This is a journal article in a journal called Popular Music, and it is by Eamonn Forde.  It was written in 2004.  This article gives information about the state of file-sharing in 2004, and explains that record companies shouldn’t worry so much about it.  The article’s argument is that record companies will still be able to sell a large amount of CDs despite file sharing, and that there are other forms of media from which they can profit.  
    The film and TV industries are also becoming upset about the use of P2P networks to share files, because many of them are video files.  In other countries, the government has tried to help these industries with the use of levies.  In Germany, there are levies on PCs and CD-Rs that go to record companies.  And all over the world, record companies are flooding P2P networks with fake versions of songs to frustrate the users.  This is called “spoofing.”
    I doubt the “spoofing” tactic works very well, and the levy idea seems unfair to the consumer, who would be forced to pay higher prices for goods.  This article is important to my research because it suggests it might be best for the record companies to ignore P2P file-sharing.  In France, CD sales have been going up by 5 percent every year, and they also have P2P networks.  It is possible that the record companies may just need more creative marketing schemes to attract more customers.  Also, they need to take advantage of the market for music on cell phones, because that market is less likely to be affected by file sharing.  As the author says, “Online delivery is not the death knell for record companies.  It should be seen, ideally, as the wake up call they so dearly needed.”  If record sales are still increasing in countries that face the same file-sharing problems, American record companies need to try to emulate some of these other companies’ strategies.  They claim that their lawsuits are necessary, but maybe if they are more creative, they can avoid angering their customers and causing additional damage to their industry.