Sharing Media Content Online

The primary goal is the identification of changes in media content and the identification of changes in users and their way of consuming that content, due to sharing media content online and the rise of the remix culture. The main research interest lies in the triangle "Online media content sharing - media content - media user". We overviewed history, development and technology related to file sharing. We briefly addressed legal issues, explained terms like Digital Rights Management, fair use and Creative Commons, we assessed the impact of copyright law on innovation in media, and we explored remix culture as a direct consequence of file sharing practices. We researched secondary sources in order to identify the influence of file sharing on media content and found that the majority of changes in the last decade occurred because of file sharing technologies and users of such technologies, whether it was with the intent of resisting or adjusting to them. In order to research the user-end of the triangle, we conducted a survey among 104 users and found that file sharers tend to be more affectionate of media content than non file sharers. They are also more likely to buy media.