Final posting on JOUR289I

The Info 3.0 course was an eye opening course for someone who previously had very little use of computers/technology while in class. The majority of courses I have taken in college were taught in a more traditional type setting. The traditional setting I am speaking of is the class where the professor writes on the white board, usually information that is straight from the text book, and the students take notes. Once the class time is up, I have rarely had opportunities, past ELMS and webassign, to use technology as a learning aid.

This course revealed a completely different side of education that I believe many are not aware of. The ability to use twitter, blogs, and many of the other new media devices (especially audioboo) allowed the class to remain more in our element, rather than what seems like a return to high school when watching our professors regurgitate information that we can read. Our generation has grown up with the great expansion of technology over the last decade, and are usually more comfortable using forms of technology to complete assignments than the old fashion ways. As more and more of these courses are developed, I believe students will respond more positively to education due to the fact they will not be merely listening to the professor but will be interacting with the class and information as a whole.

After taking this course I will encourage my peers to seek these classes to take, classes that make a better use of technology in and outside of the classroom. Those who have not experienced a class that takes advantage of the various forms of media and social networking that universities offer may have catching up to do as society becomes more interconnected. My peers and I have been exposed not only to many forms of media but have used them in a productive manner.

I knew of twitter before joining the class, as everyone not living under a rock does, but I thought it was a way of following celebrities and friends. I did not think Twitter had any way of being used productively. Having to use a twitter account for this class changed my mind about twitter for life. In the three months that I have used twitter; I have found it to be one of the quickest ways of getting news and other important information on current events, as well as a social network that I believe can surpass Facebook (just because of its simplicity). The site/application audioboo.fm was another tool used in class that I previously had little knowledge of. For those reading who are not familiar with this app, it allows the user to quickly record interviews or speeches and quickly post them online on the audioboo site, twitter, or even facebook.

This course, overall, has given me a greater appreciation for how great an impact technology can have on not only education, but society as a whole. I hope more courses that take advantage of using technology are created because I believe it will help keep students intrigued and productive in the classroom.   

Future of Education

We have witnessed, over the last couple decades, the rise of the technology era.

 In just twenty years personal computers have morphed from fifty pound, multiple component monsters to laptops that weigh as much as a can of soda and can be used virtually anywhere. The advent of the personal computer has created a much more connected society that has access to any information they desire. This exponential growth of technology has infiltrated many facets of society, such as gaming and medicine, but the education system has been slow to adapt.

Having grown up in this age of unprecedented growth in technology has made myself, as well as my peers, open to the quickly changing world we are now living in. In my experience, my grade has always been among the first, in the school system, to use desktop computers in elementary school and smart boards in middle school. Now in college we are being encouraged to bring laptops to class in order to follow certain activities the professor might be presenting. Many professors, however, are not privy to the spectrum of educational tools available from            the internet.

(Above, Number Crunchers, one of the first educational computer games I remember playing in elementary school)

Jesse Wimert, a teachers assistant for multiple courses, mentioned in a recent interview that laptops are currently seen by many as distractions (interview below). This distraction, I believe, comes from classes that are taught in the traditional manner: students come to class to listen to the professor lecture and provide needed information on the blackboard. The current and future generations do not get the most fulfilling learning experience from watching a professor write information on a chalk board. These generations have become used to information coming quickly and having the ability to interact with that information. This leaves many students doing anything but paying attention to the material being taught.

There are almost as many people working on bringing the 'traditional' learning experience into the new age of technology as there are dealing with the growing pains. In the last couple years universities have begun their aim at bridging the gap between technology and education. The online service ELMS is becoming the standard for teachers to use for class. The site allows the professor to put any information and assignments online that are available to the students at any time. My freshman year at UMD, ELMS was used by less that 10% of classes, that I took at least. After four years, however, almost every class I take is on ELMS. This alone has proven the usability of technology for educational purposes.

This course, Information 3.0, is one of the groundbreaking courses that is testing other forms of media to use for educational purposes. Having students create blogs in order to post their assignments and/or relevant information to the class or topic being covered. Twitter being used to spread new information, relevant to our topic of discussion or not. And Facebook used to share experiences and another way to spread information. All of these forms of media I have never used or seen used for educational purposes in a classroom, but after a semester it has become almost second nature to use these avenues.

