Music Matters

What is the Music Matters campaign? "The Music Matters campaign is a collective of people across the music industry, including artists, retailers, songwriters, labels and managers, formed to remind listeners of the significance and value of music."

Globally, 19 out of every 20 tracks downloaded are done so illegally.

The music matters campaign involves them as an organisation making it clear to consumers that they website and music they have access to is legal, and has been treated in an ethical way. Music matters stated that they appreciate the hard work that goes into producing and recording the music.

There are many supporters of the Music Matters campaign including:
- Amazon
- BT
- iTunes
- MTV
- Spotify
- Orange

Discuss the issues raised by increasing globalisation of media institutions and their ability to target national (expecially British) audiences.

Discuss the issues raised by increasing globalisation of media institutions and their ability to target national (expecially British) audiences.

Increasing globalistation has lead to multinational record labels like UMG being able to reach a mass market, including Britain. 


To enhance the wide market that UMG attract, they use subsidiaries like Island Records, which seperate the audiences and allows their artists to become more focussed on their set target audience. Smaller labels however don't have this ability to create subsidiaries to make them more global, so labels like Domino usually just focus on the location which they are based, in Domino's case, Britain.

Artists signed to Domino are then at a disadvantage to artists at UMG as they don't their record label doesn't have as many global connections, so limit the amount of growth the artists can do.  Because of their smaller size, it usually means that a smaller label like Domino have fewer connections with large global conglomerates, for example film and tv producers, where music from artists on their label could be used synergisticly to promote their music. Whereas UMG do have these connections, as they are already part of a conglomerate, they have easy access to other parts of the company where synergy is used effectively.


However, an artist signed to a larger label like UMG, may find that their label are not targeting a specific enough audience, or that they're not focusing enough on the location of the audience in which they feel their music would be most appreciated. This could damage the artist's sales and audience loyalty as some audiences could begin to feel slightly neglected from the artist if they're too busy focusing elsewhere in the world. 

Results Of Audience Survey

To gain a good variety of response to my survey, I advertised it on Facebook and recieved research from 21 different people, aged between 12 - 50. This ranges from younger siblings who are 12, to people my age, 16/17, to cousins around 20-30, to parents from 40-50. I thought that this would be the best way to recieve research, as the music industry plays a big part in the lives of a mass market of people, and that all of these different people's opinions matter.

The results to the question above shocked me quite a lot, as I thought the number of people that illegal download would be a lot higher than those who buy the CD or legally download music. This proves that people are still buying music, as over half of them stated so. However it isn't a much more than the amount of people who illegally download, meaning that ofcourse it is still and issue, and that the industry is losing out on a lot of potential money.

These results however didn't suprise me, as I thought that most people aren't too bothered about how they get hold of the music, as long as they get it then they are happy. It shows the real split between peoples opinions about music, and this could portray that people don't really consider the effect of the way they get hold of music.

Radio is quite a dominant way that people find new artists, and I believe this, as the radio usually have a variety of new songs as it's part of their job to promote them. The rest of the results follow what I expected, as I thought the internet and TV would come above friends as people seem to be more influenced by what they see and here social networking or on TV, rather than having discussions with friends, in most cases anyway.

The results to this question are also what I expected, as the record labels don't have much of a connection to the customer of the music, as the customer will buy/download the music if they like it, and not because of what record label they're signed to.

I'm glad that these results didn't come out that people didn't base their opinions on the appearance of music artists, but cared more about the music. I think basing your thoughts upon an artists' single is a good thing, as this is where you get your first impressions of the artist from. However I also think that it's good to look into other area's of the artist like live shows and their album, before becoming fully absorbed into the artist.

'The online revolution has proved as damaging to independent labels as to multinational companies' How far do you agree with this statement?

What is the online revolution?

With the creation of the internet, and Web 2.0, a revolution has taken place in the online world, affecting the music industry hugely. Downloads and streaming can now take place of songs, albums, and videos. Downloading tracks from places like iTunes and Amazon now contribute to the official chart, and this is the most dominant way of how the charts pan out. However with this new revolution, comes the disadvantage of illegal downloading. This costs the music industry huge amounts of losses in revenue, as music is being distributed for free, whilst still costing huge amounts to record and publish.

Disadvantages to major labels/conglomerates

The internet has huge power and can create a huge impact on the audience listening and viewing music created by artists, and because of this, many artists have left or never joined big record labels like Universal, as they feel the internet is strong enough to give them success even if they are only signed to a smaller label like Domino. An example of this would be Arctic Monkeys, as they gained success with Domino, via uploading songs onto social network sites such as MySpace, and using the internet as their main way of marketing and promoting their music. They proved that they don’t need to be signed to huge labels like UMG to gain success, as their album and single went straight to number one, this only being possible because of the sales and the support gained from the internet.

