'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

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