The future of education will rely on the ability for schools and universities to incorporate technology into the student's learning experience. There is some thought that physical schools will become obsolete in the coming decades due to growth of online courses, starting with colleges. It was determined that over 5.6 million students were taking at least one online course during the fall 2009 term, and that nearly 30 percent of higher education students are now enrolled in at least one online class. This is an increase of nearly one million students over the number reported the previous year (Allen and Seaman). The large amount of online courses is creating a more competitive online education, which will lead to the downfall of face-to-face classes.  

One upcoming form of social networking, which may take over for physical classrooms, is Second Life. Second Life is a 3D virtual world for socializing and exploring the virtual world. What is interesting, though, is that many universities have already purchased land within the virtual world and have constructed a virtual version of the university. This virtual college is waiting for online education to become the main form of education. In Second Life people can all meet in a classroom and watch the presentation, or whatever the professor will be teaching, without leaving their homes. Within the next decade, we may be sending our children to their rooms to go to class. Quite intriguing.

Allen & Seaman,   http://sloanconsortium.org/sites/default/files/class_differences.pdf

Mobile Interview Review

A large amount of the interviews I conducted and listened to referred to effectiveness of mobile applications to waste time.  Gaming and social networking applications were at the top of the list of popular apps.  A report published earlier this year even noted that gaming apps were by far the most downloaded apps, the report also comments that the Facebook app was the most downloaded application for Blackberry owners.  The majority of smartphone users that I know use their device (other than call and text) for checking weather, social networking, and gaming.

This does not seem very productive, but one person put it best, "it depends upon the person."  A student who is driven to use their smartphone for productivity will more than likely find applications that will attend to their needs.  One interview mentioned some educational apps that have helped increase her productivity:  Responseware, an app to replace those annoying clickers; UMinfo, offering UM maps, diamondback articles, and the university directory; and ELMS mobile, which offers access to UM students elms accounts.  These were good apps, but there have been many complaints on educational/productivity apps.  The ELMS mobile app, for instance, only grants access to certain tabs in a class's ELMS page.  The page for this class only shows the Announcements, Discussion, Documents, and Grades sections.  We cannot even view our assignments.  These problems will be fixed within time, but I believe the current state of mobile apps is driven toward gaming and social networking, not productivity.

Random :: Photographic Perceptions

Photography is one of the many art forms that compliment the musical experience, or even enhance the experience with new purpose or emotion to the listener.  Perception is key to creating the desired effect.  Here I will examine 2 photos that use the rule of thirds, a compositional tool used for visual art, and are then edited to give the desired effect.

This photo was taken in College Park, MD during the summer of 2010.  The horizon was set on the bottom third of the photograph.  The church and sunrise served as the points of interest and were centered on the right third of the photo.  Gimp, a photo editing program, was used to enhance the colors and give contrast to the photo.  This creates a dark, mysterious feel that I find intriguing.

The next photo was taken in Silver Spring, MD during the fall of 2010.  Walking to the parking garage from a friends apartment, I saw an empty baby stroller leaning against a parked car on the side of the road.  It was a gloomy, overcast night and this sight made me stop and take a picture.

When editing this photo I wanted to portray a desolate, deserted scene of a baby stroller no longer in use for a reason one might not want to know.

Music Industry Graphics

These graphics give great detail about the current stance of the music industry in both economic and social viewpoints.

The first visual (right) gives a glimpse into the music industry and the effect music piracy is having over the industry.  The visual breaks it down into which record label, genre, and country sells most.  I like this visual because it also looks into whether or not the music industry is loosing as much business as they say they are.  The visual then breaks down where the money paid for a new album actually goes to, showing that only $1.60 of each cd goes to the artist (who then pays income tax on that).  The visual concludes by delving into the 'rise of digital music.'  This covers the downfall of album sales to charting the growth of digital music in all aspects of the industry.  On interesting fact that I learned from this is that iTunes is stated as the largest music retailer in the US!

The next visual (left) is similar to the first but focuses more so on who/what (digital music service) holds market share in digital music.  iTunes is still stated as the largest digital music retailer, but it has a lot of competition.  This visual listed the top 6 different digital services to look at who holds the most market share, who's growing the quickest and who's on the downfall.  This visual can be very helpful to someone deciding on which service to use because it gives an overview of what the service charges and whether or not people are using it, giving a clue to its future.  It shows a couple on the rise (rhapsody and emusic) and some on the fall (CD Baby and Napster), and overall is a visual with a wealth of information.  

