Music streaming services have affected the music industry from both a financial and legal standpoint. Their current business model affects stakeholders such as artists, users, and investors. These services have been scrutinized recently for their imperfect royalty distribution model. Covid-19 has made these discussions even more relevant as touring income has come to a halt for musicians and the live entertainment industry. <br/>Under the current per-stream model, it is becoming exceedingly hard for artists to make a living off of streams. This forces artists to tour heavily as well as cut corners to create what is essentially “disposable art”. Rapidly releasing multiple projects a year has become the norm for many modern artists. This paper will examine the licensing framework, royalty payout issues, and propose a solution.

The process of producing enormous amounts of ephemeral clothing at accelerated rates, known as fast fashion, creates significant environmental and societal issues. The phenomenon of fast fashion rose due to globalization, economic factors, lack of legislation, and the advancement of technology. Governments, companies, and consumers must work together to create more sustainable retail supply chains. I have gathered information from interviews with individuals in the sustainable fashion industry, books, case studies, online reports, and newspaper articles. Based on my research, I recommend that companies should target wealthier consumers, develop a common language concerning sustainability, invest in sustainable fibers, and listen to factory employees for solutions to improve their working conditions. I also advise that the U.S governments should revise fashion copyright laws and international governments should emphasize regulations concerning the fashion industry. Lastly, consumers should adopt a price-per-wear mindset and utilize resale options. Overall, while perfect sustainability is improbable, consumers, governments, and companies should not use this as an excuse to avoid responsibility.

The goal of this paper is to determine whether or not multiple economic and societal changes have or have not made retirement in America, an easier, or harder goal to achieve. My hypothesis is that these changes have created an environment in which retiring and preparing for retirement is much, much more difficult. The analysis considers multiple economic and social changes between May, 1985 and May, 2019, a 34-year span. <br/><br/>In this paper, I will be comparing the average 1985 college graduate to the average 2019 college graduate. The 8 major factors I look at are, annual salary, average student debt (assuming a 120-month repayment period), average housing cost (assuming a 360-month payment period), average car expenses (assuming a 60-month payment period), and average annual food, clothing, taxes and medical insurance costs. All of these figures look at the end points, looking at figures for the average 1985 graduate, and the figures for the average 2019 graduate. The 1985 figures are then put into 2019 dollars, and subtracted from the original salary figure. This will give us an objective way to compare savings, and therefore ability to save for retirement. <br/><br/>My analysis demonstrates that it is actually easier for people today to prepare for retirement than it was 34 years ago. The average 2019 graduate had $4,178.96 remaining at the end of a year. Comparatively, the 1985 graduate had a debt of $12,837.94. This is an effective difference of $17,016.91, benefiting the 2019 graduate by far.

The world of business has become increasingly globalized over the years. Companies are seeking business internationally and it has become common to work with people from different parts of the world. It is imperative that those who work in business understand and recognize the differences between their home country and culture, and the country and culture of those with whom they are doing business. With that being said, students who intend on going into business post graduation must keep in mind this globalized mindset when applying for jobs. As a student in the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, I learned how important this is after receiving my International Business certificate while studying abroad for a semester in Spain. I found that the skills that I gained and what I learned about myself, and the European culture helped shape the way I view the world of business. I also believe that this helped differentiate me from other applicants when applying for internships. I believe that every business student, if willing and financially able, should study abroad not only to gain an insightful experience, but because it helps place them above other applicants when applying for jobs or internships.This project included research to find evidence that supports this belief through surveys and interviews with business students who have studied abroad in the past, and through interviews with employers and recruiters from all over the country. The creative portion of this thesis includes a promotional video, using the student interviews, as well as my own personal experience, to further promote studying abroad for business students.

Cohab is an online platform (App, social media, and website) with a mission to make the search for student housing simple and convenient by using predictive analytics on a client-feedback database to match students to off-campus housing options that fit their wants and needs. Cohab seeks to launch by testing the market of how ASU students looking for off-campus housing would enjoy a speed-matching service to ease them through the housing and housemate search process.

