The Value of Music? Priceless.

Music is an art form that has been created and enjoyed by people all over the world since the beginning of time.  There is an expectation that it will bring the audience a degree of pleasure and will evoke feelings from the listener.  These feelings can range from happiness to desperation and everything in between.  In my opinion, music possesses inherent value because it delivers a product and elicits a response. Therefore, a value can be placed on the artists creation.  It does not matter if the music is good or bad, rock or jazz or a simple jingle.  If a commodity is produced, and it is appreciated by others, it has inherent value.

Music’s role in society is essential to our culture.  Whether its playing, creating, or listening to the music, it provides tremendous value.  The uniqueness of music created by an artist yields stimulation for the listener and is nurturing for the soul.

One of the most controversial issues in the music industry today has to do with the illegal downloading of music off the internet and the implications it has for the artists.  Popular artists who have an extremely large fan base such as Justin Bieber or Taylor Swift are at a lesser risk of losing money from illegal downloads then artists with a smaller fan base, whose songs may not be as well known.  These lesser known artists may not yet be on i tunes and because of this, their music is only available as a download, thereby making them a smaller profit than the previously stated megastars. 

This issue of illegal downloading is not new.  In fact, one of the biggest cases involved a company called Napster.  Back in 1999, its popularity blossomed when people were first exposed to the ability to download files from the internet for free.  Unfortunately,  most of the site’s members did not understand the ethical and legal implications of file sharing.  There was not a happy ending for the pioneers of this company and many of their users as it was eventually shut down and subject to serious legal difficulties.

Although people typically think of music as something that we listen to for enjoyment, it actually serves multiple purposes, which simply adds to its value.  It can be used for studying, as a profession, can inspire creativity, and also provide motivation.  These are things that cannot be measured, but are clearly valuable to those who experience it. For example, musical motivation has played a huge role on the human race from the drummer boys in the revolutionary wars up until today’s modern “pump up songs.” However, as these types of music have changed, so have the cost of production that goes along with them. It obviously cost more to create a song using fancy machinery and recording equipment than it does to make a simple beat on a homemade drum, but they both in their own way provide an equal amount of motivation and fervor.  

Although music has evolved and changed since the beginning of time, one thing remains the same.  The expectations that music will move you and the desire to be moved.  The demand for music from the people and the desire of the artists to produce it.  The consistency of these things strongly shows the inherent value of music and I suspect this will not change any time soon.





Sources:
Girl Running : http://blog.fitnessvideostore.com/workout-music-why-it-helps/
Revolutionary Drummer:http://colt76foutz.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/drummer-boy.jpg
Napster Logo: http://rooftopagency.com/2011/10/best-buy-sells-napster/napster-logo/
Napster Information: Napster's Wikipedia page