Chances are, if you said you were downloading music in the 90s, you were greeted with a look that Captain Jack Sparrow was more accustomed to. Yes, piracy in the online music download industry was rife, with Napster leading the charge of bringing music industry big wigs running around in their solid gold offices to crying into their diamond encrusted tissues. The music bosses seemed to have a license to print money with over inflated egos cashing in on every aspect of a new rising star.
Don’t get me wrong, I am and have always been against pirated goods, whether it’s music, movies or the designer shirt that would probably only last one good spin cycle in the washing machine anyway. Living in the Middle East, I see a lot of counterfeit goods and sometimes I get the odd look when people offer me a $5 Rolex watch, and I say no. It looks great, but by the time you get home, the thing will going backwards anyway!
So as Napster took the brunt of the lawsuits, many, many others jumped on the bandwagon. The lawyers couldn’t keep up with the demand of lawsuits that were being screamed out of the major music label headquarters. Steve Jobs changed much of the music industry with the introduction of iTunes, although many music labels and artists were still not happy. Apple seems to create products that literally eclipse all others, and it is always good to look around at other ways you can get your music fix.
Things have changed very quickly in the music industry. Some say even Facebook is creating a full platform where you can listen to music together or watch TV shows and movies together. But then again, is there anything in the press that Facebook isn’t apparently doing? In the infographic below, we see 10 of the most in demand players at the moment and how they function. If you are like me and need a heavy dose of music in your life then this is a good place to begin looking for that constant stream of tunes.
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