Annotated Citation

I am currently in the midst of some very shallow research on file sharing and Internet piracy. As I am considering writing a full-out research paper on the topic, I took a dive into my school’s electronic library database (don’t worry—it’s legal!) and sunk my teeth into a scholarly article on the issue and some recently proposed solutions. Were I to use the article for my paper, I would need to cite the source and annotate the citation with a brief summary and review. So with that in mind, here are my thoughts on the article… let me know what you think!

“The Record Business Blues” from the American Bar Association Journal’s June 2010 issue outlines the effects of Internet piracy on the music industry and a general outline of proposed solutions. The author explains how the recording industry is currently trying to pick their battles on piracy and is working to drum up a more broadly effective, rational solution to the issue rather than suing guilty individuals one-by-one. As outlined in the article, one popular approach proposes that the recording industry work in partnership with Internet service providers (ISP’s) to crack down on piracy and punish the guilty by a three-strike graduated response policy. Others argue that a monthly licensing fee for a legal file sharing service would more effectively put revenue back in the industry, so long as profits are distributed fairly. Author Steven Seidenberg believes that if properly managed, the Internet as a platform holds great potential for music distribution and the entertainment industry (although, he does not specify his own solution to the issue). Because the information is very up-to-date and comes from a reliable source, I think this article would be a very helpful reference for a research paper on the economic effects of piracy on entertainment. That said, I would probably need to buttress this article with further research on each mentioned proposal and find more detailed assessments of each tactics’ logistics. 

Works Cited:

1. S. Seidenberg, “The Record Business Blues,” ABA Journal 96, no. 6 (June 2010): 55.