This last visual I found intriguing because it lists some of the best responses digital music fans have had against the RIAA when they began suing individuals for illegally sharing music.  As you can see it is a little biased towards pro-piracy, but overall gives a glimpse at the feeling towards the RIAA taking legal action on people simply downloading music.  

Final Draft :: Piracy in the Music Industry

Privacy In the Music Industry: Illegal Music Downloading

Abstract:

This study researched the world of illegal music downloading, taking information from sources of different backgrounds. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and news media outlets, along with a survey and explanation of opinions on the subject, have aided in the shaping and direction that the report has taken. We believe to find that a majority of internet-savvy population, focusing on college-aged individuals, will be more tolerant to music piracy. The results of the survey agree with our hypothesis in that our sample shows that college-aged individuals are much more likely to download music illegally.

Introduction:

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is the organization that controls the finances of recordings of all of the major music companies and labels in the country. They are responsible for about eighty-five percent of all genuine music that is recorded, produced, and sold within the U.S. This means that they are also the main company working to prove that illegal downloading infringes on the rights that the First Amendment ensures to all people, including music artists.
Because the illegal downloading and piracy of music has resulted in such significant losses of revenue for the music industry as a whole, the RIAA worked with the FBI to create a new warning to place on all copyrighted music products. In addition to this seal, there are also two printed warnings that read as follows:

Extended Warning:
“The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.”
Abbreviated Warning:
“FBI Anti-Piracy Warning: Unauthorized Copying Is Punishable Under Federal Law.”
However, the fact of the matter remains: the illegal downloading and piracy of music is not slowing.

Coverage of the Issue by News/Media Outlets:

The Boston Globe:
Judge Slashes Penalty in Illegal Music Downloading Case
Written on July 9, 2010 by Jonathan Saltzman, Globe Staff
This article is about a graduate student at Boston University, Joel Tenebaum, who was sued for $675,000 for illegally downloading and sharing 30 songs. US District Court Judge Nancy Gertner ruled that the amount of money was “unconstitutionally excessive,” lowering the it to $67,500. Gertner believes that Congress did not anticipate the Digital Theft Deterrence Act of 1999 to expose people like Tenebaum to such enormous financial obligations for violating copyright law.

The Washington Post:
Download Uproar: Record Industry Goes After Personal Use
Written on December 30, 2007 by Marc Fisher, Staff Writer
This article is about an unusual case in which Jeffrey Howell received an RIAA letter and fought back. The RIAA then claimed that “it is illegal for someone who has legally purchased a CD to transfer that music into his computer.” This is a very significant claim because law only states that it is illegal to distribute copyrighted materials. In this case, however, the RIAA was arguing that transferring the music to a computer for personal use was also violating the law.

The Question:

The fact of the matter is that there are tons of websites that allow music to be downloaded and shared among users illegally. Although piracy of music is illegal because of copyright infringement, who is ultimately at fault? Should the people using these sites be punished for their actions, or are the actual sites who are promoting this behavior to blame? (should we include our target audience – college students)

The Survey :

This study conducted an online survey to gather information about the topic of music piracy and its effect on the music industry. The survey was created on www.surveymonkey.com and was then distributed through Facebook, email, and forums. The survey service automatically collected the responses for analysis.

The survey consisted of ten questions which included four demographic questions (gender, age group, education, and internet usage) followed by six questions specific to the topic at hand. These questions inspected the participant's history of downloading music online (both legally and illegally), sources/services used to download the music, and thoughts on the legality of music piracy. The target audience of this study is college age individuals who use the internet often and are active within the music culture/community. We feel that a sample from this community will produce credible results because the average college age individual has grown up within the digital age, usually has good familiarity with the internet, and is active within the music community.


Analysis :

Due to time restrictions, the survey was only available for a 36 hour time period from October 12-13, 2010. The survey started with a couple demographic questions to determine the sample we were working with. There were 72 total responses (58% male, 42% female). A majority, 63, of those were of college age (18-23) who are attending a university or have recently graduated. All of the participants, except for one, stated they visited the internet daily, half of which visit the internet every hour. Also, 69 out of the 72 participants download music online. Thus, the study sample is exactly the audience we wished to target.

