TASK 1

Basic Music Industry Research

The current music industryIn the last decade the music industry has been reshaped due to technology. Artists and labels have had to adapt to this in order to survive due to being in the era of downloading and MP3, if they did not they would suffer great consequences. Although the issues involving downloading and file sharing are problems due to the digitalisation of the music industry, these problems only effect the bigger labels, whereas small independent labels see file sharing as a good thing as it can increase fans for the artist.

Things on the internet such as social networking sites have become a popular place for artists to show and advertise their work. This helps them to gain fans which in turn makes them earn more money as more people will be purchasing their music. The most popular legal downloading site is iTunes. On this people are able to purchase songs, music videos, games and also films. The prices of songs often vary from as little as 30p up to £1+. Some downloads may even be free.

Due to the rise in digital ways of

purchasing music becoming more

popular, there is an estimated fall in

debut album unit sales in the global

top 50 of -77% between 2003 and

2010.

29% of industry revenue is now digital which shows that there is now more people spending money on digital copies of music rather than things such as CDs.

In 2010 there was a 6% growth of global digital

music revenues

The value of the digital music market grew by 1000%+

between 2004 and 2010. This shows that there is less

interest into buying CDs.

The music industry today is mainly orientated around

digital products.

Live MusicLive music today is one of the most important aspects to the music industry. Whether this be through small local gigs or large concerts. By artists performing their music live it can bring more fans and advertise the artist and the kind of music they produce. Live performances of artists can bring even more money to the label/artist due to the sales of merchandise often available at the shows. For example, things such as t-shirts, posters and even CD’s may be sold. More popular artists often have tours in which they travel the world putting on shows. The tickets for these tours often sell out very quickly and bring a lot of money to the label who the artist belongs to.

Due to the rise in the level of illegal downloads of music taking place, the gigs which take place are used as a way to give fans something they can not illegally download. Live gigs of popular artists often bring large crowds of hundreds and often even thousands of people who buy tickets to see the artist perform live. Depending on the popularity of the tickets usually depends on the expense of the tickets. Extremely popular artists such as Justin Bieber or Lady Gaga often charge hundreds of pounds for front row tickets to their performances, showing a real scale of how much money the artists make from selling tickets for live gigs, not including the revenue made from selling artist merchandise such as t-shirts and posters.

Best selling digital singles of 2010

Top 10 UK albums of 20111. 21 - Adele2. Christmas - Michael Buble 3. Doo-Wops & Hooligans- Bruno Mars4. 19 - Adele5. Mylo Xyloto- Coldplay6. Loud - Rihanna7. Born This Way- Lady Gaga8. Who you are- Jessie J9. + - Ed Sheeran10. Talk That Talk- Rihanna

There are 3 Majors in the music industry today. These are Universal Music Group, Warner and Sony. There used to be 6 majors in the music industry, but these eventually went bankrupt and were brought out by the bigger labels. The music industry is made up of both majors and independent music labels. The independent music labels usually sign as few as 2 artists each each, mainly focusing on the music produced by the artist. In comparison to this the major music labels are known to focus on the stars’ appearance and promotional aspect in order to make them popular.

Independent record labels are those which operating without the funding of or outside the organizations of the major record labels. Examples of independent record labels in the UK include Candid Records, Boy Better Know, Glass Records and XL Recordings. In the UK there are currently 210 independent record labels in the UK.

Issues in the music industryThe main problems currently raised as a big issue in the music industry is down to the development of technology and digitalization. This is the high levels of illegal downloading which have been increasing dramatically over the years. The illegal downloading which occurs is also down to file sharing and other sites such as video converters. This is a big problem for people in the music industry as it means they are losing revenue as people are choosing to illegally download the music rather than paying for the music.

The issue of illegal downloading is a problem which faces the music industry in the future, which the concern that further development will be made meaning less and less people choose to purchase music on software such as iTunes. People are currently looking for ways to prevent music being downloaded illegally and even to stop it all together. It is also being worked on to get rid off illegal downloading sites and downloads, but due to the huge number of them this is near impossible.

The digitalization also means that people purchasing hard copies of songs, such as CD’s. has dropped dramatically. As well as meaning companies in the music industry have had to think of ways to keep up with and promote the music digitally, it has also caused problems for retail stores such as HMV. This is due to people choosing the download media rather than buying hard copies which companies such as HMV sell, causing their revenue to drop. The drop in sales has meant HMV has has to close many of their stores in order to survive in the market. HMV is only one example of a company which has been effected by online sales, many other smaller stores have also gone bankrupt due to the developments.

Summary of statistics in 2011 13 million – tracks licensed by record companies to digital music services 400+ – licensed digital music services worldwide US$4.6 billion – trade value of the digital music market worldwide 6% – growth of global digital music revenues in 2010 29% – the proportion of record companies’ global revenues from digital

channels 1000%+ – the increase in the value of the digital music market 2004-10 -31% – the decline in the value of the global recorded music industry 2004-10 16.5% – proportion of internet users purchasing digital music in the US 1 US$5 billion – the estimated amount record companies invested in artists in

2009 30% – the percentage of their revenues record companies invest in A&R and

marketing -77% – estimated fall in debut album unit sales in the global top 50 2003-2010 -12% – fall in the revenues of the global top 50 tours in 2010 2 -17% – fall in the number of people employed as musicians in the US 1999-

20093 1.2 million – the number of jobs projected to be lost in the European creative

industries due to piracy by 20154 4240 billion – estimated cumulative lost retail revenues to the European

creative industries from piracy 2008–2015 4 0 – the number of local debut artists in the annual Spanish Top 50 in 2010 -45% – fall in the number of domestic releases in Mexico 2005–10

The future of the music industryTechnology will rewire the music business , because of this people are having

to think thoroughly for new ideas for the future because of people becoming less likely to pay for music and instead download it illegally. This is becoming a big problem for the music industry as they are not getting the money they should get so are trying to stop the piracy. People are also having to look at present trends which are liking to impact future music, for example, the fall in sales of physical music products. Newer approaches to the business of music are beginning to work more successfully that older approaches.

The artists and managers are shaping the music industry of the future rather than the music label as they now have a bigger role in their careers.

People expect that the "radio as we know it will be replaced by digital music services that tie seamlessly into music distribution systems."

Some Popular Music Artists

How the production elements fit within this framework?The production elements of my coursework involve creating a video, advert and a CD cover. The things discussed in past slides fit in with these production elements as there are things raised which I must consider when producing my final media products. The videos, adverts and CD covers currently available are able to give me ideas on things which work well and also aspects which may not of been successful.

When completing my production elements it is important that I do not copyright or use an artists work without first gaining permission to do so. This is something which the music industry must consider when producing things such as videos. This framework also makes me consider what must be done and thought about if I were to actually produce and publish the media products I plan to create. It looks at how I could make the products successful and prevent any fall backs if I were unaware of things such at digitalisation and technology.