Author Archives: Shane Sullivan

By: Shane L. Sullivan

The official results

Mitt Romney, Photo: Darren McCollester

On February 11, 2012, Charlie Webster, head of the Maine Republican party, announced that Mitt Romney won the Maine GOP caucus. Official results read: Romney, 2190 votes; Ron Paul, 1996; Rick Santorum, 989; and New Gingrich, 349. Many people across the country, particularly Ron Paul supporters, are claiming that the caucus was rigged and that a clear winner cannot yet be determined.

The problem 

Speculation of the results’ authenticity stem mostly from the fact that only eighty-four percent of precincts’ votes were tallied. In the official results, many towns in Maine are listed as having zero votes collected including all of the towns in Aroostook County and most of the towns in Waldo County. The Washington County caucus was cancelled and postponed until Saturday, February 18 due to predictions of a snowstorm. A storm did not come.

Why this is unfair

Ron Paul addressing a crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Photo: Chip Somodevilla

Though the votes may be recounted in the future and Washington county voting has been rescheduled for Saturday, Webster says that even if the new results put Ron Paul in first place and Romney in second, Romney will still be considered the official winner. Clearly, the official winner should be based on all of the counties’ votes and not just the ones said to have been correctly collected before the official deadline.

By: Shane L. Sullivan

The Internet’s effect on U.S. music sales

The popularity of Internet users in the United States more than doubled from 1999 to 2009. Evidently, the amount of revenue generated by music sales in the country has decreased by roughly the same amount.

How has this affected the public?

“The New York Violinist” performs and sells her music at the Union Square subway station and online at newyorkviolinist.com. Photo: Jeff Gaydos

With this great boom in Internet popularity, more people have resorted to downloading music free of charge from various music-pirating websites instead of purchasing music at record stores. This drastic decrease in revenue may be lowering the amount of money made by major record companies and popular artists, but at the same time it is greatly increasing the popularity of artists contracted by independent record labels. The Internet is becoming a much more popular medium for lesser-known artists to promote themselves and gain a wider audience.

The statistics

In 1999, there were an estimated 100,125,500 Internet users in the United States and the country’s total music sales revenue was roughly 14.6 billion dollars. By 2009, the number of users had risen to roughly 239,995,600 and music revenue had decreased to only 6.3 billion dollars.

Why is this happening?

Bill O’Sullivan, singer of the heavy metal band “EGGNOGG” says, “Without Internet exposure, I would have no fan base at all and probably wouldn’t be making music.” Photo: Shane L. Sullivan

I cannot speak for the general public, but the reason I choose to pirate music is I cannot seem to find any new music I like on television or the radio. I don’t find any of today’s popular music appealing. It seems like the majority of people making popular music today are making it primarily for profit and not for self-expression–much to the delight of their record company employers. People like me are turning to the Internet to find new music because radio has failed us. Independent artists are offering their music cheaper online and in many cases for free.