109 Language skills Extras Explore 8 Big brother is watching you Explore writing: A blog comment about music streaming services You’ve come across the following blog post online: 34 Explore reading: The hackers’ new frontiers Read the text below. First, decide whether the statements (1–7) are true (T) or false (F) and put a cross ( ) in the correct box. Then identify the sentence in the text which supports your decision. Write the first four words of this sentence in the space provided. There may be more than one correct answer; write down only one. The first one (0) has been done for you. 35 The hackers’ new frontiers Everybody has heard of identity theft and credit card abuse on the internet. Wikileaks has been in the headlines for several years and, more recently, two young Americans made headlines when they first hacked then leaked sensitive official data. If we are to believe computer experts, hackers will soon be turning to new, even more dangerous territories. Imagine driving at high speed when your car suddenly becomes unmanoeuverable: the steering wheel doesn’t respond and the brakes don’t function, or the car unexpectedly comes to a halt causing an accident in which dozens of people are injured. Now imagine that all this had absolutely nothing to do with you, but the car had been taken over by hackers. As was recently demonstrated at a computer security conference in Las Vegas, vehicle hacks can completely disable a driver’s ability to control a fast-moving car. At present, typically 10 to 14 little computers are built into modern cars; once one of them is compromised, safety goes out the window. The future looks even more dangerous. As cars are becoming more computerized, say with internet access and other electronic features, they will become even easier targets. You have decided to write a blog comment in response to this statement. In your blog comment, you should: ■■ discuss whether or not it is really true that musicians are now only content creators. ■■ state your opinion of streaming music services. ■■ suggest ways of supporting your favourite artists. Write around 250 words. 1 Writing guide: Blog comment, p. 189. Keera | 7 June 11:09 Unless we all have a remarkable change of heart and decide to start paying at least $1 per song like the “good old days,” there’s no reason for anyone to pay for the music they listen to. To support our favorite artists, we’ll have to sponsor them directly. Musicians now play by the same rules as Youtubers and social media stars – the individual price of what you create will never pay your bills. The only reliable income is found in direct sponsorship from your fanbase. In this new digital age, there are no musicians, artists or videographers. There are only content creators. The streaming model isn’t perfect – only large bands can make a living on 1/3 of a cent per listen. However, the money isn’t coming back. Streaming services don’t pay artists enough, and that’s not going to change. Creators will need to adapt to the new rules of the subscriber era or go the way of iTunes and MP3 files. Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv
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