The survey then began the questions that will help in answering the posed questions. The first question asked whether the participant has downloaded music legally, illegally, or both. Considering the amount of media coverage on music piracy, it was not very surprising to see that over 80% of our participants stated they download music illegally. Only 11 out of the 72 respondents who specifically download music legally. The following question sought the sources/services used for the participant's procurement of music: paid services (itunes), torrent sites (Pirate Bay), P2P services (Kazaa), media sharing sites (Mediafire), or other, leaving room for a written response. The results showed little discrepancy between the selections. This gives a glimpse in to the wide range of options there are to download music, both paid and free. The written responses even gave services that were unknown to the researchers.

The last set of questions examined the attitude of the participants toward the legality of music piracy. Exactly two-thirds of the participants believed that downloading music for free should not be illegal. When asked who should be held responsible for the music being pirated, two-thirds stated the service/program offering the music should hold responsibility, with only 20% believing the individual downloading the music is responsible. There was a third option, 'other,' with a written response, in which 6 of the 8 respondents stated “both.” These results reveal that many who are downloading may believe they are not responsible for the music downloaded from a site that makes it available to the entire online population.

The survey concluded with a optional written response about any extra thoughts the participant may have on the legality of music piracy. Thirteen responded with a variety of thoughts. Many argued that music piracy must be illegal due to economic reasons. But, one respondent had this sentiment: “Downloading the music is a means of distribution. If the artist is truly talented, s/he will earn fans and still play live concerts.” A couple of respondents agreed, arguing the fact that artists do not received a great deal of money from album sales, their income often comes from touring and merchandising.


Conclusions :

The results of the survey corresponded well with our hypothesis. A large portion of young adults, aged 18-23, download music from the internet illegally. The sample was mainly centered on students at the University of College Park, however, we believe that these results can expand to the population of college students. In further studies, it would be interesting to examine a greater audience in age and education, as well as class status and music interest.

The study was an overall success.  One error in the study that was foreseen was the possible bias the target audience would have to music piracy. Many in this age group have grown up in the time where music/file sharing was not actually illegal, it was simply sharing personal property. Thus, this group may be biased towards music sharing being legal. With more time and resources, this study could break way for further research about the culture of music piracy.


Further Resources:

Piracy Visual
http://curseofthemoon.deviantart.com/art/Music-And-Piracy-Infographic-162247383?fullview=1

Take the Survey

Click here to take survey

Securing Music in the Digital World

For the last month, and supposedly continuing until Christmas, Kanye West has been releasing new songs, featuring himself along with fellow G.O.O.D. Music artists, every Friday. The weekly single downloads have quickly become a hit among hip hop fans. Last week, however, Kanye felt the annoyance of the music business's greatest opponent, leaking. He announced, through his Twitter page, last Wednesday that due to someone leaking a track off his upcoming album, he would not release the week's GOOD Friday single. He did end up releasing a single this past Friday, but it does publicize the frustration artists, producers, and music executives must endure.

Advancements in technology have made song and album leaks universal. The rise of BitTorrent, a p2p protocol that makes it very simple to download entire albums in high-quality audio. Public torrent sites such as the Pirate Bay, TorrentReactor, and Torrentspy have become the hotspots for pre-release leaks. The music industry already has its problems with torrent sites, but they should not be blamed for leaks. These sites are hubs for spreading leaks, but the songs are not leaked directly to a torrent site, there is usually a middle man. The middle man often is someone within the industry or someone that received a promotional copy of the album. A former leak insider (see Ripped) gave some examples of how albums can easily get leaked: “I heard a member of one ripping crew was dating the daughter of the president of some label—that’s how he was scoring advances.” Or, “If you were a studio guy making $10.50 an hour, and you had the new Eminem album, and someone was offering you money for it, what would you do?”

More recently, services like YouSendIt, Megaupload, and UserShare have made it simple to upload anything from a single song to an entire album as a single zipped file, available to the masses. These services have created a new generation of music sites, specifically blogs, which are dedicated to new, often leaked, music. This advancement has also sparked change within the music industry in the battle over leaks. Many artists, majority hip-hop artists, have begun releasing a steady trickle of material on the internet as soon as it is recorded, while working on their albums. Which is exactly the case Kanye West has gone through over the last week, who still fell victim to leaked tracks.