Another disadvantage is the creation of illegal downloading via the revolution. Statistics show that major labels like Universal are making just 5% of the revenue that would be made if illegal downloading wasn’t possible. This is a huge loss on the labels, as well as the music industry in general. It means that less money is available to be reinvested into new artists and new ways of promotion for the artists signed, affecting the artists, the music, the marketing etc.

Disadvantages to independent labels

With the online revolution making it possible for illegal downloads to take place, the smaller independent labels are suffering due to the loss of money, as less and less sales are being made of music that is signed to their label. Because the independent labels like Domino, are quite small and don’t own many hugely successful artists, for example Domino’s biggest two are Franz Ferdinand and Artic Monkeys, they are already at a disadvantage as they are making less money to start off with, and now the loss of sales could result in them going bust. The smaller bands would also have fewer fans that actually buy their CD, so are already making a loss, and illegal downloads just make this bad situation worse.  

Overall i agree with this statement, as even though the major labels like UMG are making a huge loss, they have more links to other ways to converge their artists with othe rmedia forms, whereas the smaller independent labels like Domino, don't have as many links and generally have fewer sales anyway, which really isn't helped when illegal downloading becomes involved resulting in the making a bigger loss, effecting them more as a smaller company.

Domino Records: A British Independent Label

What differences do you notice between Domino and Universal in terms of artists and genres?
Domino Records seem to have lower profile artists, that are in the rock/indie genre of music, whereas Universal has a huge variety of genre's and a mixture of how high or low profile they currently are.

How would you describe Domino’s target audience(s)?
Domino's target audience would be people who are into more niche artists, and who are more into under the radar acts. This would hint that the age range would be around 16-30 year olds, as these people are usually into new and upcoming artists more than people who are of an older age than this.

How does the label address and appeal to its audience?
The label has a large variety of artists within similar genres, and they promote these on their website, so that audiences looking for artists similar to other artists that they already know on the label can easily come across new similar artists. They do this by having a chart of which songs have been downloaded the most by the audience on the 'Mart' on their website. They also have a 'Domino Player' playing videos of the artists from their roster. As well as this, they also have an updated list of artists who are playing soon, so that audiences can quickly see who's playing where, and if tickets are still available. 

How does technological convergence benefit/damage the music industry?

Convergence describes the way in which technology has come together in recent years. This has had a huge impact on the music industry, as more and more opportunities are being made for artists, record labels and producers to promote and distribute music. However, after all this convergence of music being available via new media platforms, there are benefits to this new system, but also some factors that are damaging the industry.

Advantages:

·         The cost of distribution of the music being produced has gone down as the gap between the producer and the audience is now much smaller. The way this has been done is by making the music available in many different formats, the main one being digital, and compatible to many different devices like phones, mp3 players, computers etc. This means that more and more people are now purchasing this digital copy of the music, instead of the physical CD with the single or album from. By doing this, the demand for packaged CD’s have dropped dramatically, saving the labels and producers a lot of money on materials to physically make and package these CD’s.

·         There is now instant access to the music being created by the invention of the download. Not only does this save money, but it also generates more revenue. This happens for a number of reasons. When a song or artist is played on the radio or TV, two forms of convergence, the consumer can instantly go onto their computer or even phone, and purchase this single or album within seconds. This means that people are much less likely to forget who it was they wanted to purchase by the time they are physically in a shop that sells CD’s, as they can instantly purchase it there and then with no interruptions or forgetting what song or album is was that they liked.

·         As well as instant access to the music via download, there is also instant access on just listening and finding new music. The internet plays a big part in this by offering websites and programmes like We7 and Spotify, where you can stream and listen music for free. This makes it quicker than ever for listeners to find and listen to new music, and from here download the track. People can now listen to music from so many more devices, for example people don’t have to carry a boom box round on their shoulder, or wait for a specific song to come on the radio, people can now access these songs straight from their phones, computers and other smart devices like the iPad.

·         By having this instant access, it’s now easier than ever for artists to find opportunities to promote their work. They can create profiles on social networks, giving access to their audience to listen to and sample their music, as well as putting up videos on sites like YouTube for their fans to communicate with them more intimately, and give them a new way of experiencing their music.

·         Artists can also promote their music through other artists, for example having their videos on other artists’ websites and social networks pages. These links can be made by these two or more artists going on tour together, leaving the audience wanting to know more about the other artists, so looking on these sites they can get a direct link to the other artists music.

·         Another form of promotion would be via programmes like Spotify, where artists can create adverts, audio or visual, to be placed on the programme, and to be played in between songs, so try and gain a wider target audience and increase audience awareness.

