. When you for instance produce a movie you don't only earn money by showing it at the theaters, but also at the soundtrack that is published. The success of the one enhances the success of the other. Moreover the marketing of the products costs less money when they are promoted together at once.
The problem is that they suffocate the smaller companies. They can't compete with the big companies because they don't have enough money to promote their products as much as they do. In the Netherlands Wegener has tried to gather some branches of industry, but that has failed because the Netherlands are too small. An European conglomeration though might be a possibility.
So there is pressure from two sides on the government: the local market wants to be promoted, but on the other side there is the suffocating influence of the American market that wants their products promoted and played.
Malm and Wallis wrote in 1992 in their article 'Media Policy and Music Industry' that the stay behind of the local market has to do with technological developments. In a land as Kenia the cassette still is the most important sound carrier while it already is replaced long ago in the West by the CD. At last has the rise of the music video has increased the stay behind of the local market because they often don't have enough money to produce a video.

Articles that are used:
Burkart and McCourt - The Infrastructure of the Celestial Jukeboc (2004)
Hesmondhalgh - Digitalisation, Copyright and the Music Industry (2006)
Malm and Wallis - Media Policy and Music Industry (1992)
Rutten - De toekomst van de verbeeldingsmachine (2000)