6) Disagreements with article 5

This article discusses how we as teens are using social networking sites which are 'helping to "democratise" the music industry' because we are no longer listening to music via mediums such as the radio and the television. The article also discusses how many users are downloading music illegally because legal downloads are seen as too expensive. Now this article was written in 2007, therefore it is not so much up to date with the latest trends with music downloading, however, one criticism of the text is that it states, with 'Four out of every ten social network users have music embedded in their personal profiles, rising to 65pc among teenagers,' Russell Hart, chief executive of Entertainment Media Research see's this 'as the democratisation of the music industry.' If anything, one could argue that social networking sites such as MySpace do not 'democratise' the music industry, if anything they promote it allowing more users to enter the music industry on a more personal base. Teens no longer buy CD's anymore and one could argue that now artists and music companies earn most of their money through tours and brand merchandise, not their actual music. Therefore, aren't social networking sites giving them more publicity? Take singer/songwriter Sandi Thorn who became popular via such social networking sites, and not to mention The Artic Monkeys. As stated above, even though this article is quite out dated now, one could argue that the music industry needs to 'up its game' and try to adapt to the new 'digital age'.