Music downloads offered by artists Some artists allow their songs to be downloaded from their websites, often as a short preview or a low quality sampling. Others have embedded services in their sites that allow purchases of their singles or albums, as demonstrated by Metallica's and J-pop singer Ayumi Hamasaki's official websites. The band Bomb The Music Industry! released all five of their albums as free downloads on their website. Solo artist Tom Fox has racked up over one million mp3 downloads since deciding to give away his music on the internet. Other music artists, most notably Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor, have offered their music to listeners for free, sometimes in defiance of their record labels. In 2005, Nine Inch Nails released the full-length album With Teeth on their MySpace page prior to its official in-store release date. More recently, the band leaked various tracks off their album Year Zero Challenges to legal music downloads Even legal music downloads h ave faced a number of challenges from artists, record labels and the Recording Industry Association of America. In July 2007, the Universal Music Group decided not to renew their long term contracts with iTunes. This legal challenge was primarily based upon the issue of pricing of songs, as Universal wanted to be able to charge more or less depending on the artist, a shift away from iTunes' standard 99 cents per song pricing. Many industry leaders feel that this is only the first of many show-downs between Apple Inc. and the various record labels. The RIAA against illegal downloading The Recording Industry Association of America launched its first lawsuits on September 8, 2003, against individuals downloading illegal music files from the Kazaa FastTrack network. At first, the RIAA's campaign to sue illegal downloaders looked like a bad idea to many critics, however two years after the start of it, the campaign had survived at least one major legal challenge and began to pick up speed. The RIAA says that it files 700 to 750 suits a month against individuals downloading music files without paying for them in hopes of putting an end to Internet music piracy. Many say that it is unfair for the RIAA to choose certain individuals to sue out of millions, but the RIAA dismisses the charge that the suits are unfair comparing them to those who get targeted for speeding tickets. The RIAA hopes their campaign will force people to respect the copyrights of music labels and eventually minimize the number of illegal downloads that happen every day. Chart inclusion United States Legal music downloads were first compiled by Billboard in 2003, but they did not gain mainstream acceptance in the United States until around February 2005, when digital sales for singles started to be included in the Billboard Hot 100 and other Billboard charts. In the year before, the Hot 100 chart was similar to the Hot 100 Airplay chart, because only minor CD-single sales affected the chart. The inclusion of digital singles has immensely helped many songs chart and peak higher, in some cases in the absence of a radio release. Single certifications were introduced in February 2005. Songs that sell a certain number of copies are often certified by the RIAA with the permission of the artist and the record company. United Kingdom The UK Official Download Chart was launched on 1 September 2004, and included any Permanent Digital Download track, under 10 minutes long, being sold for a minimum price of 40p (0.4 GBP). In January 2005, downloaded tracks outsold physical singles for the first time in UK music history, prompting The Official UK Charts Company to begin to incorporate downloads for the first time into the UK Singles Chart on 17 April 2005, at which time Radio 1 stopped broadcasting the separate download chart, although the chart is still compiled. Initially this was on condition that the song must have a physical media release at the same time; th is rule was fully lifted on 1 January 2007 meaning all download sales are now eligible in the chart. Sales records United States In November 2005, the record for the best-selling digital single in the United States was held by Gwen Stefani's "Hollaback Girl", which has sold over one million downloads, making it the first song to achieve platinum download status. The highest week sales was held by Kanye West with the single "Gold Digger", and is now held by Flo Rida with "Right Round" when the single sold 636,000 downloads one week in February 2009. Japan The highest selling digital single in Japan, and the world, is "Flavor Of Life" by Utada Hikaru with 7.7 million legal downloads. 40% of Japanese internet users access a music website, and Japan has the highest penetration of iTunes software users in the world. See also HADOPI law (bill proposed in France to "crack down" on illegal downloaders) Digital Economy Bill (legislature being considered to deny Internet access to sus pected digital pirates) References ^ June 2008, The Tables Have Turned: Rock Stars Not Record Labels Cashing In On Digital Revolution, IBISWorld ^ Universal in Dispute With Apple Over iTunes ^ Jason Krause. "BREAKING UP DOWNLOADING. " ABA Journal 92.(2006): 16,18. Research Library. ProQuest. Georgia State University Library, Atlanta, GA. 12 Nov. 2008 ^ "Multi-product approach makes 'Flavor Of Life' by Japan's Utada Hikaru a contender for best-selling digital single in the world". EMI Group. 28 July 2007. /Press/2007/press51.htm. ^ Nearly 25 Percent of Japanese Internet Users Accessed iTunes in August, According to comScore World Metrix ^ Lizzy Davies, French MPs reject controversial plan to crack down on illegal downloaders, guardian.co.uk, 9 April 2009. ^ The British government has been working on a bill to pre-empt the illegal downloading of commercially-owned files since June. On November 23, 2009, BleedingFingertips on DeviantART announced that the Digital Economy Bill h ad been passed. In his article, he expresses his fear that the bill will prove to be totally useless in terms of actually stimulating the digital economy, and that it will only serve to violate the rights of Internet users. He provides a link to the homepage of the Open Rights Group to provide a bridge to the official organization opposing the new law. Categories: Electronic commerce | File sharing | Internet culture | Music websitesHidden categories: Articles needing additional references from August 2008 | All articles needing additional references
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