'Free content is an inexorable fact of life brought on by the unstoppable advance of technology.' How far do you agree?

Technology convergence is a huge problem for the music industry as it allows millions of people to download songs illegally, making the record labels very shaky.
I agree that it is very hard to stop illegal downloading as some people know no better than to download illegally but I do not think that it is unstoppable. If the record labels were able to shut down all the sites then it would be a help but there are real problems in doing this as the sites could be reloaded within a day. Millions and millions of people use these sites everyday, either on their computer, phones or ipods.

Music matters campaign

• With music more available than ever, its a sentiment that's worth restating.
• Music matters is a campaign that's aimed at starting a conversation with the listening audience.
• It's not a groundbreaking idea, or a difficult point to get across, and the only sensible way to make the point, the music do the talking.
• The music matters trust mark to signifies the support of musicians and their craft, and will be carried by legitimate music services and retailers.
• It will give music fans a chance to make the ethical choice.
• Ways to enjoy music legally - play.com, itunes, amazon, bt, nokia music store, spotify, vidzone, 3, 7digital.com, we7, napster, era, sky songs, hmv.com, tesco, vodafone, o2, orange, t mobile,
• If you think music matters look for MM on all supporting sites.

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

UMG is a big enough label to be able to have subsidiaries which can focus more on specialising in Britain. They use techniques such a synergy to make there music known worldwide such as shows like glee.
Glee helps to promote specific songs for the second time. For example they used a whole episode based on Lady Gaga and sung a number of her songs. This then promotes the songs and encourages the audience to listen to the original and maybe even buy Lady Gaga's tracks/album.

Domino are more of an independant label and are not big enough to own subsidiaries. This means that they are very focued on being based in Britain and not worldwide. This is easier and a lot less expensive than being worldwide as different countries want different things.
Technological convergence actually benefits to small independant labels such as Domino because they can set up websites for free, and streaming for free. They focus more in Britain because it would be too expensive to distribute the website around the world, etc. Domino is less sophisticated than UMG because of their price cuts but it works for that type of label as they do not care about costs, just about the talent of the musicians.

A band like Franz Ferdinand are signed to Domino (being Britain based). This is fine for breaking the market in Britain but to take this further and break the market in America, which is very hard to do, they are signed to one of Sony's subsidiary.

Justin Bieber is signed by a subsidiary of UMG, Island Records. As UMG is worldwide it means that he is very popular worldwide. UMG can do this because they have enough money and power to do things such as soundtracks, movies, merchandise, etc. They have many avenues to go down. Island records is more Britain based therefore he gets more promotion in Britain.

UMG have subsidiaries which means the subsidiaries can have their bands support big American bands at a concert to promote them more as UMG distributes their music worldwide.

Survey Monkey Questionnaire

In my survey I asked a number of questions which I thought would help me for revision for my exam.
I asked people aged between 10-50 in order to get a real difference in opinions.

This result shows a real mix in opinion. It shows that people care as much about ease of getting the music than they do cost. I can imagine that the younger generation chose ease, compared to the older generation probably choosing cost as the traditional way of receiving their music is by buying a CD.

 It is interesting to see that more people download songs of the internet illegally rather than legally. This proves that people are bothered about the cost of music. Is it that the younger generation know illegal downloading as part of their music education?
It has suprised me by the amount of people that buy the CD from the store. Again I can imagine that this is the older generation rather than the younger.

If you click on the picture below it will enlarge for you.
This is a ranking to show what people prefer listening to their music on. The top being ipod and the last beng a vinyl record. The vinyl record being mostly because of the unpracticality of it. This is what I expected, but the middle figures are quite inter

I didn't expect this sort of result for this question but the reason for it is because the majority of the people I asked are very fond of music and some work in the musical industry themselves. I personally feel that the younger generation are not interested in the record label that the atrists are signed too, just interested in the music. The older generation on the other hand may be more interested as it more traditional to know these facts about the artist, e.g. history, etc.

I like this question a lot, and I am very interested in the responce of it too. I agree with the majority of people who have answered this question that very little famous artists are actually talented. I feel that this is very much due to technology convergence and shows such as X factor. It is a lot easier now a days to become an artists compared to years back. This is because we have easy technology such as recording software, the internet to upload songs on etc. Therefore artists may become famous because they are awful and they have got millions of hits on youtube! I don't think this is correct.

 Do you agree with illegal downloading? Explain your answer.
In conclusion to these thoughts below it is obvious that the general public do not necessarily believe in illegal downloading but do not have anything against it because of the fortune that record labels and itunes make out of it. I agree with this. I think it is a shame that artists do not get the money for the downloads but I also feel that if they were a true artist they would not care about their financial profit and would just be making music for the true passion that they have or it, for example Joss Stone.

