File Sharing: Gift or Curse to the Music Industry?

File Sharing has revolutionized the web world, by providing access and distributing digitally stored information such as music, movies, computer programs, etc. According to the January issue of American Demographics, music sites like Napster have created "powerful new opportunities for music marketeers". According to a recent study by Greenfield Online and YouthStream Media Networks, nearly 75 percent of college students have downloaded music from the Net, 58 percent of them using Napster and nearly two-thirds of the 1,135 college students surveyed say they download music as a way to sample music before buying it. A survey by Yankelovich Partners for the Digital Media Association found that about half the music fans in the U.S. turn to look for artists they can't or don't hear in other venues, like radio. Nearly two-thirds of those who downloaded music from the Web say that their search ended in a music purchase. The above surveys clearly indicate, not just the usefulness of file sharing for the music industry, but also its effectiveness.

File sharing, also serves as a medium of distribution for the less known artists, who gain recognition, by being introduced to consumers via file sharing sites.

As far as legislations to curtail online music piracy are concerned, there are serious limitations. It would be difficult to balance piracy laws, so as to not infringe on freedom of speech or expression of users. Therefore, extensive efforts, to formulate legislations, to curtail online music piracy would have too many loop holes and thus be a futile exercise.

File Sharing, can also be a great marketing tool for marketeers, as they can track the tastes of users by following the type or kind of music they are downloading.

Though, there is no doubt in the fact that online music piracy does hurt Record companies and some artists, lawmakers should not go to the extremes while formulating legislations.

Sources:
http://slashdot.org/features/00/12/28/1653257.shtml
http://adage.com/whitepapers/whitepaper.php?id=9
  

Online Information Extortion, otherwise referred to as Online Privacy Invasion

The privacy issues being faced by consumers, due to disclosure of personal information and further misuse of this information can be equated to extortion. On many websites, users do not even have the 'opt out' option. The blatancy of the acts of privacy invasion by websites is growing. Sometimes, the consumer is not even aware that he has divulged personal information. For example, certain websites that require membership, would have you fill in credit card details along with your first name and last name, and then store the details in its database. The user is unaware, as he/she might have not given his/her true first name while creating a profile, but would start receiving promotional emails with their correct information from the sister sites of the main website. Recently, last July, author George Orwell's book, "1984" and "Animal farm" were deleted from Amazon's Kindle e-readers. The company cited a problem with rights to the books and issued refunds to the buyers.But, an Associated Press story said, the company's action also "startled many Kindle customers, who didn't know Amazon had the neo-Orwellian ability to erase content that had already been downloaded to their devices.Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos apologized, saying it was "stupid, thoughtless, and painfully out of line with our principles." The company also offered $30 to Kindle customers whose copies of the Orwell classics had been deleted. This shows, the dangerous extent to which websites offering online transactions, can access, monitor, control and edit information, due to the invisible link connection, users are not aware of.

U.S. retail E-commerce sales which have been steadily increasing over the years are going to provide impetus to the discount store industry. According to the Census Bureau , “The estimate of U.S. retail e-commerce sales for the second quarter of 2010, adjusted for seasonal variation, but not for price changes, was $39.7 billion, an increase of 2.6 percent from the first quarter of 2010. Total retail sales for the second quarter of 2010 were estimated at $971.4 billion, an increase of 1.1 percent from the first quarter of 2010. The second quarter 2010 e commerce estimate increased 14.0 percent from the second quarter of 2009 while total retail sales increased 7.5 percent in the same period. E-commerce sales in the second quarter of 2010 accounted for 4.1 percent of total sales”. Thus, retail sales can expect value addition from increase in e-commerce. Therefore, in this scenario, it is necessary for the FTC to keep checks on the websites and see to it, that consumer confidence in e-commerce does not take a beating due to privacy issues. One of the major reasons that FTC recommendations appear soft, can also be attributed to the lack of political will.

Sources: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35427715/ns/technology_and_science-security/
              http://www.census.gov/retail/marts/www/retail.html

Link Between Online Social Media and Small Business Success

A study conducted by University of Maryland's Smith School of Business, concludes that nearly one in five small business owners are integrating social media into their business processes. Social media platform, includes blogs, social search, social networking, bookmarking, etc. Social networks, such as Facebook, Linkedln, and twitter are one of the most effective marketing platforms, relative to other social media. This can be attributed to the traffic on these sites. If Facebook, were a country, it would be the fourth largest in the world.
According to a study, Small Businesses are increasingly engaging in social media based marketing, due to the notion that this would help them on the lead generation front. But, here it has been noticed, that many companies fail to recognize these leads and overlook some. This, might result in the loss of potential clients or customers. Thus, it is important that companies regularly track and watch the leads, so as to take advantage of this valuable information.
The fact that, Microsoft Office Live Small Business (http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/socialmediaforbusiness.pdf)  sponsored the creation of an e-book, to educate small business owners about the need as well as the ways of utilizing social media, for the purpose of business optimization, establishes the significance of social media beyond doubt. The e-book, explains in great detail, the ways and means of integrating social media into small businesses and then further improving and expanding, social media use, with respect to small business owners. The e-book states that, participating fully in social media as a business and marketing strategy, requires discipline, automation routines, and a daily commitment. Another important aspect of online social media use, is that, an owner  may always be in touch with customers and vice-versa. This aspect of social media would appeal to the breed of entrepreneurs, who's minds are preoccupied by their businesses, irrespective of being at home or on vacation.

Sources:
http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/socialmediaforbusiness.pdf
http://mashable.com/2010/03/02/small-business-stats/
http://www.interactivemarketinginc.com/lead-generation.htm

Neuro Marketing: How to press the BUY Button

The verbal responses of consumers, to questions such as, "What is your preference?" or "What is the brand, product or service you like", don't always give the right answers. To obtain a more accurate picture of consumer inclinations and wants, some marketing research analysts have turned towards, 'neuromarketing'.

This new field in market research is described as, "Neuromarketing helps you understand and reach the parts of the brain that decide". The subconscious mind constitutes the parts of the brain that decide. According to neuro-scientists, " As much as 95% of our decisions are made by the subconscious mind". Therefore, this has prompted some of the world's prominent companies and businesses to apply technological breakthroughs in the field of 'neuro-science' to improve their products, services, etc, along with their marketing strategies. 

I hold the opinion, that neuromarketing, would  help industries attain or achieve better consumer satisfaction, thus an advantage for both consumers and companies.  Neuromarketing, would also benefit companies, as they need not rely on the consumer's ability to express their opinions, but instead extract information from their subconscious mind, which has been proven to make the final decision 95% of the time. Neuromarketing, might also have adverse effects on the consumers. Companies intend to use neuromarketing to trigger certain emotions in the consumer, which would in turn influence the consumer's decision to buy. For example, the human brain is higly influenced by smell, this is due to the fact that some of our primitive instincts have been retained, through evolution. The human brain is called a reptilian brain and brain activity is affected by  odour. So companies might try and sell substandard or unwanted goods, buy inducing the brain using trigger factors such as smell or odour, which might be perceived as pleasant or pleasing. There are many such trigger factors. Neuromarketing is all about understanding the consumer's innate perception of products, services, etc and then, using this knowledge to allure consumers to buy products, by appealing to their subconscious mind.

Sources:
http://neuromarketing.ning.com/ 

http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0470601779,descCd-buy.html