Online file-sharing the music industry's paradigm shift

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http://www.academia.edu/4096461/How_bad_is_P2P_anyway
1 How the music industry could have responded differently to the rise of Napster?
The music industry should have responded differently to the rise of Napster over a decade ago because in retrospect, their response today has embraced the inevitable rise of the internet as a music sharing connection for fans. Unfortunately, over the last decade since Napster, the music industry has continued to attempt to bring more court battles as a result of the decline in record sales suffered by the industry, which has resulted in failed attempts at adaptation such as government regulation of downloading and subscription services. Instead of shunning Napster, the music industry should have taken the approach that it was going to utilize the tools of the internet and P2P services to promote struggling artists whose cd sales have continuously languished as to many artists have done this themselves by using the Internet's novelty for targeted marketing and interactivity with fans. If the record labels would have taken a similar approach, they would have opened new channels for finding new audiences meant by utilizing the ability of P2P services to market to new consumers in a more streamlined manner by utilizing email databases, websites, and social networking sites for promotion.

Instead of attempting to eliminate P2P services, the music industry should have collaborated with this new genre as Napster was the forerunner for what has quickly become the norm in the music industry wherein artists have used these services to tap into new resources for projects by actively engaging their supporters, breaking down the celebrity/fan barriers, and giving coveted access into their own lives. Even the the few commercially successful artists that still exist such as Britney Spears, Beyoncé, and Eminem, use ...