Community Property: Digital Music and the Economic Modalities of Transmission and Ritual Modes of Communication

Abstract

Using the evolution of the peer-to-peer music-sharing phenomenon as a spring-board, this article explores the economic modalities inherent in two different but not mutually exclusive theoretic constructs of communication advanced by James Carey. The transmission mode of communication theorizes that communication is the transmission of information from one point to another. The ritual mode of communication theorizes forms of communication whose primary purpose is to strengthen communal bonds by sharing communication/communal experiences. Religious ceremonies and music are two prime examples of communication experiences whose primary purpose is not to transmit information. This article examines the role digital recording technologies, the Internet, and the World Wide Web play in pointing out the economic conflicts inherent in these two modes of communication. The recent spate of lawsuits initiated by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) against music swapping and file sharing over the Internet is one tangible example of these economic conflicts.