It seems obvious that you don't give away your product for free but this is exactly what indie rock group The Crimea did earlier this year. The band's reasoning goes like this: more people will download the free album than would pay for it. Therefore more people will hear The Crimea's music. These people will then pay money for concerts by the band and perhaps buy a T-shirt or other merchandise. If the band play regular concerts to crowds of 200 or 300 people they can make more money than they would from sales of a CD. There will always be some people who want something they can hold in their hands so they will release the CD into the shops too—but making money through sales of their music isn't the top priority.
The story illustrates the creative thinking going on in the music business in response to dramatic changes over the last few years in the way that people buy music. Sales of music digitally—to computer, phones and MP3 players rose to$2 billion in 2006—an increase of almost 100 percent on the previous year—yet overall record company sales are down. People are simply not buying CDs in record shops in anything like the numbers they used to.
This trend looks set to continue, so the big question for the music industry is whether they can successfully manage the move to being primarily a digital industry without profits falling to unacceptable levels.
There are both positive and negative signs. On the plus side, more and more people are buying music on mobile phones, which allows people to make impulse purchases—they can buy a song as soon as they hear it. Research by the UK mobile operator 3 suggested that 75 percent of 16 to 24-year-olds wanted to buy a track they liked as soon as they heard it. With so much competition for people's disposable income, a product that you can sell immediately is a big advantage.
The bad news for record companies, however, is the amount of music that is downloaded illegally. Piracy—usually in the form of cheaply copied CD—has long been an issue for the music business but the Internet means music can be copied and distributed freely through file-sharing sites on a larger scale than ever before.
It is this situation that leads bands to start giving away their music for free and promises to make the next few years a very interesting time in the music business.
问题：
1.What is unusual about the Crimea's business plan?
A.Their business was given away free on the Internet.
B.They gave CDs away free in shops.
C.They played free concerts.
D.They charged more for their CDs.
【参考答案】A
[考点]事实细节题
【精析】A 题干的大意是：关于克里米亚乐队的商业计划不寻常之处是什么?根据第一段第一、二句可知，该乐队让人们在网上免费下载自己的歌曲，而一般人不会免费赠送自己的产品的，所以选项A正确。
2. The Crimea hope to make money .
A.through CD sales
B.by giving concerts and selling T-shirts and other merchandise
C.by selling merchandise on the Internet
D.through sales of merchandise in shops
【参考答案】B
[考点]事实细节题
【精析】B 题干的大意是：克里米亚乐队希望通过挣钱。根据第一段第四句可知，克里米亚乐队希望通过演唱会，还有卖T恤和其他商品挣钱，所以选项B正确。
3. The Crimea also released CDs for sale in shops because .
A.people who attend their concerts need them
B.they want to make extra money
C.there are still people who prefer CDs to other formats
D.people who fail to attend their concerts need them
【参考答案】C
[考点]事实细节题
【精析】C 题干的大意是：克里米亚乐队也在商店销售CD因为。根据第一段最后一句“There will always be some people who want something they can hold in their hands…”可知，克里米亚乐队在商店销售CD是因为还有人比起别的东西，更喜欢拥有实实在在的CD，所以选项C正确。
4. What is true about sales of music over the last year?
A.Overall, sales are up last year.
B.Overall, sales are down last year.
C.There is no change compared to previous sales.
D.It is not mentioned in the passage.
【参考答案】B
[考点]事实细节题
【精析】B 题干的大意是：关于在过去一年间的音乐销售哪一项描述是正确的?根据第二段第二句“…yet overall record company sales are down.”可知，选项B正确。
5.What effect has the Internet had on music piracy?
A.It has made it easier to fight piracy.
B.It has increased the number of pirate CDs available.
C.It has made it easier to illegally copy music.
D.It has reduced the number of pirate CDs available.
【参考答案】C
[考点]推理判断题
【精析】C 题干的大意是：互联网对音乐盗版有什么影响?根据第五段第二句“…the Internet means music can be copied and distributed freely through file-sharing sites on a larger scale than ever before.”可推知，互联网使得非法拷贝音乐更容易。故选C。
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