Research Proposal on "Midwest University Proposal"

Research Proposal 4 pages (1227 words) Sources: 2 Style: APA

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Midwest Research

A Music Downloading Business Research Proposal

For music consumers, the shift to the computer-file medium happened years ago. This is particularly true with demographics that have essentially come of age through the evolution of the personal computer, the internet and ecommerce. Over the course of the early 21st century, "online buying was most popular among 25- to 34-year-olds and least attractive to the 65+ seniors." (Vargas, 1) This same demographic is composed of individuals who, over more than half a decade of unrestrained music downloading access, have come to expect a number of opportunities. Specifically, there is an immediacy to this access that transcends traditional music buying methods, with the click-and-download process bypassing the need to go to a store or wait for an online-ordered item to arrive in the mail. Songs instantly appear on the consumer's hard-drive and may subsequently be listened to and burnt to a Compact Disc. With literally infinite peer-to-peer communities emerging constantly to improve the organization, presentation and reliability of such acquisition methods, users still have countless ways to find music for free.

Students at Midwest University reflect this exact pattern, and have thus become part of a pattern which runs afoul of music industry needs and legal perceptions. The proposal here will seek to resolve the impasse by researching the prospects for a partnership with legal music downloading services which will allow students to continue to download for free but under more lawful terms.

Body:

Midwest University, like all major universities and campuses across America, is faced with an interesting and difficult challenge with regard to the issue of illegal music downloading. It is a well-recognized fact that many students use the high-speed internet provided by the campus itself in order to use peer-to-peer trading programs that allow for the free downloading of pirated music, movies and other unauthorized digital items which are characterized as intellectual property. The opportunity for students to engage in this activity represents a distinct conflict of interest for the university, which does not permit the use of its channels for the piracy of music, but which also supports the entitlement of individuals to use the computer technology at their disposal with relative freedom within the limitations of the law. This proposal will call for a research investigation which effectively determines the best way for the university to improve the legal adherence of its students while simultaneously preserving the student body's ability to use downloading services according to their desires.

The background history of this problem concerns the expansion of technological opportunities and a relative inability of music companies and campuses alike to remain abreast of resulting expectations amongst average music consumers such as those spotting college campuses. In part a direct product of the evolution of information technologies and in part a natural response to a music industry where output was increasingly over-priced and diminishing in artistic quality, consumers have begun not only to expect but to actively claim a new means to acquiring music. The new digital medium, which compresses songs into computer files called MP3s, has become the commonly accepted medium for music possession amongst consumers. In contrast, the industry is struggling only now to catch up. The proposal here will seek to devise a university approach that inherently acknowledges this gap, and attempts to play a mediating role in bringing only presently emerging paid file-sharing programs into contact with student populations.

References

The primary references used in this study are articles provided by Vargas (2005) and by Borland (2003). The latter of these provides an article focused on claims by the mainstream music industry that digital piracy is the core reason for its decline in sales and… READ MORE

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