The sales of music CDs have fallen dramatically in the last few years. A leading candidate among possible causes of this decline is the recent rise in file-sharing. The recording industry has tried to stem this decline by suing or threatening to sue individuals heavily engaged in file sharing. These law suits have attracted a good deal of publicity and discussion. A rather influential school of thought has formed in opposition to the corporate players in these industries, and these lawsuits have provided fodder for their critiques of traditional copyright.
The motion picture industry has expressed concerns that its sales are likely to suffer a similar fate to that of the sound recording industry if nothing is done to stem the unrestricted use of file-sharing software. Owners of advertising-based mediums, such as television, are also concerned about their future viability if the advertising is stripped out of the programming and made available through file sharing networks, as is sometimes contemplated.
The very high profile of the music and movie industries has given the file-sharing issue a great deal of visibility. Although the revenues from these industries are only a small portion of GDP, these industries provide products that consume a large portion of our leisure time and tend to be recognized throughout the world. At the center of the file-sharing debate is the empirical issue of whether or not file-sharing decreases sales.
Sound recordings, movies, and television occupy the large bulk of our time spent on leisure activities, with the average American watching four and a half hours of television and listening to more than three hours of music each day. The advertising industry is primarily based around these industries, as is the consumer electronics industry, which would include all forms of stereo equipment, televisions, DVD players, VCRs, and so..........
