Online Piracy on Legal Distribution

¶ … online piracy on legal distribution on Universal Music Group

The effects of online piracy on the legal distribution of Universal Music Group

Lower prices

In order to prevent the theft of music from the Internet, Universal Music Group ought to make more appealing offers to music consumers. They should offer the products at more accessible prices. However, in doing so, the company might have to accept a decrease of their own incomes and also a decrease in the artists' revenues.

In this order of ideas, given the proved fact that most artists register high incomes from their live concerts, televised appearances and by becoming the face of a certain product (e.g. Beyonce and Christina Aguilera for Pepsi), they would not suffer severe consequences due to CD or DVD price reductions. Most artists have already taken a firm position regarding Internet piracy and stated that they would not be severely affected by a small reduction in the retail price. Furthermore, what now seems like a decrease in their revenues, for both artists and distributing companies, could in the future become a new source of incomes, as music consumers would feel tempted to buy an original product at a decent price, instead of illegally downloading it from the Internet. Therefore, in their constant battle against Internet piracy, artists, distributors and the adherent authorities should emphasize on the quality offered by an original product and several other benefits, such as numerous promotions.

2. Promotions

To make a product more appealing to the large public, Universal Music Group should distribute CDs and DVDs containing the autographs of the artists. Moreover, they could organize special meetings between singers and their fans in which the artists could even write a short dedication on the CD.

Another thing the company could do is to offer promotional products. These products would have an insignificant value but, by being free, they would serve their purpose of attracting customers. Among the promotional products could be posters of the artists (serving a double purpose: attracting CD customers and creating publicity for the record house and the artists), T-*****s, key chains or trinkets.

Applying this promotional strategy would generate additional costs for Universal Music Group and would require additional funding. The company should invest part of their revenues in acquiring the products, but most of their promotional costs would return in the company in the form of sales and profits.

3. Sell music in MP3 formats on the Internet