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A music download refers to the transferring of a music file from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment if required.

Legal music downloads typically involved the a purchase of a song or album available for downloading on the Internet. Downloading music first became popular with file sharing technologies such as peer-to-peer networks, with people breaking copyright laws by not paying for any of it. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) claimed that this practice was damaging the music industry, and a series of law suits led to many of these networks being closed down. However, those who support such technologies argued that the music industry said the same thing about recordable tapes and CDs, and even when recorded music came out as before then artists got their money through live performance, and that the industry should embrace the advancements in technology rather than enforce prohibitions on the practice. Very little publishable academic research has been done to clarify this form of massive consumer behavior.

There is a great deal of freely available music online, which is distributed by the copyright holders for various reasons. (For instance, some university orchestras have high-quality recordings of their performances.) This fully legitimate free music is often overlooked by the popular media and is hardly a new development on the Internet.

The second phase of music downloading was the online music store, whereby songs could be downloaded at a price. In 2003, iTunes saw the popularity of legal digital downloads skyrocket. Other online websites include URGE, Napster and MSN's Music store. Ad-Supported music stores are now starting to show up such as Spiralfrog and Qtrax which do not charge for music downloads but instead, sell advertising space to pay for the music downloads. As of 2007, a third phase of downloading has now begun. Technical innovations allow for the near instant downloadng of real-time, radio broadcasted songs; straight to a listener-user's mobile phone and computer, such as DROPme in Sweden. The sales of downloaded music has now surpassed the sales of 'physical copies' in some countries; this has been indicated in the UK where "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley reached the top spot in the UK Singles Chart based on download sales alone^[1]. Furthermore, many artists do not offer additional content, or release extended versions of their albums in music stores to offset the loss of physical content present in CD packaging, making digital music sales more viable for the listener.

Some artists allow their songs to be downloaded from their websites, often as a short preview or a low quality sampling. Others have embedded services in their sites that allow purchases of their singles or albums, as demonstrated by Metallica's official website. Other music artists, most notably Nine Inch Nail's Trent Reznor, have offered their music to listeners for free, some times in defiance of their record labels. In 2005, Nine Inch Nails released their full length album, With Teeth, on their MySpace page, prior to its official in store release date. Most recently the band has leaked various tracks off of its latest album, Year Zero, by hiding USB drives in concert venues. In past years, acts such as these have been commonplace from artists who seek to get their music out to a wider market, usually by tapping the power of the internet. In addition to this and to music stores, peer-to-peer downloading programs or websites such as Limewire, Kazaa, Bearshare and many others are very popular. Additionally, Torrent filesharing is another common method of peer-to-peer transfers. There is much controversy relating to filesharing due to copyright restrictions that apply to recorded media.

Even legal music downloads have faced a number of challenges from artists, record labels and the Recording Industry Association of America. In July 2007, the Universal Music Group decided not to renew their long term contracts with iTunes. This legal challenge was primarily based upon the issue of pricing of songs, as Universal wanted to be able to charge more or less depending on the artist, a shift away from iTunes' standard 99 cents per song pricing. Many industry leaders feel that this is only the first of many show-downs between Steve Jobs and the various record labels^[2].

• Music and movie download controversy
• EU Copyright Directive
• iTunes Store
• Peer-to-peer
• online music store

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