The idea surrounding this thesis project is to highlight the injustice that surrounds women prisons. The ethical flaws behind the way women are treated within the prisons, specifically when it comes to medical needs. The focus of our project was narrowed to medical neglect. This project falls under the field of law and ethics.
Approximately 219,000 women are incarcerated every year, and this number has been constantly growing. When looking at justice, more than 60% of the population of incarcerated women have not been committed of a crime, in other terms, more than 60% of the population of women are still awaiting trial. Out of the 219,000 women that are incarcerated every year, 80% of women in jails are mothers. Here is where the focus of our thesis project surrounds. 2 million children under the age of 18 have a parent in prison, a majority of those children are actually under the age of 10. Only 9 state prisons have nursery programs for mothers to parent children for a finite period of time anywhere from 30 days to 30 months. With a nursery capacity of only 18 mothers, only mothers with a nonviolent conviction can even be part of the nursery program. With approximately 4% of women in state prisons and 3% of women pregnant during sentencing, more than 2,000 babies are born to incarcerated women annually. Policies vary by jurisdiction; however, women are frequently shackled with handcuffs, leg irons, and waist chains during transport, delivery, and post-delivery. This blatantly violates the eight amendment of cruel and unusual punishment. Really only 10 states have passed legislation prohibiting restraint. The Federal Bureau of Prisons and the Departments of Correction in 13 states have internal policies that are similar to prohibiting. Remaining 27 states women are shackled.
Based on the Guardian it is also shown that women are not given the proper menstrual care products. “At York, each cell, which houses two female inmates, receives five pads per week to split. I’m not sure what they expect us to do with the fifth, but this comes out to 10 totals for each woman, allowing for only one change a day in an average five-day monthly cycle” (Chandra Bozelko). The whole reasoning here is that pads and menstrual products are not a luxury, it is a true necessity and BASIC HUMAN RIGHT. At this point it is a shot on an individual's dignity.
This project will be focusing on three aspects of the prison system in relation to women: pregnancy and prenatal care, lack of menstrual products, as well as basic health needs. The main goal of this project is to shed light on the injustice present. The sources that will be analyzed are prison personnel, previous inmates, activists, as well as analysis on past and ongoing cases related to this topic.

The Internet has slowly over the past couple of decades has evolved greatly while also growing into its own community. Websites such as Facebook, Twitter, and even YouTube have developed their own trends, cultures, and communities. Certain people have chosen to earn their livelihood over the Internet through websites and deals with companies. In these dealings, legal matters start to take a major role as people try to review and utilize other peoples’ work to supplement their own. As a Business Law major, I aimed to delve into the legal troubles and dealings of those who wish to form a career on the website YouTube. While the intent of the work is to be informational, I will conclude with what I believe to be improvements possible for the system based on information found. With all the evidence considered, I will advocate for changes to the manual claim system by increasing human moderation as well as necessitating manual review prior to deletion of channels.

In this project, I will attempt to determine the moral permissibility of amateurism, as it relates to student athlete compensation, defined by the NCAA. Amateurism is the term that defines the current profiling of student athletes by the NCAA as non-professionals. Therefore, in the eyes of the NCAA, in order for a student to participate as an athlete, there are eight stipulations of characteristics they may not embody, specifically surrounding playing sports for personal monetary gain. The problem in question with this definition is the perceived inequity of the amount of money coaches, officials and directors are making from revenues surrounding the sport versus how much the players see. This analysis will include a situational analysis of the current environment—the nature of the NCAA student athlete problem, as well as an investigation into two proposal environments. The first is labeling student athletes as “professionals” and compensating them through negotiated contracts, and the second models after the pre-1988 International Olympic Committee definition of amateurism, which allowed athletes to pursue their own side endorsements relating to their athletic performance.

Through literature review and semi-structured surveys and interviews, this study will attempt to discern the true motives of the stakeholders in the student-athlete compensation case and use these motives along with ethical analysis to determine the moral permissibility of the proposed environments. This study will follow 4 specific research questions:

1. To what extent is “amateurism” a morally permissible concept to govern student athlete compensation?
2. To what extent is “professionalism” a morally permissible concept to govern student athlete compensation?
3. To what extent is “Olympic amateurism” a morally permissible concept to govern student athlete compensation?
4. How should the knowledge of these concepts’ moral permissibility affect how we apply the law in the area of this case?