 What is your idea of a true musician? Name a person/band and explain why?

'The online revolution has proved as damaging to independent labels as to multinational companies'

HOW FAR DO YOU AGREE WITH THIS STATEMENT?
Independant labels such as Domino are known as being a more traditional label in that they follow the horizontal integration structure. It uses other companies to handle different aspects of the production, marketing, promotion and distribution as it does not own these facilities itself. Recently this is becoming a real struggle as there is so much more need for other aspects of production now that it is hard to manage all these different aspects without doing it with your own facilities. Multinational companies such as UMG are able to do all the sides of revenue themselves. This is a lot easier as less contact is needed etc.

revenue
- record sales including downloads
- broadcast income (payment from radio/TV broadcast)
- licensing to other labels
- secondary licensing-films/TV/adverts
- inter nation sales and licensing
success of groups such as Franz Ferdinand means Domino can invest in other, less popular artists.

The online revenue includes web 2.0, convergence and internet. This means the availability of illegal downloads, downloads, streaming sites, youtube etc. The debate is that the convergence of technology is ruining the music industry in terms of whether the artists that are getting signed are actually talented or not.
Independent labels such as Domino tend to care a lot more about music than money made from music, therefore you tend to see a lot of artists signed to them that you have not heard of before. This means they that do not make as much money as multinational labels such as UMG and therefore may not last much longer. This means that without the money to do so they cannot afford to give music away for free, not that this may even work because the artists they have are not very well known or popular. This is a problem because the amount of CDs being sold are increasing majorly so how else will they be able to see their music? Because the independent labels use the horizontal integrated structure this means that they will have to pay people to distribute and promote the music for them which would cost a huge amount of money.

I agree with this statement strongly. I feel that the independent labels will very much struggle with the technology convergence and online revolutions.

Useful quotes.
"the online revenue is shaking the foundations of the music industry."
"the internet meant that they didn't need a marketing machine."
"this technology is shaking the music industry to its core"
"the new comers often teach the establishment how it should be done."
"young people see downloading as part of their musical education."
"illegal downloading leaves a hole in the music revenue."
"the internet robs the record labels of control."

The 4 major record labels earn 80% of the profits.

An example of a band who became big without a record label.
Artic Monkeys used social network sites (such as myspace). Their friend uploaded their unfinished music for people to download for free. They then signed to a subsidiary label, Domino to realease their first albumn which became no1.

An example of an artists who used a record label to become famous and then decided to go independant.
Mick Hucknall from Simply Red used to be signed to a record label. This record label helped him to be advertised and promoted but then from the influence of new comers he desided to become independent.
Warner made £179 million profit.       <--- It could be that they need that profit to combat
Mick made £20 million proft.                     illegal downloading.


File sharers (pirates)
Sites such as Napster uploaded their CDs in millions for people to be able to download them for free. This progessed to 80million people sharing music.
Peer to peer sites decreased record labels profits from 40 billion to 30 billion.
20 thousand people have been sued for illegal downloading.

Domino Records

1.      What differences do you notice between Domino and Universal in terms of artists and genres?
Domino Records are for more niche artists. They are more into their music than getting money. Many of their artists are not well known.
2.           a)  How would you describe Domino’s target audience(s)?
It is very much for artists who are not well known. I would say that the target audience is between 18 - 35. The artists seem fairly indie/rock.

b) How does the label address and appeal to its audience?

Domino records sell tickets and merchandise. This appeals to the audience as it gives them a chance to buy things that maybe they wouldn't be able to else where.
It allows you to listen and watch the music for free.

3.         a) Have you heard of any artists on their roster? Which ones?
            The only artists I have heard of are Arctic Monkeys and Franz Ferdinand.

b) Why do you think a high profile artist might sign to Domino?

They may get more attention than the other bands as they are not well known. To gain wider publishing.

4. Find out about the Archie Bronson Outfit, a group signed to Domino. What strategies is the label using to promote and distribute their music?

5. How has convergence affected the label?
Because Domino is an independant label they allow artists to have more of their own freedom. This means that they do not receive as much money as major record labels therefore any sort of recession would affect the label. Technological convergence really does affect Domino as far more people are downloading music illegal - not paying any money at all rather than buying the CDs. This affects the money that Domino would receive.

