Mp3 music is audio that has been digitally
encoded and compressed to make the amount of data smaller
without compromising the overall sound quality. It's a
revolutionary technique with incredibly good results; mp3
music is frequently indistinguishable from music found on
a CD (though some audiophiles with very sensitive ears
dispute that statement).
The popularity of mp3 music
made available on the Internet is a trend reaching
gigantic proportions; these encoded songs are everywhere.
Websites called mp3 blogs offer rare or hard-to-find mp3
music and avid fans sometimes spend hours at a time
sifting through the piles of downloadable material. Newer
recording artists that would often fall under the radar
without the help of a well-known label are now able to
convert their songs into mp3 music and make them available
on the Internet, allowing huge numbers of people the
chance to hear songs that they otherwise wouldn't have
been exposed to. It's an extremely popular thing, mp3
music, one of those rare pop-culture phenomena embraced by
nearly everyone.
But regardless of its massive popularity, mp3 music is
surrounded with controversy. Many programs that allow
users to transfer mp3 music directly from computer to
computer offer the services for free, eliminating the
possibility of royalties for the artist and label. Fearful
of losing tons of money to fans downloading records
instead of buying them, large factions of the music
industry fought to make free mp3 music illegal -- and
succeeded to a degree. The laws, however, have loopholes,
and many websites or P2P programs have exploited them for
all they're worth.
Additionally, laws regulating mp3 music in the United
States aren't necessarily applicable to other countries,
so new websites and programs (particularly, for some
reason, in Russia) have popped up offering the free
services railed against in America. Because of the hotly
argued ethical issues surrounding mp3 music, many shy away
from the topic (and practice) completely. Others embrace
it, citing huge record costs as justification enough for
free mp3 music. It's an argument not likely to end anytime
soon; the ethical issues will be debated as long as free
mp3 music is available somewhere.
In any case, MP3's are here to
stay, and wise is the musician who learns about them and
takes advantage of them.
(With Mollie Wells)