·         Even though illegal downloading loses the music industry a lot of money, it can also benefit the artist. An example of this is Scouting For Girls, who aren’t too annoyed about illegal downloads, as they claim that this is the way that they gained a large number of their audience, who then went on to attend their gigs, and buy their next album or single. By being able to share the music without having to pay for it every time someone else heard it meant that more and more fans were created for Scouting For Girls, as they didn’t need to pay for the music they were listening to, so weren’t disappointed if they didn’t like it, but were even happier if they liked the music as they found and listened to it without spending any money.

Disadvantages

·         By making the copies of the music as a digital version, it is now easier than ever to copy and distribute this music to other people for free, getting around the boundary of paying. Programmes like Limewire and uTorrent give audiences this access to the music without having to pay for it, as they can easily just search for the song, and download it for free. There are also many websites which offer straight transactions of free downloads like The Pirate Bay and Mp3 Raid. These sites have a search box, and directs the user straight to the music that they want to download for free.

·         With these illegal downloads, the music industry is making less and less money on record sales, and some figures show that they are making just 5% of the revenue that they could be making if illegal downloading didn’t exist.

·         With the huge losses being made, this means that record labels and artists are making less and less money, and therefore have less money to reinvest back into the music, meaning that the quality and quantity of the music is being affected.



Technological Convergence in the Music Industry

What is technological convergence?
This describes the way in which different technologies have come together in recent years. 


The boundaries begin to blur... 


For example new links between different media platforms have been made. 
Two recent examples: 
- spin-offs that are produced but are only available on the programmes website, e.g. Being Human. 
- character blog updates on programmes website, that give more depth and detail to story, e.g. Sherlock Holmes. 


Audience Perception
Audiences no longer perceive media platforms as separate, due to technological convergence. For example, the internet is TV and music to some consumers. 


Web 2.0 
This is how the internet has changed to what it is now capable of, e.g. streaming videos, music players, transactions, interactive features, uploads and downloads etc. This means that record labels can promote and distribute music directly. 


Technological convergence means easy access, therefore: 
- TV and music are converging to increase sales, e.g. Brittania High, Glee, X Factor - this illustrates the way in which synergy is supported by convergence. 
- Music/Internet convergence - streaming and downloading, e.g. Spotify, We7, Vevo etc. 


What does convergence do? 
- narrows the gap between producer and audience
- allows instant access to audience
- opens up opportunities for any artist to promote their work
- offers free distribution - digital music does not need to be physically copied, packaged or transported
- allows audiences to steal music 

Globe Productions is UMG-owned but UK-based, with a partnership between Globe and ITV. Why do you think it is important to UMG to open companies like this in countries outside the US?

I think it's good for UMG to expand their market, especially as they're mainly based in America, but by creating Globe Productions, and basing it in the UK, a much larger market can be targeted. This would benefit UMG by bringing in more revenue, as more audiences are specifically targeted, and have connections made between them and the record labels much shorter. This is done by featuring artists on programmes produced by Globe, and using this as a way of promoting artists. I think this is good because it shows that UMG are understanding that not everyone in the world likes American TV programmes and music, so by branching out into the UK and other countries, they make more of a focus on these countries, and give them what they want, rather than them having to put up with American material. 

In what ways is UMG working towards intergrating music with television? Why do you think this is an important focus for the label?

Universal Music Group are working towards intergrating music with television to broaden their consumer market.They've done this in a number of ways:

• One of them being using the artists signed to them, such as Girls Aloud, and producing television programmes about them and their lives behind the scenes. This programme, for example, ran for 6 weeks, and gained a good rating. Other artists that have been used to do the same thing are Take That and Elton John. 
• The main way that UMG have expanded into the television industry, is by creating Globe Productions as a subsidiary, which is Universal's first step into launching into the TV market. One of the most effective ways of combining TV with music, is through television adverts. An example of this being the Morrisons advert featuring Take That's 'Shine'.
• Another platform that Globe are using is going through TV programmes such as Britannia High and Glee. This is used by having the songs by artists signed to the label featured or covered in the programmes, meaning that more and more people are hearing this music

Fascination and Island Records

Subsidiaries

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How far do you think developments in technology have changed the way the music industry operates?

Throughout recent years there have been huge technological changes which have completely morphed the way in which the music industry operates. New ways have been created for artists to distribute their music to the audience, as well as new ways that the audience can get hold of this music.

                By going back just a few generations, it’s easy to see how much the music industry really have changed through the technology used. Records used to be the only way to physically buy a song or album, or if you wanted to just listen to the music you’d have to wait for it to be played on the radio, or pay a small amount of money to choose it to be played from a jukebox. After this the arrival of the cassette came as a smaller form of being able to play songs or albums, and also being able to record and keeps songs from the radio. A few years later, the CD was introduced, and this was the new way of purchasing music, and being able to play it at home in a CD player or on the go on a walkman. CD’s are still used and bought today, but is in huge competition with the new favourite of downloading music from the internet, either legally and paying for it, or illegally and not.

