The MP3, destroyer of worlds

Since Yahoo has been keeping track of the most searched words and I have been paying attention to its listings, there have been two most searched for phrases. "Porn" has been number 1 for every year except in 2000 when "mp3" was number 1 and Napster was created.

The mp3 has changed the music industry like no other single act. The mp3 allows the listener to spend their money differently then ever before. No longer can a band or a record label afford to make crappy songs, as they will not sell. Artists and record labels have begun to reduce the risks they are taking with music. Less and less bands are doing unique things with their songs and more and more albums are sounding a lot like albums that the band had just released.

The mp3 allows those of us who would never think of buying an album of a particular artist or a genre of music to listen to and learn new music. Sharing your music with your friends has been taken to a new high, as both your taste and that of your friends can grow exponentially. I for one would never purchase a Justin Timberlake album, but someone at my office downloaded a few of his songs and played them at work, which made work more enjoyable. Justin's music flowed with our work really well and often times lifted our spirits as he was always happy. This experience could not have happened before the mp3.

As Joyful Girl wrote, the ability, freedom, and ease for the listener to chose the order of the songs makes listening to music a better experience, as you can order the songs to fit your moods instead of those of the creator.

The biggest impact the mp3 has had is, of course, on the bottom line of the record industry. CD sales have been dropping every year since 2000. The record industry has been successfully sued for artificially keeping the cost of CDs inflated the last few years. Currently, record labels make the bulk of their profit from the bands they sign off album sales, but album sales and profit from those sales have recently been in serious decline . This has started a shift in both marketing and record contracts. More and more labels are taking cuts of T-Shirt sales and other merchandise and larger cuts of concert revenue.

The mp3 has altered the course of the music industry.