Technological convergence in the music industry

converge - put together/combine

Technologies that have been converged:
I phone - telecommunications
            - email
            - GPS
            - music
            - video games
            - radio
            - TV
            - internet
            - camera

The boundaries between media forms are beginning to blur.

Audiences are no longer perceive media platforms as seperate, due to technological convergence.
e.g. the internet IS television and music for some consumers.

Web 2.0 - a way in which the internet has changed over the past 10 years
              - the ways in which consumers have become producers.
              - labels can promote and distribute music directly.
              - cheaper and easier to distribute music.

Convergence...

• Narrows gaps between producers and audiences
• Allows audience to access content instantly
• Opens up opportunities for any artist to promote their work - record labels are no longer the only gate ways.
• Offers free distribution - digital music does not need to be physically copied, packaged or transported.
• Allows audience to steal music.

Summarise the ways in which technological convergence benefits and damages the music industry

Benefits to technological convergence
Technology has come a long way since say the 60s where people would play music on vinyl records and tape players. Since then the audience feels a lot closer to the artist than they did back then.

1. For instance artists now have bloggs. This allows them to post what they are doing in their social life so that we can all feel as if we know them as a friend of ours.

2. It is a lot easier now to download songs and without paying any money! This is a lot easier for the artist to distribute their music. This allows them to be heard more not just here but all over the world. Offers free distribution - digital music does not need to be physically copied, packaged or transported.

3. Youtube allows artists to post their music videos online. This is a way for the audience to listen and watch their songs for free, rather than waiting for the specific video to come on the TV. Depending how mainstream the artist is, sometimes they film themselves singing a cover of a song in a bedroom or something. This like any other professional video can be seen by anyone. When receiving lots of hits the artists becomes more well known and can receive a lot more offers from people.

4. Now a days you can buy tickets for gigs that are labelled 'meet and greet tickets'. This allows the audience to get a chance to actually meet the artitst! This is an opportunity to ask any questions that you would like etc.

5. Shows such as X factor and Britains Got Talent allows artists to get into the music industry the easy way. This allows anyone to be heard and quite a few get famous from it.

Disadvantages to technological convergence
1. The bloggs that the artists have, quite commonly aren't their own posts. The artists hire their own personal blogger. This is very misleading for the audience as they believe they are talking to the artist personally but they are not.

2. Yes it is a lot easier to download songs illegally but this means that both the artist and the record label aren't receiving as much money as they would from the purchase of CDs. CDs are becoming very unpopular now as they are being classed as expensive. This is compared to the free illegal downloads on the internet.

3. Artists are very much depending on youtube as their way of being heard. This makes it very hard for artists now as there is so much competition. There are so many people that use youtube now in a way of hoping to be heard that it makes it very hard for individuals to be seen.

4. There is a risk of unsocialable behaviour towards to artist.

5. There is a risk that some rubbish artists get threw and some very talented people are getting kicked back.

How UMG uses these subsidiaries (ISLAND and FASCINATION) to maximise success of specific genres.

ISLAND RECORDS - are a very unique subsidiary record label which is owned by UMG. It allows artists to be kept individual and unique and not just to be generalised into a big mainstream catagory. By being signed by island records it can be seen that the artists can be focused on more as there are less of them. This allows better promotional ideas. By being catorgarised into island records this specialises them into their genres, so they can get the most out of being in that label.

As you can see from this image Island records looks as if it is a relaxing website with chilled out music, hence the palm tree. It looks very retro with the old fashioned icons at the top such as the record, the old TV, stamp etc. This indicates that the music they focus on is different and retro too. This is a very informal site which gives me the impression that island records won't be focussing on classical music but that from N Dubz, Mumford and Sons, Devlin etc.

FASCINATION RECORDS

Fascination records is also a subsidiary owned by UMG. It is very different to Island records in that they both focus on different genres. Island being more unique, retro, and niche, fascination being more pop and I would say more mainstream. Notice the different style of websites in that island record was quite cluttered and less structured whereas this one is very plain with a sence of immaturity in that it has bright pink strips.

The advantages with using subsidiaries is that they can really concentrate on that specific genre and their needs as artists rather than having to cator for all genres. It opens all doors for the artist as they are more likey to have better publishing, events, etc.

Also the subsidaiaries can focus on one geographical area, getting the artist known very well there, but then to extend on this. They will have more knowledge about that specific area so they will know what people in that area want. If UMG did this themselves, because they are so widely spread they do not know what individuals want and could not specialise in one specific area.

By being a smaller record label they can focus more on putting gigs on for each of their artists. For example if they had one of their best artists headlining they could use one of the not so popular ones to support them, which is really benefitting everyone. They could use links to set up collaborations to start up a new artist by having them sing with an exsistng artist in their new track. Their songs could be shown on adverts to advertise their song, or on a TV series, or even film.

