VOA慢速英语:音乐家和歌手们在这个数字时代挣扎中求生存
People can listen to music on many devices, includingtablets and mobile phones. As music becomes digital,billions of people around the world can listen to manydifferent kinds of songs no matter where they live -- thevariety and quantity of music is greater than everbefore, and available to more people.
These changes are both good news and bad news for the music industry. They help spread music around theworld. But digitizing music can create problems forsongwriters, musicians and singers.
Recently, the music industry observed WorldIntellectual Property Day. Intellectual property includesbooks, songs, art, business methods and other worksthat humans have created from their intellect.
Jimmie Moore is a singer, songwriter and poet from Houston, Texas. He callshimself “JMetro.” He says intellectual property laws protect his music.
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Spotify shows music artwork displayed on its mobile app. |
“Because it is copyrighted, I know that you all can hear it and record it, put it on YouTube or whatever. It does not matter. Just spread it all throughout theworld and I feel completely confident knowing that no one else is going to takethe music that I have worked so hard to create.”
JMetro told VOA he likes the opportunities new technologies give him andother artists. But he says those technologies can also hurt artists.
“However, at the same time, I saw that under the current system artists are not being fairly compensated. So, it makes it difficult to continue to be able tofund our creativity. But, ultimately, it is great to have the exposure.”
Michelle Woods directs the copyright division of the World IntellectualProperty Organization. She says international copyright law agreements havebeen changed to deal with the digitization of music. She says singers andmusicians should be able to earn money when their digitized songs and musicare played. She says artists earn less money now than when their songswere played only on radio stations.
Alexandre Lombard listens to music online. He says young people do notwant to pay to listen to digitized songs.
“We have the opportunity to access almost every piece of music that everexisted. For my generation, music has always been available for free. Someway or another you could access free music on the Internet.”
Even though many songs can be downloaded without payment, the number ofdigitized songs that are being paid for is increasing. The music industry sayssales overall grew almost 7 percent to $6.85 billion last year. About half ofthose sales came from digitized songs, and the other half from music sold instores. Last year is the first time digital sales and store sales were equal.
Chris Ancliff is a top international lawyer at Warner Music Group, one of thelargest record companies in the world. He says experts have often predictedthe music business would soon die, but it has always survived.
“The recording music business has invested something like $20 billion in newartists over the last five years alone. So, we still think of ourselves as being astrong and healthy business. Now clearly we are not as strong and as big asperhaps we were 10 years ago. The easy availability of free illegal music on the Internet has played a very big part in that.”
Didier Awadi is a rapper from Senegal. He says African governments mustcreate legal systems that will protect artists’ rights. He spoke to VOA throughan interpreter.
“And so, what we want to do is see to it that all of our countries we can strikedeals that are fair, that are equitable. We’re connected to the world. Let usmake sure that the legal framework is there so that we can lead a decent lifefrom our creations, as is the case elsewhere in the world.”
Experts believe musical creativity will increase because of the Internet, butonly if the artists are paid for their work. They say people should realize that ifthey continue to listen to music without paying for it, it may hurt the artists theylike to hear, and may someday limit the variety of music that is created. Theysay if musicians are not rewarded for their work, everyone will suffer.
I’m Christopher Jones-Cruise.
Lisa Schlein reported this story from Geneva. Christopher Jones-Cruiseadapted it for Learning English. Kelly Jean Kelly was the editor.
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Words in This Story
variety – n. a number or collection of different things or people
quantity – n. an amount or number of something
intellect – n. the ability to think in a logical way
copyrighted – n. the state of being protected by the legal right to be the onlyone to reproduce, publish and sell a book or musical recording for a certainperiod of time
compensated – v. the state of receiving money or something else of value aspayment for something
access – v. to be able to use, enter or get near (something)
generation – n. a group of people born and living during the same time
equitable – adj. just or fair; dealing fairly and equally with everyone
framework – n. a set of ideas or facts that provide support for something
realize – v. to understand or become aware of (something)
Do you believe artists should be protected by copyright laws? Have youdownloaded music without paying for it? We want to hear from you. Write to us in the comments section.
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