Kanye, as well as the other artists, producers, and executives, will currently have to live with the fact that some songs will be leaked. The Vice label manager, Adam Shore, speaks for most in the music industry saying, “The problem with leaks is that people don't necessarily know what they are hearing—if it's the entire album, finished tracks, etc. There's incredible rush to judgment. People grab an album, listen to it one time, and they immediately want to post about it. That sets a tone for people who haven't heard it yet.” But fans will continue searching for newer, and newer material, as those in the music industry will continue searching for a way to protect their unreleased material.

Check these articles out (used as resources):

http://nymag.com/news/features/42391/index3.html

http://www.spin.com/articles/days-leak

http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,2002094,00.html

Legal vs Illegal downloading sites

Owning music was once a commodity enjoyed by those privileged enough to afford records, cassettes, CDs, whichever media was available. In 1999, however, a program that allowed people to share audio files called 'Napster' changed not only the way people collect music, it brought change to the entire music culture. The ability for people to download single songs, whole albums, and even entire discographies over the internet has led to the downfall of many record companies, but that is another discussion within itself. As online technology has advanced, file sharing and various other music sharing media have become the popular route to new music. This entry will discuss the two different forms of acquiring music in the digital age: legally and illegally.

There are a multitude of different sources of legal music online, both commercial and non-commercial. The majority of commercial downloading sites (such as itunes, napster 2.0, and emusic) have great selections of music, focusing more on mainstream hits. The most important reason most people download from legal sites is the fact that they have full rights to the song/album purchased, and thus will not get sued by the RIAA. The disadvantages of commercial sites is that each song costs $.99, or $9.99 for an album (prices vary on provider), and the selection of music offered is limited to mainstream genres/artists. The combination of these two (costliness and limited selection), though, has led many (at least those who aren't afraid of the RIAA) to turn away from paying for a poor selection of music and look to other methods of acquiring music.

Other methods, mainly peer-to-peer file sharing clients (such as kazaa, limewire, and pirate bay), have come out of the wood work since the original Napster was shut down in 2002. For those who are unfamiliar, p2p file sharing allows anyone who has access to the internet the ability to download and/or share any media, FOR FREE. From underground to mainstream to top40 hit, almost any song can be found and downloaded from these p2p clients. Due to this, the RIAA has worked endlessly for the past decade to eradicate the internet of these music thieves. These programs do have their downfalls, though. P2p programs (kazaa/limewire), however great the sharing capabilities are, often come bundled with adware and spyware. Also, when downloading a file, you are never sure whether or not the file is a virus or what it is meant to be. Thus, there is a much higher risk when using p2p clients to find/download music, but also higher reward (selection-wise).

The fight between the downloading population and the RIAA has made way for new forms of sharing music. A growing number of artist, mainly new and upcoming artists, have blogs or social sites that allow their music to be downloaded for free. The music artists put on these sites is music that was made by the individual (as well as the artist's production crew) without the help of a record company. Thus, this music can be sold or given away, whatever the artist feels best. The growing amount of blogs and social music sites (such as myspace, bandcamp, and datpiff) is allowing all artists to create and interact with their own fan base. This is the future of the music community.   

Pirate Bay fighting back?

Several music industry websites have been targeted by 'cyber attacks' as part of a revenge campaign by fans of Swedish website Pirate Bay.  Check the article(s) out:  here & here 

Students x Technology

This research (an updated briefing from 1999) I discovered while researching for the group project and found quite interesting.  It examines current research perspectives and findings on the effectiveness technology has on improving student learning.

One of the things that surprised me was:

ISSUE: Because effective use of technology must be supported by significant investments in hardware, software, infrastructure, professional development, and support services, over the last decade, we as a nation have invested more than $66 billion investment in school technology (QED, 2004). This unprecedented level of investment in educational technology has raised expectations of legislators and the public who are now looking for returns on this investment (Benton, 2002; CEO Forum, 1999, 2000), and therefore are calling for evidence regarding the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of technology in K-12 schools (Ringstaff & Kelley, 2002; Panel on Educational Technology, 1997; Melmed, 1995).

During the 90's and early 00's the government was investing a large amount of money into school systems, which is certainly obvious in certain areas that have computers for every student and ample sources of technology available to students.  But, just a decade later, those who invested are looking for return.  How could there be a return when the majority of these students are still finishing their education or just got out of college?

