Music Downloads

Most music fans today will buy music downloads rather than purchase hard copies of their music. The music industry is now dominated by music downloads and they are the most popular way of purchasing music. Most people will buy music from online stores such as the Itunes store, which specifically sells downloadable music and other media. However, many other companies have realised the lucrative potential of the downloadable media market and music can now be downloaded from many other websites traditional associated with usual forms on online retailing. For example music downloads are now available from amazon.com.  Many artists will now make their music exclusively available through download rather than issuing a CD.

Although downloading music is now the most popular way of legally acquiring music it does pose a rather large problem for the music industry in the form of illegal downloading. Many illegal music downloads are available from file sharing websites and programs many of which were established long before paid, legal music downloads became common place. It is extremely easy for people who know what they are doing to acquire music in mp3 format entirely free of charge and this is thought by many people to be extremely damaging to the music industry. However, policing the people who are involved in illegal downloading is not an easy task, although there have been numerous examples, particularly in recent years of prolific down loaders and file sharers being prosecuted for their illegal music downloads.