Media Homework 20/01/11

How far do you think developments in technology have changed the way the music industry operates?
Consider how new technologies have changed the relationship between audiences and artists.
It is amazing to me how much the technology has changed over these recent years. From vinyl records to the ipod touch, where will it go next!?

Back in the 60s people would listen to the their music using various methods but most not being around today. The most common way of listening to music would be having to wait for the song on the radio. This is a very time consuming, and I can imagine a very frustrating process. This then lead to being able to buy vinyl records of the specific artist. This was much easier than waiting on the radio but still was a very long process as you could never flick through track specifically. Another way of listening to your music would be paying a small amount of money on the juke box. The juke box would be in clubs or pubs so you could choose which song the whole area would listen to.
Another common way of listening to music back then was going to festivals or attending gigs. This is still a very common way of listening to music now a days which is interesting. To see the band live is a privelidge now but back then even more so as they could not easily listen to the music.
The tape player was a very successful way of listening to music. It was the first way of recording the songs you like rather than having to own the whole record. They would record a variety of tracks off of the radio for keepings.

The next revelation was the CD player. CDs were just like records but more compact and they are still around today but slowly declining. You could listen to them on your own CD player in your home or on a portable cd player. The CD is better compare to the record as the CD does not warp and doesn't scratch up as much as a record. Also the CD is just on one side, and you can easily skip through tracks, getting to a specific song.

The most recent way of playing music is the mp3/ipods. Comparing to the old basic records the ipod is a breeze. You can download any song on to it either legally or illegally therefore there is no need to buy the whole album. You can easily choose which song you want to listen to, and recetly you can either listen to in through headphones or aloud. You can also connect them to ipod speakers to play it even louder. On the more recent ipods you can connect to the internet therefore you can stream music from myspace or simply play it off youtube. Also you can connect it straight to itunes to buy tracks.

People are no tending to download their songs either legally or illegally. This is very easy to do using either itunes, spotify, bearshare, limewire, youtube converter etc. Artists that are not so famous have a tendancy of letting fans download their music for free so that more peolple can hear it so her fan bass increases. The problem with this method is that record labels and artists are not getting as much money from their songs/albums because people are downloading for free or simply just listening on the internet and not owning a copy. This sums up the large decrease in the purchase of CDs as people have the attitude of 'if I get it for free, why would I pay for a CD'. Itunes is a good way of downloading songs directly from the internet because you still have to pay which means the record label will still get money. But doing it illegally causes many a problems.

 It is very easy for local artists to record their own songs now a days. There are certain softwares to allow you to record your own songs in the company of just your computer for example Logic studio for a mac. Compared to 50 years ago this seems amazing as to record your own songs back then you would have to travel to and pay for a recording studio. This is a very expensive job and to be honest recording your own song at home does not sound terrible. To become an artist is very easy now a days and some people are even doing it without a record label e.g. Arctic Monkeys. The Arctic Monkeys received lots of attention from BBC radio and the British tabloid press. A local amatuer photographer filmed the band's performance and produced a music video, releasing it on their website. They released several songs which were available on itunes and various other places on the internet for download.
The band refused to change their songs to suit the industry and resisted signing to a record label — "Before the hysteria started, the labels would say, 'I like you, but I'm not sure about this bit, and that song could do with this changing...' We never listened."Their cynicism towards the industry was such that record company scouts were refused guaranteed guest list entry for their gigs, a move described by MTV Australia as "We've got this far without them — why should we let them in?".The success of the strategy was illustrated with a series of sell-out gigs across the UK and Ireland.

It is clear that as technology evolves so does the needs of the audience. It is incredibly easy for us as fans or the artist to download or stream music for free, so why should we pay for a CD? Without buying CDs the record labels and artists are not receiving as much money as they used to. Illegal downloads and streaming is becoming more and more regular and this is what the audience is expecting - free music. Record labels have tried to have legal cases against particular sites, also individuals who have downloaded music have been taken to court. Record labels are trying to do the best they can to pull in people to buying CDs by giving links from the CD cover to join particular fan bases etc.


It is fascinating how far music technology has come along since back in the 50s and also how much technology has an impact on the creation of music. It is a lot easier to be heard now a days and a lot easier to listen to it. This is good for us being the audience as it is easy for us to get hold of the music but for the artists themselves and the record label they are not receiving as much money or business. There needs to be a way to stop piracy and getting people to buy the tracks instead.

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.