Popular Music in Public Libraries Today
Image retrieved from http://www.billboard.com/biz/articles/news/digital-and-mobile/5901188/cd-album-sales-fall-behind-album-downloads-is-2014-the
Today music collections in public libraries are going through a major overhaul again. The majority of people today no longer listen to CD's and digital downloads have become the most popular way to listen to music. Many libraries still have extensive CD collections, but these items are often not being replaced (for wear and tear) or currently added to under current budgets. Digital downloads have taken over and many artists are not even releasing their new music in CD format for a library to obtain material in this format. There are very few digital services available for libraries to obtain music from artists. The most popular among libraries (and service with popular music) is called Freegal, which allows library patrons to download music through their library accounts. Freegal contains music, mainly from Sony artists, and libraries have a limit of how many songs can be downloaded in a week (through my library it is 5 songs). This limits artists that are available to download and it can take up to three weeks just to download an album. Streaming is also available through Feegal but has a limit of how many hours a day a patron can stream music (through my library it is 3 hours a day). Overall everything about the process is limited and for libraries CD's are still the best way to get music to patrons, even though patrons may not like this format (The Indianapolis Public Library, 2012).
Screenshot of Freegal through The Indianapolis Public Library
Screenshot retrieved from http://www.indypl.org/
Screenshot retrieved from http://www.indypl.org/
Libraries are suffering and having a very difficult time keeping up with modern times because, of the limited music downloading services available. Previously “libraries-along with individual consumers-were able to own their music recordings, which gave them the right to lend them and preserve them for future generations of scholars and fans (Tsou & Vallier, 2016).” Copyright laws are putting major restrictions on libraries for downloading purposes. A library cannot purchase an album from iTunes (or any other source) and then lend this copy to their patrons as they would a physical CD. “If libraries are prevented from owning-or at the very least acquiring- online-only recordings, the ability to preserve our recorded cultural heritage will become moot (Tsou & Vallier, 2016).” Librarians are working fighting to negotiate copyright issues and discuss these issues with the recording industry, but so far all efforts have failed.
In a perfect world it would be beneficial to allow an exception for libraries under copyright law (especially for music libraries) so they can continue to preserve and provide access to materials. Traditionally public and academic libraries have collected a variety of materials including obscure and less popular items, and it is important for this tradition to continue. Libraries dispute that they should be given an exception for online-only music, or that they should be able to buy a copy and place it on a physical disc to distribute among patrons. At this time there is no solution to the ongoing problem of libraries being able to keep up with the digital world of music. The current solutions are less than adequate and the greed of the record industry will make it difficult to strike any deals for library-only use (Tsou & Vallier, 2016). Until a solution is acquired, maybe it is best that libraries maintain their CD collections to provide for patrons and preserve for the future.
In a perfect world it would be beneficial to allow an exception for libraries under copyright law (especially for music libraries) so they can continue to preserve and provide access to materials. Traditionally public and academic libraries have collected a variety of materials including obscure and less popular items, and it is important for this tradition to continue. Libraries dispute that they should be given an exception for online-only music, or that they should be able to buy a copy and place it on a physical disc to distribute among patrons. At this time there is no solution to the ongoing problem of libraries being able to keep up with the digital world of music. The current solutions are less than adequate and the greed of the record industry will make it difficult to strike any deals for library-only use (Tsou & Vallier, 2016). Until a solution is acquired, maybe it is best that libraries maintain their CD collections to provide for patrons and preserve for the future.