Can Popular Music produce a genuine force for political change?

Popular music can be used as a vehicle to express identity and music genres may be seen as something that divides people into subcultures sharing a same social meaning. Music is an excellent source of information; songs are listened to over and over again where as print text is seldom read more than once. For years, artists have raised opinions and highlighted socio-economic issues with provocative lyrics. Singers and bands may be seen as icons or even leaders of political movements. It is undeniable that a public figure has more power to address issues than an ordinary person. Live Aid may not have cleared Third World debt but it definitely succeeded in promoting awareness and inspiration. By getting 'stars' involved, an audience is guaranteed. The whole music business is a capitalist system so charity events such as Live Aid can be seen as self serving. So far, there is no evidence of long term impact but the power that a pop act can have on politics should not be underestimated.

Is DRM the best way to save music industry?

Digital rights management was set up to protect copyrights and to prevent illegal copying of music, film and publishing. Its main purpose was to prevent companies from loosing profits; also to save music industry from intellectual fraud and to save artists from loosing money from their records. DRM has tried to make piracy impossible by adding security but ended up causing a lot of trouble for average listeners by creating incompatibility in audio CDs. In my opinion, it has been beneficial for record labels but in the longer run, I don't think it can save music industry from illegal file distribution. Although iTunes has proven to be a great success, competing sites like Napster and Limewire are almost just as popular. Internet is full of sites where people can remove DRM protection. With more and more music listeners using iPods and other mp3 players it has been inevitable for people to change into downloading music instead of buying CDs and vinyls. By making people pay for their files, music industry has managed to make some profit of digital music but at the same time they have tried to stop the greatest purpose of internet; free information. It -pirates will always be one step ahead of the industry, DRM can only slow down the process.