If the term "MP3" is music to your ears, you're among the throng in one of the most heavily trafficked niches of the Internet.
Short for "MPEG-1, Layer 3," MP3 is a file compression format that squishes CD-quality music into files small enough to traverse the Web with relative ease. Music can then be played on a PC, fed through a home audio system or downloaded into a Walkman-type player. The manufacturers of portable and car stereo equipment are also showing a number of other prototypes that support MP3 music.MP3 also makes it very easy to make quality copies of music from other sources with no degradation in quality. That ease of copying has raised both negative and positive reactions in the music industry.
On one hand, the volume of pirated MP3 music that can be found on the Internet has prompted recording industry lawyers to arm their copyright weapons.
New artists who may or may not be able to get a recording contract, on the other hand, are now able to quickly distribute their music and cultivate an audience without the music-industry middleman.
A person with some experience using search engines and downloading Web files can find free MP3 playing software and have music from their favorite genre playing on their PC within 30 minutes. Numerous sources report "MP3" is the second-most searched term on the Internet behind "sex."
MP3 files can take anywhere from one minute to a half hour to download depending on the length of the tune and the speed of the Internet connection. A song's length in minutes roughly equates to the MP3's file size in megabytes. Once downloaded, music can be stored on a hard drive, high-capacity floppy or flash memory card or deleted and replaced with new music to keep the play list fresh.
Most of the music traveling in MP3 is in the rock and pop genres. A popular feature with MP3s is that every track becomes a single. Individual works by classical composers are easy to find, but larger works, like symphonies, are scarce.
Rebel recording artists such as Chuck D are taking the music industry establishment head-on.
"Say an independent label has a studio. If this label cuts a record, it has to go out and distribute 10,000 pieces of hardware in order to get exposure. The Internet eliminates that need, so an independent can test a market without ever pressing a CD," he told Wired magazine in March. "Soon you'll see a marketplace with 500,000 independent labels."
The music industry is responding to the MP3 phenomenon in two ways. One initiative has the lawyers chasing Web sites that are distributing pirated music. The other is an initiative to establish electronic formats that can be encrypted with security codes. The codes would feed Web-based music stores while keeping copyrighted music from being pirated.
The Recording Industry Association of America was hardly looking at the bright side when it said music being pirated onto cassette tapes is down 80 percent because Web piracy has taken up the slack.
"The RIAA is working to make the Internet a winning operation for everyone who loves music," the association says at its Web site. "Unfortunately, the Internet culture of unlicensed use means that theft of intellectual property is rampant, and the music business and its artists are the biggest victims."
Michael Robertson, digital music guru and founder of MP3.com Inc., has music and downloadable MP3 players at his Web site. Unsigned artists can post their music at his site at no cost; then MP3.com freely distributes the music. The site attracts 100 artist registrations or more each day.
Robertson also pontificates profusely in discussion groups at his Web site about the state of the industry and MP3's role.
"The biggest impact that the Internet can have on music is making music more affordable. More affordable music means more customers. And more customers means an expanded music-buying population, which is good for all," Robertson said."
For the industry, "The Internet can be a giant farm team helping them determine the most likely successful acts before they invest the big money."