                With the use of new technology, the way in which people listen to and get hold of music is completely different. Instead of buying a record or even a CD, the majority of people now buy their music from the internet and get an instant download of that song or album. To listen to music, these tracks can then be saved onto an mp3 player/iPod, computer, or even onto your mobile phone. This also means that this music can be listened to on the go, pretty much anywhere. Music can also be streamed straight from the internet on social sites such as MySpace, or even through programmes like Spotify.

                However, these new improvements in technology have also increased piracy in the music industry. Illegal downloads happen more and more, as new software is continually being produced to get round the barriers or having to pay for music. With programmes like Limewire and UTorrent around, it’s easier than ever to download music for free. This affects the music industry immensely everyday as it means the income to the industry is an extremely smaller number than it would be if no illegal downloading took place. According to the ‘Drowned In Sound’ website, the music industry only made 5% of their potential sales in 2008 due to illegal downloading. This is around a £48 billion loss in just one year.

                When it comes to the actual recording of music, and promoting whilst an artist is still small, this can be done in whole new ways that didn’t exist before. Many young and upcoming artists don’t have the money to be able to record in a studio any time they want to record a track. This can be overcome by purchasing programmes to be used on a computer like Logic or even just the basic GarageBand on a Mac computer. This will record their music and save it as a file for them to be able to spread to try and gain some recognition. The process of promoting their music has had a lot of technological changes over recent years too. Bands can now create profiles on various different social networks to keep their fans up to date with any news that they want to share, as well as being able to upload their recorded tracks for potential fans to hear. Another way of promoting is posting videos on YouTube. Many artists have gained huge recognition by posting various different videos on this site, and some have even gone on to be extremely well-known celebrities. An example of this would be Justin Bieber, as he posted videos on YouTube, and was discovered by his now manager Scooter Braun as well as Usher.

                There are still some traditional ways in which the music industry operates, and technology has only changed these ways slightly. One of them being the weekly chart, and the system of having a ‘number 1’ and its large recognition. There has been an official chart weekly since 15 February 1969, with the most bought single that week going to number 1. However in recent years, since the download of music became available, downloads also started to count towards the chart in 2004. Another factor that is still carried out in the music industry today is the radio, and for the audience to be able to listen to music on the radio. Since the 1930s, music has been played and listened to through the radio, and popularity of this medium has been kept high ever since. Technology has interfered with radio to a small extent by providing digital radio stations, but this was no threat, as if anything it increased the popularity of radio because of the enhance quality this gave the listener.

                Overall, I think that technology has had a huge impact on the way the music industry operates, as the internet and downloads have completely taken over and changed the way music is bought and listened to. Unfortunately the changes aren’t always good as you get things like piracy that come with this, but the digital system of buying and downloading tracks or albums has never been easier, and can be listened to from a large range of different places.

Record Labels Notes

What does a record label do?

When an artist is signed by a record label, this means that this artist now has support to fully enter the music industry, and try to make it big.

• The record label has advances in the marketing/sales of the music industry, and therefore help the artist to set up a full-time career in the industry.
• They also help to exploit the artists tracks, and pay their royalties that they have earned. As well as this, the record label will usually pay for the recording and mixing of albums, but are then paid this money back from the sales of the album.
• They would also pay a lot of the fees for the artist to tour, as this would help them to raise their profile as well as sales.
• Labels would also try and find other ways of exploiting the bands records, for example, being used in films or TV ads.

AS Media Studies Unit G323

Section B: Institutions and Audiences

For Section B, we shall be studying the music industry. We shall focus on case studies of two record labels within the contemporary music industry which target British audiences, including their patterns of production, distribution, marketing and consumption by audiences. This will be accompanied by study of the strategies used by record labels to counter the practice of file sharing and their impact on music production, marketing and consumption.

Candidates should be prepared to understand and discuss the processes of production, distribution, marketing and exchange as they relate to contemporary media institutions, as well as, the nature of audience consumption and the relationship between audiences and institutions. In addition candidates should be familiar with:

·         the issues raised by media ownership in contemporary media practice;

·         the importance of cross media convergence and synergy, in production, distribution and marketing;

·         the technologies that have been introduced in recent years at the levels of production, marketing and exchange;

·         the significance of proliferation in hardware and content for institutions and audiences;

·         the importance of technological convergence for institutions and audiences;

·         the issues raised in the targeting of national and local audiences (specifically, British) by international and global institutions;

·         the ways in which the candidates’ own experiences of media consumption illustrate wider patterns and trends of audience behaviour.