This project will conclude with commentary on what the implications are towards modern law for after determining the moral permissibility of all environments.

After the landmark case, Gideon v Wainwright was heard by the United States Supreme Court in 1963, the 6th Amendment granted counsel to indigent defendants. However, since 1963 the United States population has skyrocketed and so have arrest rates leaving many public defenders underpaid and overworked. Knowing these facts Can Justice be Bought uses interviews, real-life stories, and research to determine if the 6th Amendment is upheld in the way the system is currently working, and are indigent defendants given a fair chance at trial. After an overview of public defense in the United States as a whole, it becomes clear that in many states the way the system is operating gives them less than a fair chance at justice. This, however, is not from a lack of effort from public defenders, they are simply just so overworked by exorbitant caseloads that they cannot possibly give each of their cases the time it deserves. However, not all indigent defense systems were created equal, states like Maryland have a number of resources for their public defenders that set them up for success. In order to close the gap between private counsel and public defense in the United States, public defenders’ offices should begin to allocate more funding in order to lighten their defenders’ caseloads as well as to provide them with resources such as expert witnesses and social workers. Funding is not found overnight, so in the meantime, the implementation of “participatory defense” can also help close the gap. The advantage of wealth is not found only in the courtroom but through nearly every part of the criminal justice system. From bail to parole, wealthier defendants typically see higher rates of success and lower rates of recidivism due to their ability to pay for these programs.

Purdue Pharma was started by Arthur, Mortimer, and Raymond Sackler in the 1950s. Its most successful product was OxyContin. Purdue failed to perform the required trials and used misleading marketing practices to promote the drug. The Sackler family encouraged these false advertising campaigns in an attempt to drive up sales. These deceitful tactics caught up with the company and Purdue Pharma’s affiliate pled guilty to deliberately misbranding the drug in 2006. Purdue Pharma currently faces thousands of lawsuits, with Sackler family members personally named, for misleading marketing practices. States uncovering evidence of the Sackers attempting to hide their fortune via wire transfers and offshore accounts and institutions removing the family name from their doors threaten both the Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family’s money and influence.
The opioid crisis was inflamed by multiple sources, from which Purdue Pharma and other pharmaceutical companies benefited. The first is the Revolving Door, where government workers go to work for the companies they were once in charge of regulating. Existing loopholes allow former officials to immediately become lobbyists and perform consulting work. The Food and Drug Administration has close ties with lobbyists and pharmaceutical companies, which casts doubt and suspicion on its policies. Tightening and expanding current Revolving Door regulations would begin to stem this problem. Extending the cooling-off period to a minimum of five years would prevent former government workers from immediately influencing government policies. Furthermore, the laws need to be modified to include more specific language to eliminate loopholes. Banning former government employees from any counseling services or lobbying any government branch, agency, or office will make it much more difficult to circumvent the rules.
The second are “pill mills,” whereby physicians, clinics, or pharmacies prescribe prescription drugs inappropriately. There exists a web of regulation and reporting laws from federal and state governments, but pill mills still established themselves. Florida enacted laws that created stricter requirements for dispensing drugs, medical examinations, and follow-ups before and after prescribing opioids for chronic pain. These laws had positive results in stopping pill mills. Similar laws should be enacted nationally. Existing laws focusing on the pharmaceutical manufacturers, distributors, and pharmacies should be expanded to improve reporting between those agencies and the DEA and the DEA and other government agencies.
The last one is the American drug addiction rehab system. It is fraught with stigma, lax insurance information, inconsistent treatments, and poorly utilized information. The system often fails to provide care for those who need it. Increasing the scope of treatments would boost its effectiveness. States need to require insurance companies to cover mental health treatment to the same extent and degree as physical health issues and use a uniform, standardized tool to decide the necessary level of care addiction patients need. Public report cards for treatment centers would improve their long-term level of care and ease patients in finding a treatment center that fits them.
Addressing these problems has already begun at the both federal and state level. As these causes are identified and attacked, it will become easier to pass the laws needed to repair the system that allowed the opioid crisis to occur.