MP3 and the future of the Music Industry

Issues raised regarding change in the music industry

Audience Survey

You have been creating surveys to gather useful data about audiences for music, guided by the key concepts from the opening post of your blog. You should be linking your questions to the key concepts so that the data you gather is useful.

Use your survey to gather data from at least 8 people. You need to decide whether a narrow age range or a wider field will provide the most useful information.

Upload your data to your blog in a useful and concise format and write an analysis. What information have you gathered about how audiences behave and their relationships with institutions?

Half Term Work

The online revolution has proved as damaging to independent labels as to multinational companies. How far do you agree?

This is an exam-style question so you need to write at length and use specific examples from both case studies to support your answer. You will have 1 hour in the exam to answer the Audiences and Institutions question.

DOMINO RECORDS

Domino Records is a British independent Record label

The difference I noticed between Domino and Universal in terms of artists and genres they collaborate with is that Domino Records sign artists with a niche target audience. Domino Records focus more on the quality of music compared to the amount of profit they make from the artists. They have artists with different genres of music making it an important for their artists to express their unique style of music.

Domino’s target audience ranges from around sixteen to twenty five year olds, because the genre of music is quite mixed. But includes mostly alternative and indie music genre. The label addresses and appeals to its audience by giving them more insight to the artist. They give the audience the opportunity to watch and listen to interviews, look at backstage pictures and make it very easy for artists to find information about new music releases.

There is only one artist that I have heard of in their roster which is Arctic Monkeys. A high profile artist may sign to Domino to gain more audiences and it means that artists don’t have to work independently to distribute and promote as the label take care of all these aspects. The artist would want their style of music to be the main focus, getting an independent label would be a better choice to express the music more creatively.

Convergence has affected the label in some ways, the fact that Domino is an independent label meaning that the label does not receive the a very large profit compared to major record labels. Therefore even a little pull back in the market will affect the label greatly. Illegal downloading means that audiences are receiving products without the label receiving any money inputs giving them no benefits.

Convergence

Convergence describes the ways in which technologies have merged in recent years. There was a time when audiences needed different devices to listen to music and watch programmes, now both media forms can be processed and accessed using a computer or even a mobile phone. Convergence is an easier and cheaper way for artists to distribute and promote their products but it also means it gives audiences the freedom to share and copy music freely. Convergence has had a large impact on the music industry and created many more opportunities for artists to distribute and promote music more effectively. There are both advantages and disadvantages to convergence which is explained in detail below:

Advantages

• Having easy access to music helps the artist promote their products more effectively. Using online websites means that artists can interact with their audiences which adds a lot plus factors, especially social networking websites where audiences can give artists feedback and make the music more well known.

• Promotion of artists can be achieved through other artists, some artists collaborate with existing artists to be known by their audience. For example artists sometimes tour with existing artists who have the same target audience which have large benefits for the artists and label.

• The cost of distribution has fallen greatly, there are now many ways of making media products because of the varies media devices available in the present time. Audiences choose to download music instead of purchasing CD’s. This means that labels have saved money on various expenses previously spent as things can now be easily downloaded.

• Programmes such as Spotify promote artist very effectively, artists sell their music onto Spotify where audiences can purchase music and also see similar music to their interest. Artists can also create adverts to be included on the same page or at the beginning or end of a track, this increases the focus of the target audience and makes them more well known.

Disadvantages

• Illegal downloading have increased rapidly and means that the music industry is increasingly losing out on a lot of money. The music industry could have been gaining a much larger profit if illegal downloading was permanently intervened and put a stop to.

• It is now much easier to copy and share music between people with no profit to the artist or label. Audiences are able to illegally download much more easily and with no charge required therefore it is much more popular amongst artists. There are many websites and programmes available giving audiences an easier access.

• With record labels making much less money both the record label and artists are facing a huge loss in the music industry. This effects the outcome of products it means that the quality and quantity of the products will be very low.

Universal Music Group (UMG)

UMG (Universal Music Group) uses subsidiaries to maximise the success of artists from different genres. Fascination Records and Island Records are two subsidiaries of UMG. By having a smaller label focusing on specific artists, they are able to focus more directly on the particular target audience and create a larger impact. Labels can work more closely with artists and work on promoting artists and distributing their music successfully.

The smaller labels have particular genre specialists and expertise in a specific genre, which means that they are able to develop and promote both niche and mainstream artists. Artists are kept to being unique and are not generalised by a large conglomerate company like UMG is. Smaller labels are good for artists as they can be represented and known for their talent and build on their talents. Artists can expand and improve the talents and distribute to a larger audience. UMG distributes music from a very wide range of genres and to all audiences with the use of subsidiary labels.

Fascination Records is a UK based record label, the label was launched in 2006 and it focuses on pop genre artists. The label focuses on a particular geographical location so they work on the making the artist well known and then extending on this. Fascination Records online website is very structured and has a more formal theme to it. It has a simple colour scheme and layout. The label is able to do this as they are a small company, a large label like UMG would not have time to do this. Island Records is a label founded in Jamaica, based in the UK. This label allows artists to be unique and different from other artists. They have signed individual artists with different styles and genres of music. The Island Record website has a very relaxing and calm theme to it, the website includes a vintage impression as well. The colour scheme of the website is bold and in your face with specific colours that online the main features of the page.

UMG benefits from owning small labels because it gives them a more benefits as the label works more closely with artists. It opens all doors for the artist and they are more likely to have better events and distribution. UMG are so widely spread and they are not aware of what audiences specifically want from particular artists this is where the smaller labels UMG own come in handy. Labels develop collaborations between artists and take advantages of audiences for existing artists to promote new artist. Upcoming artists sometimes sing at existing artist gigs or tracks to be known by the audience and get promoted.

Music Industry

There has been many changes in technology due to the many developments in the way music industry operates. New technologies have changed the relationship between the artists and audience also. Through the past years there have been large differences in the way artists distribute their music to their audience. There has been an outburst of illegal ways of consuming music. The initial way of accessing music was through purchasing a record, via a juke box or on the radio. The music industry was receiving large profits as all music was being purchased however the rising use of internet downloading led to illegal download, meaning very low profits.

The introduction Ipod’s in the music industry meant a huge change to the uses of music. Ipod’s gave music a large access, it meant that audiences could listen to music wherever and whenever they chose to. It gave them the freedom of holding varies amounts of tracks on a small device, compared to using a walkman where there was a small limit of tracks per CD. Itunes made music more easier for consumers to access music as with one click consumers could download whole albums and listen to the music within seconds. The internet meant that artists could reach a wider audience and be able to distribute their products much more easier.

Social networking websites have become very popular in the coming years such as Myspace and Facebook. Such websites gives audiences a chance to interact with artist and have knowledge about upcoming music. On ‘Myspace’ artists are able to upload music for audiences to listen to, making it easier for consumers to access music. Online websites such as Spotify make it very simple and easy for music to reach to the correct target market. The online website ‘Spotify’ is a music website that enables people to listen to their choice of music online and also recommends similar genres of music. Then you are able to download any particular track you choose to will a small fee.

The vast changes in music technologies have made it easier for consumers to access there chosen music in the particular target market. It is now much easier for artists to reach a large audience in a much quicker way. Artists should be aware of the many uses of the different types of technologies and what they have to offer to the benefit’s. The relationship between artists and their audience have changed, now it is easier for consumers to find out about new music and about what is happening in their lives. Now consumers are more involved with artists making it a large advantage for the music industry.