Music Industry Embraces Digital Piracy Model for Profit
This media review examines Eric Pfanner's 2009 New York Times article on the music industry's strategic pivot away from prosecuting digital pirates toward adopting a similar free-access model. Rather than continuing to sell individual songs or albums, major music companies began partnering with internet and mobile service providers to offer consumers unlimited song access bundled into their existing service fees. The paper evaluates this shift in the context of declining CD sales, stagnating iTunes growth, and longstanding criticism that the industry's traditional revenue model was incompatible with the realities of digital distribution.
- Introduction: The Industry's Ironic Shift: Music industry adopts free-access piracy-style model
- Rethinking the Traditional Music Business Model: Critics argue free access beats album sales
- Declining Sales and the Limits of iTunes: iTunes growth stalls as worldwide music sales drop
- Conclusion: Embracing the Digital Landscape: Industry and internet firms align on new profit model
✍️ How to write this paper — guide, tools & examples ▾
What makes this paper effective
- Opens with a sharp, ironic hook drawn directly from the source article, immediately establishing the central tension between the industry's past and present strategies.
- Efficiently synthesizes the key argument of the Pfanner article while adding context about longstanding industry criticism, demonstrating engagement beyond mere summary.
- Uses a direct executive quote to ground the analysis in real industry attitudes, giving the review credibility and rhetorical punch.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper models effective media review writing by distinguishing between the source article's claims and broader critical commentary on the music industry. Rather than simply paraphrasing Pfanner, the student situates the article within a wider debate about digital distribution, showing analytical framing rather than passive description.
Structure breakdown
The review moves in three clear steps: (1) introducing the ironic strategic reversal, (2) contextualizing it against industry critics' longstanding arguments, and (3) supporting the shift with sales data and executive testimony. A single properly formatted Works Cited entry closes the paper. The structure is concise and appropriate for a short media review at the undergraduate level.
Introduction: The Industry's Ironic Shift
Ironically, "after years of futile efforts to stop digital pirates from copying its music, the music business has started to copy" the business model of the pirates it once attempted to sue (Pfanner 2009). For many years the music industry was criticized for taking a hostile attitude towards its customers, even taking them to court for participating in illegal downloading activities. However, according to Eric Pfanner's January 18, 2009 article in the New York Times entitled "Music Industry Imitates Digital Pirates to Turn a Profit," now "online and mobile services" are "offering listeners unlimited 'free' access to millions of songs" (Pfanner 2009).
For their usual price of a phone or internet service, consumers gain unlimited access to a database of songs, and the music companies are paid a small fee by the internet or phone company for offering the service. In other words, from a customer's perspective, the cost of such access is incorporated into the price of the phone plan or internet subscription. Songs are not provided on a pay-per-track model, and the database access is vast.
Rethinking the Traditional Music Business Model
Critics of the music industry have long noted that its continued focus on selling albums and single songs is outmoded, and that the industry could better use free online musical access as a way to generate interest in the beleaguered recording industry — by stimulating curiosity about artists and generating excitement about upcoming concerts. Communications networks can be used as a source of profitability, but not according to the traditional model of selling songs at a fixed price when those songs are so easy to copy.
Works Cited
Pfanner, Eric. "Music Industry Imitates Digital Pirates to Turn a Profit." The New York Times, 18 Jan. 2009.
Create your account
Always verify citation format against your institution’s current style guide requirements.