Listening task

9. Listen to an extract from a radio programme and answer:

a) Which companies does the speaker mention?

b) Which are online music services?

Listen again. Are the statements true or false?

1) Record companies formed alliances to develop distribution.

2) Warner Brothers and EMI merged in 2000.

3) Sales of recorded music decreased in 2001 but started to rise in 2002.

4) Napster is one of the smallest online file swapping services.

5) iTunes, a pay service, has done well.

*Supplementary task

10. Read the article and answer the questions.

Upbeat (Is the threat of online piracy disappearing?)

WHY is peer-to-peer sharing (where people download music from the internet and then share it with friends rather than buying singles or albums from large recording companies) so popular? The fact that peer-to-peer sharing is free will always be appealing. On the other hand, paying 99 cents for a song on iTunes (a pay online music service) is unappealing, says one British teen, because at that price she may as well buy the CD in a shop. Nor do the new services match the libraries of nearly all music ever recorded that the peer-to-peers claim to have.

As for the risk of a lawsuit from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the selling point for new versions of peer-to-peer networks in recent months is that they can protect the identity of users. The most popular of the range now is Earth Station 5, which is based in the Jenin refugee camp on the West Bank. After the RIAA said it would take legal action, its software was downloaded more than 16m times in 90 hours. So far, it seems to work.

Looking towards the future, big music companies should look not at iTunes' encouraging figures but at September's price cut by Universal Music Group (UMG), the biggest record company of all, which reduced the cost of its CDs for consumers by nearly a quarter. One reason for falling music sales is that customers believe that CDs cost too much. Now, other firms will have to lower prices to compete with Universal. Discount stores such as Wal-Mart, Circuit City and Best Buy will drive them down more.

The success of iTunes has shown the music industry that many people want to buy single tracks, not albums. Apple's data show that its customers bought 12 singles for every one album at iTunes. That compares with 0.02 singles per album in American stores, according to research by Sanford Bernstein. The best artists may tempt people to buy a whole album. But the industry can no longer rely on getting the price of an album as a reward for supporting a band.

In the end, says Moby, an influential musician, the record industry will have to throw out its current business model. It will no longer be able to make huge profit margins on CDs that cost next to nothing to manufacture. To make up for lower prices, he says, the industiy needs to cut its marketing for artists by as much as four-fifths. Once the record companies have less marketing influence, and with opportunities for internet distribution, says Moby, artists will be in a powerful position.

1) What does the article say about peer-to-peer sharing?

a) It has become less popular with teenagers lately;

b) It will continue to attract new users;

c) It only involves a few types of music.

2) The latest networks:

a) are only for users in the Middle East;

b) have had software problems; c) do not reveal who the user is.

3) UMG has recently:

a) cut its CD prices; b) gained new types of customer;

c) taken over a major discount store.

4) A key fact about the music industry is that:

a) there is more interest in singles than albums;

b) fewer songs are put on an album than before;

c) musicians want to continue making albums.

5) Moby says that the record industry should:

a) increase its profit margin;

b) cut back on its manufacturing costs;

c) reduce the amount it spends on marketing.

Date: 2015-09-24; view: 1279; Нарушение авторских прав