The evidence is in the fact that many students, even in low income areas, can now have access to internet (at least in school).  Growing up in an area that 90% of students were awarded the free or reduced lunch fees, I am aware that many underprivileged, yet intelligent, students are unable to rely on education to take them out of poverty.  These kids often turn to other lifestyles or means of income in order to be sure they can provide for themselves, and possibly their families.  Yet, the increasing presence of technology in class and available to students, I believe, is allowing these underprivileged students to get, if not just, a glimpse at the vast opportunities available.  Also, with society relying heavily on technology (mainly the internet), a higher presence of technology in all schools will lead to a more unprejudiced educational system.  

Music & Technology's Past

Music is, and has always been, essential in social and cultural gatherings. For thousands of years societies have played music for religious events, entertainment, and celebration. In the 21^st century, the musical experience can be seen from churches to night clubs to street corners. The major growth and development of the musical industry/experience can be linked with advancements in technology over the last century. These developments have also affected various branches of society, mainly industry and social experience.

Before the 19^th century the music experience was restricted to live performance; music was played for social gatherings, theatrical performances, and religious activities. In the late 1800s, however, an invention that was able to capture and play back sound would change the music experience forever. Thomas Edison was granted a patent for a wax coated recording cylinder in 1884, and by the early 1900s wax records were being mass produced. This enabled many people to experience music genres that was unheard of in their region or culture.

The invention of the radio was the next monumental breakthrough for both music and the music industry. Originally created to ensure communication capabilities in case the country was at war, the radio not only changed the music industry, but society as a whole. (That is for another discussion). Giving an entire social class, lower classes that were not able to afford records and phonographs, the ability to listen. In order to gain the most exposure and profit the music offered is often times 'popular' consisting of the top selling singles. The disadvantage of this is the restriction to the top-selling, which interferes with underground artists' ability to gain exposure.

Music radio has yet to loose all fan base, but the next technological advancement focused on the portability of the music player. Radios were the first portable music players, but due to the disadvantages previously mentioned, portable albums were created. This led to the portable music phase (leading to the portable/digital phase) that our society still seems to be in. From 8-tracks to cassettes to compact discs, these new portable players allowed anyone to enjoy music from their favorite artist, at any time they would like.

In the last half century there have been great advances in music player technology. The greatest, by far, is the advent of the internet and digital music. With the invention of the mp3 player (mainly the iPod), people are now able to carry hundreds, even thousands, of albums and various singles. The digital music phase has created a new society of music where anyone can play, create, listen, and trade music. In the recent years, the ease of spreading information through the internet has also affected which genres are popular. Opposite from the 1980s and 90s, underground artists have emerged as the more popular among (tech-savvy) society. This trend may continue, or new technology might bring back old trends. Only time will tell.

Intro::Technology in the world of music

This blog will examine how advancements in technology affect the music industry, from artists to record executives to listeners.  Advancements in technology bring change to virtually all aspects of culture and society.  The change that our generation has witnessed is staggering.  My introduction to music came christmas '94.  I got a cassette player and 2 cassette tapes (Boys 2 Men 'II', and Tag Team 'Whoop there it is').  Thats what I listened to for six months, until I could get my parents to buy a new cassette.  And that was the 'high-tech' of the time.  Just this morning, I downloaded 3 new mixtapes (which are free albums/EPs released by the artist, for those who did not know) and over 20 songs from various music blogs online (legally, don't worry).  That example alone shows the change the medium of music exchange has undergone in only 15 years.

Innovation stemming from the internet, however, has had one of the greatest impacts on changes in music and the industry.  Sites such as YouTube and MySpace gave artists a simple option to get their music to the general public, enabling anyone with access to the internet to discover new music, of any genre, whenever they like.  Now, social networking sites dedicated to the music community are blossoming, bringing out artists' creativity and genre shattering music.  All the changes, brought about by advancements in technology, may not be best for all realms of the world of music.  Most, if not all, record companies are struggling to make fractions of sales made just a decade ago.

Throughout the semester, I will explore the advantages and disadvantages of the effect advancements in technology has had on the world of music (music industry, fans, aspiring artists, etc...).  I, specifically, hope to learn more about how unknown artists use technology to advertise and create their own image; as well as the affect this is having on transforming genres and the diminishing popularity of 'popular' music.