Evaluation AND audience feedback

Evaluation and Audience feedback:

The research task which was set was not an easy one, I did struggle a little bit to find relevant sources in which it would help me to present both sides of the arguments concerning piracy of music downloads. Apart from this I would say my research skills were shown to be decent and I was confident in structuring a two sided argument for and against the use of piracy for music downloads. The websites which I have used were really helpful for example the website arguing against piracy was wikipedia, although at times wikipedia is not a suitable website to use, however, once i've read the arguments clearly I understood what that person was saying and I thought it was a good arguments to make, hence, the reason I have included that persons arguments in my article. My writing and journalistic skills is however, better than my research skills and I am able to use a variety of good vocabulary in my writing. I am hoping I produce outstanding work during the writing course for the coursework intended for media.

  

The use of InDesign I must admit is sometimes difficult, the reason is because firstly, I have never used this software before so everything is new to me. Secondly, it is hard to use new software’s and you do tend to forget steps on how to do certain things on InDesign. However, I have used similar software’s called Photoshop; I have adjusted to this programme due to the reason that I have taken notes on how to use this software, which has helped me immensely. Hence, the reason I have decided to also take notes on how to use InDesign which will hopefully help me to amend to the new programme which we will be using in Media.

Although I do not blog or use any online web publishing sites, I have uploaded my article for the public to view. I am still adjusting to the use of web publishing and having some difficulties to regulate, however, the more I start to use online web publishing sites the more it is getting easier for me to amend to online ‘blogging’ sites. Hopefully, I continue to use the web publishing sites and become even more confident in using these types of sites. There are many advantages of using web publishing sites such as 'blogger' one reason is that it is free and it allows you to post your work for everyone to view and also comment on any suggestions or improvements. It is also very easy to access and can be used easily, as it does not require much work in order to upload blogs onto your account.

The audience feedback was helpful and I have also got a few suggestions on how to make my magazine and article even better. Person 1, asked me to add my own opinion to my article, in order to improve my article, hence, the reason I have added my own opinion and reason as to why I am against downloading music illegally. Person 2, told me to add another statistic in on music piracy, therefore, the audience will be even shocked and will realise that the download of music illegally is a really big issue and the problem should be noticed and become more aware of. The audience feedback was really useful and helped me to improve my article so my intended target audience enjoy reading my magazine and positively understand the issues I am expressing in my article.

I have spotted many weaknesses during the course of doing the induction assignment; however, I have also made targets which I will stick to in order to make my article and my magazine of an ‘A’ grade standard. I will make sure I complete all my given tasks on time so that I am organised and up to date with my coursework to ensure that I don't fall behind.   

By Shahena Islam 

PIRACY, GONE TOO FAR?

Music Piracy

PIRACY

FOR:

It is not stealing. It is just creating a copy of a product. That product still exists and still can be sold; therefore, downloading a copy of a computer file is not the same as stealing a physical product like a CD.

Many artists simply want to be heard and praised. Anyone who is in the music business for the money is not a true artist. Free downloading means more people can hear their music, right? Isn't that what they want?

The study found that legal purchases would be about 2 percent lower without illegal downloading available-meaning, yes, illegal downloads boost legal downloads.

AGAINST:

Copyright laws are put into place to try to ensure that people in creative industries (filmmakers, musicians, music engineers, writers, composers, software developers etc.) are able to get paid for the things they create. If artists work hard to compose and record songs, shouldn’t they be able to gain financial rewards like professionals in any other field? Not paying for something which is supposed to be paid for, no matter whether it is a physical object or not, it is still wrong.

There are lots of costs involved. Sure record companies make a lot of money from CD sales of very popular artists, but this money is used to invest in new artists and less commercially successful artists. Anyways, just because something is expensive, that doesn’t give you the right to get it for free. And maybe if you stopped downloading it for free, they would reduce the price.

Many record labels are losing huge amounts of profits from album sales. They're also finding it increasingly difficult to sign up new artists, because the money just isn't there to support them.

It costs thousands of dollars just to get into a recording studio, along with all the money required for distribution, promotion and advertising. Then there's the enormous cost of a tour, with travel, accommodation, promotion, security and venue hire. Even just a one man acoustic show costs tens of thousands of dollars. This of course is even more difficult for independent artists, who have to rely entirely on their own funds to continue making music. The illegal download trend makes these things nearly impossible.

It would be like somebody stealing a painting. It is stealing somebody's work. And in the end if everyone does it, the music industry ends up getting destroyed. Do you like seeing bands when they go on tour? Well if so then you'll be taking out almost 70% of the bands that do that from their job.

By Shahena Islam